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Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France 14:48 - Feb 17 with 6393 views

We were thinking that we could not afford a foreign holiday this year but at the same time my Mrs does not want me to end up in Cork, moaning as usual about the weather and us only ever leaving the mother-in-laws to go "up to Cork" to walk around the shops.

A mate at work has a private appartment down near the Spanish border near Argeles-Sur-Mer, inland but only 40min drive from lovely beaches and has said that we can use it for the grand sum of â‚¬25 to cover electricity cost for two weeks.

Other than pilgrimages to Lourdes many years ago neither of us have ever holidayed "en France" and the idea of driving down on the cheap for 14-16 days appeals.

Does anyone have any recent experience of driving from Calais through France to the extreme edges of the sth east towards Barcelona and how to break up the journey and the sort of places we should try and book or avoid on the way down?

Merci

Poll:

With no leg room, knees killing me, do I just go now or stay for the 2nd half o?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 08:53 - Feb 18 with 1436 views

ericgen34

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 22:21 - Feb 17 by A40Bosh

Cheers Chris.

reading all the comments and other websites, and bearing in mind we are being given a private residence for free for as long as we want it, I think it is going to work out cheaper for a family of 5 (the 3 girls are all teens now) if we take our own car as we will probably end up taking our own sheets and towels as well as luggage.

Will probably look to come in on the Eurotunnel and then head towards Rouen and then by pass Paris to the west and head down toward Chartres and then Clermont Ferrand (it would be nice to say you have driven over the tallest bridge in the world at Millau) and then head south eastwards to Perpignan which is the nearest City to where we have the offer of staying.

Just got to work out where to stay on route and balance cost vs not staying in a totally souless concrete motorway hotel and the same on the way back up. Don't even mind if we can get good deals taking 2 days via the scenic routes with two stoppovers.

No decisions made yet so any more advice gratefully accepted - always amazes me the amount of non Rangers related info you can get on here from everyone!!!

Thanks everyone.

Hi, I live down there and often travel up north to Orleans where I have some family. My UK family and friends who come each year from London do London - Eurotunnel - Paris - Clermont Ferrand and down here. They prefer via Paris as it is quicker if timed well. When they breakup the journey, they usually stay around Orleans. There is the Loire valley and some nice castles there - Chambord being the best IMO.

In the summer, avoid travelling on the Saturdays, there is usually around 500km of traffic jams all other France. They are usually caused by motorway tolls, so if you have to, make sure you exit a while before the tolls that block the whole motorway, as that's where the jams are. The motorway from Clermont is free and is through some nice country side. The Cantal, the Aubrac or the Lozere are all very nice for a place to stay. The Millau viaduc is a bit pricey but saves a lot of time. Near there, the Gorges du Tarn are well worth a visit. It takes about 2 hours from Clermont to the viaduc, and 1 hour from there to Beziers where you will join the A9. That's where you might find heavy traffic, but if clear you're less than an hour from Argeles. AirBnB is indeed a good bet for finding a nice place to stay

While in Argeles, do visit Collioure and the coast road to Spain. Cape de Creus and Cadaques. Also Dali's house in Port Lligat near Cadaques is fantastic (teenagers usually love Dali's house too) but needs booking several days in advance especially in the summer. North from Argeles, I like Leucate (Chez Biquet, a 'paillotte' restaurant on the beach is fabulous), Gruissan with the houses on stilts on the beach. Around Leucate there are some lakes and marshes that are very nice. Inland the Cathare castles are well worth a visit (queribus and peyrepertuse being the best I think) . Also Tautavel for prehistoric remains is quite nice

Sadly the restaurants are indeed often poor in France in tourist season. They tend to all do the same menus, cheap and nasty so you need a bit of local knowledge to find good ones. TripAdvisor is useful to select too. If you go to Cape Creus, there is a restaurant at the light house which I love, mainly because of the roasted fish and the view.

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 09:04 - Feb 18 with 1431 views

BazzaInTheLoft

This is rather middle class. Where's the tits and veiled racism?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 09:34 - Feb 18 with 1421 views

A40Bosh

Did that in Costa Blanca a couple of years ago init

Poll:

With no leg room, knees killing me, do I just go now or stay for the 2nd half o?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 10:10 - Feb 18 with 1406 views

YorkRanger

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 22:51 - Feb 17 by londonscottish
Hi mate, I've done the drive loads and have also flown planty. Horses for courses but driving is fine if you break the journey half way. Have you thought about Air BnB - lots of decent options to choose from there. FWIW I'd also recommend the autoroutes. Unless it's one of the big August weekends you can make good progress on them (85-90 all day long) with minimal hassle.

PS French police have sharpened up their focus on speeding in recent years and allegedly have one eye out for British number plates . Tread carefully, French roads are often very clear and the temptation is to get your foot down..

There are also specific legal requirements for car accessories like high vis vests and warning triangles and the things you stick on the headlights to deflect the angle of the lights as RH drive cars

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 13:41 - Feb 18 with 1353 views

Hadders

I stayed for a few days at this campsite a few years ago and it was by some distance the loveliest I have ever stayed at. I could drone on about it and bore even myself- everything about it is gorgeous. Just go if you can, pal- I guarantee you`ll adore it. http://www.leportdelimeuil.com/en/

[Post edited 18 Feb 2016 13:43]

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 17:14 - Feb 18 with 1301 views

DaBurgh

I've got a small b&b in the middle of a lovely medieval town just south of Brive, in the middle of the Dordogne valley. Just 5 minutes off the A20 motorway, 7-8 hours drive from Calais. Lots of things to do here in the summer, there is a water park and canoe station just a 10 minute walk from my place. Loads of good restaurants in town and other surrounding places. Chateaux, caves and lovely old villages to mouch around. And of course if you are interested I can give you special QPR sufferers rates. PM me if interested.

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 18:11 - Feb 18 with 1280 views

londonscottish

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 10:10 - Feb 18 by YorkRanger

Yeah I've been nicked three times in the last four visits. Although once was in a hire car so they couldn't have told that I was a Brit - they are just cracking down on speeding full stop.

So no more getting from the Spanish border to Le Mans in 3.5 hours. That's 369 miles. And I had a 30 min fuel stop in the middle.....

Anyway, these days, the strictly-enforced limit is 130km/h or 81 mph. If you set the cruise to 90 you're probably doing closer to 85 and they won't nick you. 4 hours of that and you've covered 340 miles. Try doing that in the UK. Here you'd be looking 6 hours plus to cover the same distance what with all the congestion, speed limits, contraflows, etc

So it's still good - and more relaxed tbh.

Poll:

Do you love or hate the new Marmite ad?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 11:23 - Feb 19 with 1204 views

A40Bosh

*BUMP*

Just putting this back on page 1 for the weekend so I can find it easily as there is a lot of helpful stuff in here for us to use when planning
thanks again everyonoe

Poll:

With no leg room, knees killing me, do I just go now or stay for the 2nd half o?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 11:28 - Feb 19 with 1197 views

londonscottish

For the faster journey possible you could always do what Guy Martin does when driving his bikes and mates in his Tranny van.

Work out what the range is on a full tank. Work out what that means in hours. Ban anyone drinking anything except in the last hour.

Pile out at the fuel stop, fill up, empty bladders and get back on the road sharpish.

You might not be very popular but you'll get there first.

Poll:

Do you love or hate the new Marmite ad?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 13:55 - Feb 19 with 1163 views

A40Bosh

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 11:28 - Feb 19 by londonscottish

That's already in section 1 of the family rules of the road manual for when we drive to Ireland every year mate!!!
The dog took the most convincing!!

Poll:

With no leg room, knees killing me, do I just go now or stay for the 2nd half o?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 14:02 - Feb 19 with 1155 views

londonscottish

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 13:55 - Feb 19 by A40Bosh
That's already in section 1 of the family rules of the road manual for when we drive to Ireland every year mate!!! The dog took the most convincing!!

I used to cadge a lift off one of my mates when going back to Scotland. He had an Alfa Romeo and liked to press on and stopping for fuel was literally like a pit stop. He'd pretty much shout at us when he pulled up at the pumps and we'd have to dive out of the car, run to the shop, have a piss/buy a sandwich and dive back into the car. He'd be back in the driving seat revving the engine impatiently.

He wasn't popular for doing it but we did get home quickly....

Poll:

Do you love or hate the new Marmite ad?

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 19:11 - Feb 19 with 1114 views

baz_qpr

Just driven to the Alps via Burgundy and Calais no problem early mornings going and later in the evening coming back, police presence very high. Far to busy worrying about immigrants than speeding. Am going the south via Eurodisney and Burgundy this summer. Always hotels on the way from the cheapest F1 through to an Ibis or similar. We plan to camp this year.

I'm a total francophile, love the place, food, scenery, wine, ladies, people etc

Non-QPR: Driving to the very South of France on 07:06 - Feb 20 with 1067 views

StratfordBoy

We've got a place near Bordeaux & go a couple of times a year, either flying or driving when we have loads of stuff to take. The Newhaven - Dieppe ferry is relatively cheap & it's only a 4 hour crossing. We depart on the 10pm service, get a cabin for a couple of hours kip, disembark at 4am to miss a lot of the traffic. Driving so early is easy & I've even conquered my bogy city of Rouen where I always got lost! We're usually beyond Bordeaux by lunchtime.....
Roads are fantastic in France, toll roads expensive but you could compensate by doing some motorway & some N roads which are often dual carriageways. Remember all the stuff you have to carry in the car (as previously mentioned) like yellow coats (must be in the cabin, not the boot), warning triangle, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, breatlyser kits, etc., etc. - although frankly speaking the Flics are not so concerned about that if they stop you - what they are hot on is drink driving & speeding! The fine from fixed camera's don't yet find their way to the UK but plenty of plod hiding in the bushes, especially on Sundays. Mondays are quiet while they process all the paperwork from the previous days work! I found out the painful way, Eur1500 fine, reduced to Eur750 as I could pay on the spot, instant roadside ban followed by 3-month ban & a compulsory medical before driving again in France. Can't blame them really, my fault, they're trying to get the road deathrate down very quickly.

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