pay minimum tolls in france

[bernardfeay]

I have a real tough time paying tolls to travel on French motorways. So, I did my level best to put a route together that keeps tolls to a minimum. I hope it helps others.

heading south from Calais
Set satnav to head for Rouen with the option "avoid tolls". (you will come off the motorway before you get to Rouen)
you will join A28 motorway
come off at junction 10
set satnav to Forges Les Eaux but don't get all the way there
set satnav to Les Andelys but don't get all the way there
set satnav to Evreux
these last 3 steps keep you out of traffic jams in Rouen
take motorway to Chartres
It's a good road to almost Tours on N10
20 km before Tours set sat nav to use tolls
take toll before Tours (it's a pig to travel through on ordinary roads)
leave toll road at junction 30 near Poitiers
now avoid all tolls until close to Spain
it's a good motorway to Angouleme
good motorway to Bordeaux
good motorway to Bayonne
getting over the border is awkward if you don't use tolls - so use them

If anybody has a better set of instructions please let me know.

 

[anfi1]

Thanks for that,we are going to Cadiz in March,i'm sure this will help.How did you get on with overnighting?

 

[Kontiki]

Only ever used one toll road & that was to get us out of Paris, other than that never use any. Only reason we could see for using any tolls is if you are in a hurry.
We just set the Tomtom to always to avoid tolls, never let us down yet. Haven't found Rouen to be a problem lately, tend to head towards the river but don't cross over it & follow it till it changes into the N15. It has been a pain in the past for us but spent some time looking around there so we have a good idea of the layout of the city. Once past there it's a good road all the way down, didn't know there was a toll road crossing the border as we often stop at Hendaye or Hondarriba then join the motorway in Spain.

Plenty of Aires to overnight, make sure you are ok for water as many might not be turned back on in March. We have driven down from North of Rouen to somewhere south of Bordeaux in a pretty slow Renault Master 2.5D (non turbo top speed about 70-75 without shaking itself to bits)

 

[Norris]

We have driven down from North of Rouen to somewhere south of Bordeaux in a pretty slow Renault Master 2.5D (non turbo top speed about 70-75 without shaking itself to bits)

Golly!! Our Merlin will only do 65 flat out, is comfortable at 55 At the moment it is a toss up between Ager in April or Algodonales later in the year!