Route to Dordogne - Advise Please.
Discussion
Planning on a camping holiday in August and would like some advice on a route especially around Paris. Apart from that it seems pretty straight forward.
We are staying here
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/myplaces?hl=en&l...
My plan was orginally to travel down late-ish sunday stay in the Premier Inn in Folkstone (did this for Euro Disney) and get the early chunnel (Thanks Tescos!) and do the French side in one hit but with a few stops (3 kids and M in L!).
But I have been thinking of getting an afternoon chunnel on the sunday and staying somewhere sunday night about an hour from Calais.
Then up early and its a shorter drive to get there on the Monday.
Found a few places to stay and their prices are cheaper than Premier Inn (60 euro per room).
Any advice would be appreciated, cheers.
We are staying here
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/myplaces?hl=en&l...
My plan was orginally to travel down late-ish sunday stay in the Premier Inn in Folkstone (did this for Euro Disney) and get the early chunnel (Thanks Tescos!) and do the French side in one hit but with a few stops (3 kids and M in L!).
But I have been thinking of getting an afternoon chunnel on the sunday and staying somewhere sunday night about an hour from Calais.
Then up early and its a shorter drive to get there on the Monday.
Found a few places to stay and their prices are cheaper than Premier Inn (60 euro per room).
Any advice would be appreciated, cheers.
GreatGranny said:
psgcarey said:
Don't go near Paris. Head down the west side of France. Rouen-Le Mans-Tours-Poitiers-Angouleme-Perigeux kind of thing.
Can't be that bad can it? :-)I will have a look at that route.
I go down basically almost through Paris, we get the 10am ferry from dunkirk which means we are off 1pm french time, and we are down in the Dordogne by 8pm. I do this 2-3 times a year, only once have I been caught in traffic at paris and it was a nightmare, 2 hrs sat still, wife having a piss at the side of the road ( it France so do like the old ladies !).
Doesn't stop me going that way now. You slow down a touch, your not going round the paris cirular at 90mph but it normally only take 20 mins to clear the weight of cars and it is clear roads again.
Before we had the dogs we would drive to Paris and stay the night there, get there for 3-4pm and get smashed, then head down for a quick 5hr hop in the afternoon the next day. Would definatey recommend that. Stay in North Paris and leave the next day before lunch and it is a breeze.
Doesn't stop me going that way now. You slow down a touch, your not going round the paris cirular at 90mph but it normally only take 20 mins to clear the weight of cars and it is clear roads again.
Before we had the dogs we would drive to Paris and stay the night there, get there for 3-4pm and get smashed, then head down for a quick 5hr hop in the afternoon the next day. Would definatey recommend that. Stay in North Paris and leave the next day before lunch and it is a breeze.
Thanks Tampon. Is that in August which is their peak holiday season?
I'm tempted to do the Paris ring road, once you are through it its just Autoroute all the way nearly.
God only knows how much it will cost in fuel with 6 of us loaded up with huge roofbox in my XC90! I think I'm looking at £100 each way if I take it easy :-)
I'm tempted to do the Paris ring road, once you are through it its just Autoroute all the way nearly.
God only knows how much it will cost in fuel with 6 of us loaded up with huge roofbox in my XC90! I think I'm looking at £100 each way if I take it easy :-)
My parents live 45 mins north of your camp site. The route I put is the way any of use to go see them. Off the tunnel to their front door is 8-9 hours. Given when you are aiming to go that will be a red or black weekend. I honestly would not go near Paris as 90% of them will be heading south with you - or at least trying to very slowly.
GreatGranny said:
Thanks Tampon. Is that in August which is their peak holiday season?
I'm tempted to do the Paris ring road, once you are through it its just Autoroute all the way nearly.
God only knows how much it will cost in fuel with 6 of us loaded up with huge roofbox in my XC90! I think I'm looking at £100 each way if I take it easy :-)
I wouldn't worry about the fuel, you'll pay more in motorway tolls.I'm tempted to do the Paris ring road, once you are through it its just Autoroute all the way nearly.
God only knows how much it will cost in fuel with 6 of us loaded up with huge roofbox in my XC90! I think I'm looking at £100 each way if I take it easy :-)
GreatGranny said:
Going via Lemans is another 100km at least going that way.
Not sure the wife will be pleased with another hour just to drive down a long straight road :-)
Looked at Calais->Rouen->Orlean->Limoges->Brive-la-Gaillarde
That is the route we do apart from the last bit as our house is only a hour away from Limoges.Not sure the wife will be pleased with another hour just to drive down a long straight road :-)
Looked at Calais->Rouen->Orlean->Limoges->Brive-la-Gaillarde
Don;t panic about paris, work out what time you will get there if it is before 3.30 you will be fine on a weekday unless some bad happens and to be honest that could happen on the motorway on the way to the dover anyway, weekend I can;t say for sure as I am not as knowledgeable but I do know one of the nicest drives I have ever done was leaving paris at 5.30am on a sunday to empty street and a amazing sunrise.
I thought most of the autoroute in that area is toll free.
Reading up it should only cost about 30-40 euro each way.
We are planning on going down sunday afternoon (11th Aug) so travelling past Paris on mon am/noon 12th August depending if we chunnel sunday late afternoon and stay over south of Calais sunday evening or hotel in Folkstone sunday night and early chunnel mon.
Reading up it should only cost about 30-40 euro each way.
We are planning on going down sunday afternoon (11th Aug) so travelling past Paris on mon am/noon 12th August depending if we chunnel sunday late afternoon and stay over south of Calais sunday evening or hotel in Folkstone sunday night and early chunnel mon.
Edited by GreatGranny on Thursday 2nd May 15:38
Tolls will cost you 40 euros, one for 15 euros and one for 20 something ish euros. Love the feeling of booting it away from the toll booths.
Don't worry about Paris "in Season", bit like worrying about london rush hour in the summer as opposed to winter, it is a capital city, if it throws a wobbly or you hit it at rush hour it goes tits up, a few English holiday cars won;t really make the difference going round paris.
My Subaru legacy gets 20-27mpg in england, on a run down at Easter I got 30mpg doing 90mph on the sat nav. The long runs really help with fuel. I did about £100 each way, try and wait til your back in blightly as fuel is more expensive in france ( petrol ) and remember in south of france it can be rural so have enough fuel if you are getting in late.
Don't worry about Paris "in Season", bit like worrying about london rush hour in the summer as opposed to winter, it is a capital city, if it throws a wobbly or you hit it at rush hour it goes tits up, a few English holiday cars won;t really make the difference going round paris.
My Subaru legacy gets 20-27mpg in england, on a run down at Easter I got 30mpg doing 90mph on the sat nav. The long runs really help with fuel. I did about £100 each way, try and wait til your back in blightly as fuel is more expensive in france ( petrol ) and remember in south of france it can be rural so have enough fuel if you are getting in late.
psgcarey said:
Thanks, looks very good.Thanks for the suggestion but not going to do the St Malo ferry. Takes an age, expensive and its a longer drive this side from Lincolnshire just to save a few hours in France.
I did the route down via Rouen last year and came back via Paris.
That was mainly due to travelling times and not wanting to hit Paris at 9.00am on a Monday morning on the way down.
The roadworks in Rouen (blindly following the sat nav
) were a right pain. Not forgetting that they have a big diversion now as well because of the bridge fire.
The journey back via Paris was fine and the drive through the new tunnel was a novelty.
Year before last we took the overnight ferry to St Malo and would never do it again. Booked a cabin so we could get some sleep. I think I managed about an hour in total due to noise/cramped bed and their restaurant opening times for breakfast are all a bit hit and miss.
That was mainly due to travelling times and not wanting to hit Paris at 9.00am on a Monday morning on the way down.
The roadworks in Rouen (blindly following the sat nav
) were a right pain. Not forgetting that they have a big diversion now as well because of the bridge fire.The journey back via Paris was fine and the drive through the new tunnel was a novelty.
Year before last we took the overnight ferry to St Malo and would never do it again. Booked a cabin so we could get some sleep. I think I managed about an hour in total due to noise/cramped bed and their restaurant opening times for breakfast are all a bit hit and miss.
I went to either the same camp site or one within a mile of it last year!
Lovely area.
My advice is to definitely avoid Paris. We got badly clogged up on the way down there and it was like going around London. Just pointless and on a trip of that duration a couple of hours in traffic is pretty disheartening.
The route back we took via Orleans/Chartres and near Rouen. It took a lot less time even if very slightly longer in mileage.
Lovely area.
My advice is to definitely avoid Paris. We got badly clogged up on the way down there and it was like going around London. Just pointless and on a trip of that duration a couple of hours in traffic is pretty disheartening.
The route back we took via Orleans/Chartres and near Rouen. It took a lot less time even if very slightly longer in mileage.
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