Some advice needed for a trip to the south of France please
Discussion
I was hoping I could have some advice please chaps; the missus and I are heading down to the south of France at the end of the month. I will be driving down in my newly purchased Leon Cupra R, to say I’m excited would be an understatement.
The plan is as follows:
Days 1 – 2_Calais > Nice (764 miles)
I intend on doing the majority of the mileage on the first day, we have an early ferry (9am arrival at Calais). The other half wont be sharing the driving, so it will be all down to me, I plan to drive as far as possible on the first day, find a hotel and stay the night. Lyon seems like an ideal location. This will give me a more relaxed drive the following day.
Days 3 – 10 @ Nice
Once in Nice we will be staying in an apartment for 7 day. Other than the usual holiday activities, I plan to put some time aside for some nice drives. From what I’ve been told there are some amazing roads and places to visit.
Monaco is nearby so the mandatory lap or 10 of the F1 circuit is an obvious choice, however I would like to spend some time in the mountains on the Rally stages. Where could I find some information on their locations?
Are there any other places of interest or things to do during my stay in Nice?
Day 11 Nice > Aosta (250 miles)
We’ve booked a night in Aosta, this is one part of the trip, which I’m really looking forward to.
Days 12 – 13_Aosta > Unknown
Now this is the part of the journey which I have no made plans for, the only restrictions I have is that we must catch the ferry on day 14 at 9 ish. Ideally I would like to stay in a hotel on day 13 which is in close proximity to the ferry 1 – 2 hrs max.
So some suggestions of possible routes, places to stay would be very much appreciated.
Day 14_Calais > Dover > Home
The following information has been given to me by various different people:
- Toll roads cost loads of money
- Pass needed to drive in Switzerland, heavy fine if caught without
- Full replacement buld kit needed, Two warning triangles, First aid kit, possibly deflectors on the lights????
- Toll road speed trap.
So basically I after any advice, tips or suggestions you may have regarding the above.
Many thanks in advance for all advice given
Cheers
The plan is as follows:
Days 1 – 2_Calais > Nice (764 miles)
I intend on doing the majority of the mileage on the first day, we have an early ferry (9am arrival at Calais). The other half wont be sharing the driving, so it will be all down to me, I plan to drive as far as possible on the first day, find a hotel and stay the night. Lyon seems like an ideal location. This will give me a more relaxed drive the following day.
Days 3 – 10 @ Nice
Once in Nice we will be staying in an apartment for 7 day. Other than the usual holiday activities, I plan to put some time aside for some nice drives. From what I’ve been told there are some amazing roads and places to visit.
Monaco is nearby so the mandatory lap or 10 of the F1 circuit is an obvious choice, however I would like to spend some time in the mountains on the Rally stages. Where could I find some information on their locations?
Are there any other places of interest or things to do during my stay in Nice?
Day 11 Nice > Aosta (250 miles)
We’ve booked a night in Aosta, this is one part of the trip, which I’m really looking forward to.
Days 12 – 13_Aosta > Unknown
Now this is the part of the journey which I have no made plans for, the only restrictions I have is that we must catch the ferry on day 14 at 9 ish. Ideally I would like to stay in a hotel on day 13 which is in close proximity to the ferry 1 – 2 hrs max.
So some suggestions of possible routes, places to stay would be very much appreciated.
Day 14_Calais > Dover > Home
The following information has been given to me by various different people:
- Toll roads cost loads of money
- Pass needed to drive in Switzerland, heavy fine if caught without
- Full replacement buld kit needed, Two warning triangles, First aid kit, possibly deflectors on the lights????
- Toll road speed trap.
So basically I after any advice, tips or suggestions you may have regarding the above.
Many thanks in advance for all advice given
Cheers
Haha, another Essex PHer bound for Nice!!
We drove down Sunday-Tuesday; your spot on about Lyon as a good first stop - some nice hotels in town and plenty good restaurants & bars; the Grand in the main Square is well located and very good. If you want a more interesting cross country route leave the autoroute @ Troyes and pickup the D928 then the D996 to Dijon - lovely roads. We stayed off the autoroute almost as far as Lyon but then we weren't covering so much distance that day. Lyon - Nice I would strongly recommend taking the Route Napolean/N85 from Grenoble, a mostly fantastic road. Just watch out for Gendarmes when approaching or leaving towns.
There are loads of good driving roads up in the mountains north of Nice, my favourite being the D2 Col 'd Vence which you can pickup heading North out of (surprise suprise!) Vence. In fact on your way to Nice its pretty logical to miss the N202 from the N85 (although thats a good road too) and take the D2211 for a couple of miles before turning onto the D2 to Vence. Vence - Nice isn't very far, a short run down the autoroute.
Enjoy!!
We drove down Sunday-Tuesday; your spot on about Lyon as a good first stop - some nice hotels in town and plenty good restaurants & bars; the Grand in the main Square is well located and very good. If you want a more interesting cross country route leave the autoroute @ Troyes and pickup the D928 then the D996 to Dijon - lovely roads. We stayed off the autoroute almost as far as Lyon but then we weren't covering so much distance that day. Lyon - Nice I would strongly recommend taking the Route Napolean/N85 from Grenoble, a mostly fantastic road. Just watch out for Gendarmes when approaching or leaving towns.
There are loads of good driving roads up in the mountains north of Nice, my favourite being the D2 Col 'd Vence which you can pickup heading North out of (surprise suprise!) Vence. In fact on your way to Nice its pretty logical to miss the N202 from the N85 (although thats a good road too) and take the D2211 for a couple of miles before turning onto the D2 to Vence. Vence - Nice isn't very far, a short run down the autoroute.
Enjoy!!
Trip to niece is going to be boring. The drive down to the South is the best bit.
If you can take 2 days to get down there. Do Callais to Dijon on day 1 then on day 2 take the autoroute as far as Grenoble before picking up the Route Napoleon (N85). You will kick yourself if you miss it.
If you can take 2 days to get down there. Do Callais to Dijon on day 1 then on day 2 take the autoroute as far as Grenoble before picking up the Route Napoleon (N85). You will kick yourself if you miss it.
If you need somewhere to stay relatively near Calais Reims is a good place to stop. It's about a 2 hour drive to Calais, has a lovely town centre and most importantly an old Grand Prix circuit 
(ignore the car, I didn't take any pictures of the paddock without it in the shot...)
Also in Nice make sure you go to the old town, probably the best bit of the city. Just to the East of the old town there's a hill that provides a good view of the Nice
(ignore the car, I didn't take any pictures of the paddock without it in the shot...)Also in Nice make sure you go to the old town, probably the best bit of the city. Just to the East of the old town there's a hill that provides a good view of the Nice
Edited by norman156 on Friday 4th September 11:42
We got back from a 2k mile trip through France, Switzerland and Italy last night. Our first trip in Europe driving.
The motorways in France are very good for making rapid progress, and the cruise control paid for itself 10 times over. Speed limit 130kmh (dry) or 110kmh (wet) Thats 80Mph, we had the Cruise set at 85mph and ripped across France.
We didnt spent much time in France, and what we did was on Motorways so was boring - Switzerland however.........amazing!!
Best roads we found -
Neufen Passe up to the Glacier, then tearing down the other side - amazing and breath taking - really!
Simplon Passe - words cant describe this road, if you can get to it - you must do it if you can
Stelvio Pass (Italy) - Another road that left us speechless, some of the inclines are unreal, and some of the drops are pant browningly scary. Go slow through the tunnels going up - a lot of them are blind and bikes rip through them
Useful to know -
If going into Switzerland you will need a Vignette, this is Motorway tax and is 40chf. We got ours at the border when coming in from France.
We drove the entire week without headlight things, as we have Xenon so the stickers dont work and besides which - we didnt drive at night
We had our lights on ALL the time, its law is some countries across Europe, certainly in Italy
The TOLL boths take debit cards, most are take ticket at the first and pay at the second - and they can be hours apart. At the pay booth, insert your ticket followed by your card immediately - and your card will pop out. These are 90% on the passenger side (rhd car)
Super Unleaded is at most services, but not all - the services are all VERY well signed before you get close.
Motorway lane use in Europe is superb, in a week we never experienced any lane hogging, and people always move over when you approach - we could learn a LOT from this.
DO NOT have any radar detectors in France, illegal
The Michelin site tells you how much the tolls will be for your journey - ours cost 50euro in total, but we only crossed France from Switzerland, from Dijon up to Calais
We had sun for 90% of our trip, then typically pissed down for a lot of the way back - in places this can be VERY scary as your actually driving through cloud, with no visability - not for the nervous driver.
As well as the usual kit, we took a torch, a Letherman Multitool, Some of that Tyre Weld Stuff, as our tyre sizes are not that readily available and spare is a space saver. We also took some Window Cleaner and kitchen roll - was handy as after a 9 hour drive the windscreen has about 3 million dead things, and the headlights also needed a clean.
Enjoy - we had the best week ever, we did 1950 miles in 6 days in our 350z and had an amazing time - and we are now planning next years trip
The motorways in France are very good for making rapid progress, and the cruise control paid for itself 10 times over. Speed limit 130kmh (dry) or 110kmh (wet) Thats 80Mph, we had the Cruise set at 85mph and ripped across France.
We didnt spent much time in France, and what we did was on Motorways so was boring - Switzerland however.........amazing!!
Best roads we found -
Neufen Passe up to the Glacier, then tearing down the other side - amazing and breath taking - really!
Simplon Passe - words cant describe this road, if you can get to it - you must do it if you can
Stelvio Pass (Italy) - Another road that left us speechless, some of the inclines are unreal, and some of the drops are pant browningly scary. Go slow through the tunnels going up - a lot of them are blind and bikes rip through them
Useful to know -
If going into Switzerland you will need a Vignette, this is Motorway tax and is 40chf. We got ours at the border when coming in from France.
We drove the entire week without headlight things, as we have Xenon so the stickers dont work and besides which - we didnt drive at night
We had our lights on ALL the time, its law is some countries across Europe, certainly in Italy
The TOLL boths take debit cards, most are take ticket at the first and pay at the second - and they can be hours apart. At the pay booth, insert your ticket followed by your card immediately - and your card will pop out. These are 90% on the passenger side (rhd car)
Super Unleaded is at most services, but not all - the services are all VERY well signed before you get close.
Motorway lane use in Europe is superb, in a week we never experienced any lane hogging, and people always move over when you approach - we could learn a LOT from this.
DO NOT have any radar detectors in France, illegal
The Michelin site tells you how much the tolls will be for your journey - ours cost 50euro in total, but we only crossed France from Switzerland, from Dijon up to Calais
We had sun for 90% of our trip, then typically pissed down for a lot of the way back - in places this can be VERY scary as your actually driving through cloud, with no visability - not for the nervous driver.
As well as the usual kit, we took a torch, a Letherman Multitool, Some of that Tyre Weld Stuff, as our tyre sizes are not that readily available and spare is a space saver. We also took some Window Cleaner and kitchen roll - was handy as after a 9 hour drive the windscreen has about 3 million dead things, and the headlights also needed a clean.
Enjoy - we had the best week ever, we did 1950 miles in 6 days in our 350z and had an amazing time - and we are now planning next years trip
trackdemon said:
I'm off to drive a loop round the D2, D3, N85 & D5 this afternoon - I'll report back 
Happy to report back now...... THESE ROADS ARE FANTASTIC!!! Headed up to the D2 out of Vence then followed the route as described above. I know the D2 pretty well having driven it many times in previous trips down here, so it was a nice addition to throw the D3 & 5 into the mix..... If you're down here, try it!Was down in that area in the summer holidays. I'm only 16 soo I can't drive but my dad was having a nightmare...the roads are sooooo busy there, once you go up to the mountains traffic isn't so bad but we stayed in Fréjus, The traffic tends to be worst around 9-11 in the morning and 5-8 in the evening, be sure to have water in the car if your stuck in traffic jams...
went to Monaco aswell. Before we went, several friends told us to basically, don't take the car there, it's soo busy, soo we took a bus in. and spent the day there and found it fine, but fair enough if your wanting to go round the track.
Enjoy your trip
went to Monaco aswell. Before we went, several friends told us to basically, don't take the car there, it's soo busy, soo we took a bus in. and spent the day there and found it fine, but fair enough if your wanting to go round the track.
Enjoy your trip
trackdemon said:
trackdemon said:
I'm off to drive a loop round the D2, D3, N85 & D5 this afternoon - I'll report back
Happy to report back now...... THESE ROADS ARE FANTASTIC!!! Headed up to the D2 out of Vence then followed the route as described above. I know the D2 pretty well having driven it many times in previous trips down here, so it was a nice addition to throw the D3 & 5 into the mix..... If you're down here, try it!Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff