Calais to St Tropez, route advice and hotels

[Sealine South]

Hi all

We are driving to St Tropez on Friday 23rd August.

The main points are these:

6am chunnel on the Friday
Earliest check in at St T 2pm Saturday
O/H - pregnant and 5 YO boy with me
I will do all the driving myself

Was thinking of doing the following:

Way down:
Off Chunnel at 7:30am (ish)
Foot down via Reims - Troyes - Dijon - Beaune - Macon - Lyon - stay in Aix on Friday night arrive about 5pm (ish)

Way Back (same route):
Leave St T at about 5pm ish
Drive to Orange stay over arrive about 8pm
6pm chunnel on Sunday night

Questions:

Is that the best route?
Are my timings achievable?
Going in E55 AMG - will get about 23mpg reckon about £400 fuel for whole holiday - realistic?
Any ideas where to stay?

Thanks

[Sealine South]

bump

[Rosscow]

Well, Google maps has it down at 10 hours and 22 minutes, and 736 miles (approx).

But that's with no traffic and no stops, and no going wrong

7.30am to 5pm = 9.5 hours.

736 miles divided by 9.5 hours = an AVERAGE of 77.47mph.

So basically, no, I don't think you'll get there by 5pm.

But you could prove me wrong!

[Sealine South]

Is that a gauntlet I see before me?

[Sealine South]

Is it the best route?

[Big Raff]

Bank Holiday weekend...give yourself plenty of time. If i were you and you may find this too, by the time you get to Aix you my as well go the whole way...its only a little way down.

Calais to Reims, then E17 all the way down, E15 after Lyon i think then A7 then A8...can be done in 12 hours at a brisk pace with stops and comfort. You may find it works out quicker at your early set off time of day as well, the only problems will be around the main cities (notably Lyon).

[Cheib]

It's not impossible but with a 5yr old and a pregnant wife I think you'll do very well to get there by 5pm! I took my 4yr old son skiing to Verbier in the winter and drove from Verbier to Calais in a day it's about an hour less according to Google maps. I left Verbier at 8.30am and got to Calais at about 5pm. We stopped a couple of times and I obviously did all the driving myself.

My son was brilliant on the trip but towards the end he did start to get a bit bored and "how far to go" mode kicked in....combined with a pregnant wife who may well need frequent toilet stops I'd probably aim to stop before Aix unless you have a good reason for stopping there.

[Sealine South]

Thanks Raff

Hopefully it will be the best route.

I am reluctant to book hotels in advance as if we decide we want to stop earlier or later then we will. Whats the likelihood of finding a hotel on that route?

[Rosscow]

You won't have any trouble finding accommodation.

[Audicab]

Lyon can be a nightmare, I've been caught for hours especially in rush hour which is I guess when you would be getting their on the Friday evening.

There are lots of hotels at the side of the road which are clean and comfortable if not luxurious. Personally I'd stop just before Lyon for the night and then leave by about 9am on Saturday, you should easily get to St T for 2pm. That would give 2 relatively easy travelling days with plenty of time for stops.

[audidoody]

Yes- its the best route. Our preferred stop is in Beaune as it is halfway (six hours from St Tropez and Calais). No point stopping in Aix. It's only two hours away from your final destination,

Lyon can be a ball ache. It can be bypassed by taking the A46 just as you approach Lyon (signposted Marseilles). It loops you round the city.

The new road from the A8 to St Maxime is brilliant. But the drive from St Maxime to St Trop usually 30 minutes) can take up to an hour and a half this time of year.


Get a Sanef toll dongle.

Edited by audidoody on Monday 5th August 21:36

[Sealine South]

Thanks. My initial thought was to stop in Aix so we can get there early on the Saturday and start enjoying the holiday.

I think Beaune may be a far, would like to get round Lyon on Friday so at least it FEELS like we are almost there!

Thanks for the advice.

[prand]

We did this journey (same route as you suggested) in June this year, so I expect we had it a bit easier than during high season, but we did surprise ourselves how far we made it in one day, as we had planned to stop a fair bit.

We were travelling with a 3 year and 18 month old, and we caught a 7.30 tunnel.

It's worth planning for plenty of breaks for toilet stops, meals, and just to let the kids run around at the plentiful, and generally high quality service Aires. But all in all they were very well behaved, loved the journey. We made sure we kept them well entertained and fed, so it kept them quiet.

We took a cooler bag full of ready to eat snacks, drinks and picnic food.

We took plenty of books, toys, sticker books etc, and also had a tablet that could be mounted on the centre armrest, loaded with plenty of films which worked a treat when we wanted to push on for an hour or so while Mary Poppins kept them occupied.

We were also expecting them both to sleep for an hour or so after lunch, which would also let us press on.

All in all we made it easily past Lyon, and we stayed in a Formule 1 for €27 at Chasse Sur Rhone. This was also after stopping at Macon for an hour and a half for tea adn a mooch around the town center, knowing that doing this would help us miss the Lyon traffic as we would get there around 7.30pm-8.00pm. We had booked an Ibis at Nuits St George but we were making such good time we cancellled it early enough in the day to not incur a charge and found the Formule 1 past Lyon and booked it on the smartphone.

The Formule 1 was pretty basic, tucked behind a Conforama on an industrial estate and my wife didn't like the shared facilities or wafting fag smoke, but it served a very good purpose being able to stop close to the motorway and get going without too much faff. We also sneaked in an inflatable bed for our smallest as the rooms are only supposed to hold 3 max. But there appear to be no staff around to see, or care...

We left around 8.30 the next morning and we made good time to arrive for lunch at St Maxime (good call about the new road!) at about 12.00pm, with an easy drive round to Port Grimaud to check in, on the beach by about 2pm.

A good experience all in all, we drove back slightly differently, stopping at campsites in Carpentras, Annecy and another budget hotel in Epernay on the second week, but we all want to go back next year!

[gtidriver]

I came back from millau yesterday. Get the toll tag. Every toll we lost most of the time we gained by driving a bit quicker. Mainly due to sitting behind French idiots who when getting to the toll decide then is the best time to look for the credit card to bloody pay. Grrr I won't make that mistake again.

[audidoody]

There is another way into St Tropez that avoids the clogged coast road between St Maxime and St Trop. Instead of taking the St Tropez exit at Le Muy you take the one 10 minutes before to Le Luc and Toulon. This brings you into St Tropez from the "back". It can be up to an hour quicker in high season but it takes you around some tight winding mountain roads and through the narrow streets of La Garde Freinet and Grimaud and is not to be recommended at night!

[prand]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Looks good - this is just what we would love next time, somewhere a short hop off the autoroute in the Dijon-Lyon area where we could enjoy a swim after a long drive. Anyone got any recommendations?

[LivingTheDream]

prand said:

Looks good - this is just what we would love next time, somewhere a short hop off the autoroute in the Dijon-Lyon area where we could enjoy a swim after a long drive. Anyone got any recommendations?

We've just returned from hols just south of Avignon so did the route suggested for most of the way.

We headed down Friday and the roads were clear and we cruised happily at 130kph - kids were happy enough. We made sure we gave them a good break at lunch (south of Reims).

We stopped at a hotel in Dijon overnight (arrived about 5pm) with a pool ( Kyriad group hotel)

The kids were delighted with the pool after a long drive.

We headed further on the Saturday morning and, to be honest, we should have pushed on further as the traffic was a nightmare. The difference between Friday and Saturday is huge.

Lyon is a bottleneck as mentioned earlier.

Also, as mentioned, tolls - either get a dongle or pay by credit card, smaller queues and much faster than cash.

[audidoody]

prand said:

Looks good - this is just what we would love next time, somewhere a short hop off the autoroute in the Dijon-Lyon area where we could enjoy a swim after a long drive. Anyone got any recommendations?

Novotel Beaune is where we always stay. Two minutes off the autoroute. clean rooms that can sleep four (double bed plus sofa bed) swimming pool. reasonable food. plenty of free and secure parking. About £100 per night. Or an Ibis next door if you want to save £30.

[audidoody]

prand said:

Looks good - this is just what we would love next time, somewhere a short hop off the autoroute in the Dijon-Lyon area where we could enjoy a swim after a long drive. Anyone got any recommendations?

Novotel Beaune is where we always stay. Two minutes off the autoroute. clean rooms that can sleep four (double bed plus sofa bed) swimming pool. reasonable food. plenty of free and secure parking. About £100 per night. Or an Ibis next door if you want to save £30.

[audidoody]

prand said:

Looks good - this is just what we would love next time, somewhere a short hop off the autoroute in the Dijon-Lyon area where we could enjoy a swim after a long drive. Anyone got any recommendations?

Novotel Beaune is where we always stay. Two minutes off the autoroute. clean rooms that can sleep four (double bed plus sofa bed) swimming pool. reasonable food. plenty of free and secure parking. About £100 per night. Or an Ibis next door if you want to save £30.