Advise for Road Trip from Cherbourg Please .
Discussion
Hi everyone,
My wife and I are booked on the ferry from Dublin to Cherbourg for a 2 week road trip at the beginning of September.
Obviously the usual caveats re: potential travel restrictions apply however if it isn’t possible this year then there will be no issue in rescheduling until 2022.
Anyway , I was hoping to hear about any experiences / tips from any of you who have travelled Cherbourg to south of France and onwards.
Ideally I would like to take in Alps in some form , Route Napoleon , spend a few days at the beach too. The dates are firm , everything else is less so
Thanks in anticipation folks.
My wife and I are booked on the ferry from Dublin to Cherbourg for a 2 week road trip at the beginning of September.
Obviously the usual caveats re: potential travel restrictions apply however if it isn’t possible this year then there will be no issue in rescheduling until 2022.
Anyway , I was hoping to hear about any experiences / tips from any of you who have travelled Cherbourg to south of France and onwards.
Ideally I would like to take in Alps in some form , Route Napoleon , spend a few days at the beach too. The dates are firm , everything else is less so
Thanks in anticipation folks.
It really does depend on whether you want to amble down to the South of France / Alps, or whether you want to spend as much time as possible in the south.
Places you might want to visit / see on the way could include Le Mans, The Millau bridge, Vineyards around Bordeaux (St. Emilion is my personal favourite - the town is really special). The last 2 are both taking you west, when you really want to be heading east.
To give you some idea of how far you could get in a day without over stretching yourselves - we did Caen (close to Cherbourg) to Le Puy in a day, driving a 1982 Alfasud Sprint, and I did all of the driving. I can recommend Le Puy as a place to visit / stopover.
When you get to the South of France, somewhere like Grasse is a lovely place to make a base. It's up in the hills overlooking Cannes.
Route Napoleon is ok.
Given that you're landing on the western side of France, have you thought about the Pyrenees / Spain instead of South of France / Alps.
Places you might want to visit / see on the way could include Le Mans, The Millau bridge, Vineyards around Bordeaux (St. Emilion is my personal favourite - the town is really special). The last 2 are both taking you west, when you really want to be heading east.
To give you some idea of how far you could get in a day without over stretching yourselves - we did Caen (close to Cherbourg) to Le Puy in a day, driving a 1982 Alfasud Sprint, and I did all of the driving. I can recommend Le Puy as a place to visit / stopover.
When you get to the South of France, somewhere like Grasse is a lovely place to make a base. It's up in the hills overlooking Cannes.
Route Napoleon is ok.
Given that you're landing on the western side of France, have you thought about the Pyrenees / Spain instead of South of France / Alps.
It is sort of counterintuitive going via Cherbourg I guess but I felt it might be nicer just doing a 2 hour jaunt down to Dublin and land straight in to France rather than endure the trip from Cairnryan to Dover .
I always wanted to do a trip like this to include the obligatory drive along the Cote d’Azure .
I would have liked to include the French / Swiss Alps if possible and then loop back towards Cherbourg for home .
Brain storming at the minute to be honest .
I always wanted to do a trip like this to include the obligatory drive along the Cote d’Azure .
I would have liked to include the French / Swiss Alps if possible and then loop back towards Cherbourg for home .
Brain storming at the minute to be honest .
The first leg will depend on what time you arrive in Cherbourg. If it's evening then you may need to book a night in Cherbourg. It's an hour from there to Caen then onwards.
Someone mentioned staying in the west. If you do then it's an easy jaunt down to Bordeaux next day but you will miss out seeing anywhere inbetween.
If you are really set on getting down to the south med then you can go diagonal! Get a decent map and make a plan.
Someone mentioned staying in the west. If you do then it's an easy jaunt down to Bordeaux next day but you will miss out seeing anywhere inbetween.
If you are really set on getting down to the south med then you can go diagonal! Get a decent map and make a plan.
Something to bear in mind that whilst D roads are fun, it does take a lot of time to drive west to east (or vice-versa) e.g. Le Mans to the Jura mountains is a day's full-on driving.
Check an atlas & my experience is that (with several notable exceptions) the main autoroutes run north-south. I prefer N & D roads (about half my annual mileage is in France) but nowadays with cameras & gendarmes prevalent, if time is short & I need to make progress on an N/S route it is often fairly easy to bail out & jump on a parallel autoroute - this may not be possible when travelling 'horizontally' across central France.
Check an atlas & my experience is that (with several notable exceptions) the main autoroutes run north-south. I prefer N & D roads (about half my annual mileage is in France) but nowadays with cameras & gendarmes prevalent, if time is short & I need to make progress on an N/S route it is often fairly easy to bail out & jump on a parallel autoroute - this may not be possible when travelling 'horizontally' across central France.
The Gendarmerie are out in force, the limit on local D and some N roads has come down from 90 to 80 kph. Basic fine is €90 in notes , no cards and in excess of 50 kph over the limit and your car is seized.
Realistically it will be after 12.30 or even 1 pm when you clear the port and checks, aim to do max four hours that day.
And 80% of tourist accidents happen within a short distance of the port, though I’ve a friend that kinda proved this wrong ass he had the crash in his way back.
France still makes for one of the best driving holidays IMHO.
Realistically it will be after 12.30 or even 1 pm when you clear the port and checks, aim to do max four hours that day.
And 80% of tourist accidents happen within a short distance of the port, though I’ve a friend that kinda proved this wrong ass he had the crash in his way back.
France still makes for one of the best driving holidays IMHO.
If you do decide going down the west side of France, I would suggest Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, Avignon are all great places to visit as you swing east across the Camargue region into the Cote d'Azur.
Done that drive a few times.
The west route is very quiet compared to the not very busy eastern route.
Alternatively, you could stay west a little longer and visit Biarritz, then dip into Spain and spend a night in San Sebastian.
Before heading east.
Done that drive a few times.
The west route is very quiet compared to the not very busy eastern route.
Alternatively, you could stay west a little longer and visit Biarritz, then dip into Spain and spend a night in San Sebastian.
Before heading east.
We use Poole to Cherbourg regularly.
https://www.stopoverconnections.com/bed-and-breakf...
This is close to the port and the Normandy beaches, makes a nice stop in and out of France.
Then we often stop in Bellac which is beautiful.
https://www.france-voyage.com/tourism/bellac-1266....
Then make our way down to Saint Antonin de Nobel Val.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Antonin-Noble-...
Our holiday is then usually 2 weeks in a rented house there and then come back, however it's a good stop off on the way to the Pyrenees or the Cote d'Azure.
Each leg is only a few hours max and so you get a good holiday without the on-a-mission feeling.
https://www.stopoverconnections.com/bed-and-breakf...
This is close to the port and the Normandy beaches, makes a nice stop in and out of France.
Then we often stop in Bellac which is beautiful.
https://www.france-voyage.com/tourism/bellac-1266....
Then make our way down to Saint Antonin de Nobel Val.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Antonin-Noble-...
Our holiday is then usually 2 weeks in a rented house there and then come back, however it's a good stop off on the way to the Pyrenees or the Cote d'Azure.
Each leg is only a few hours max and so you get a good holiday without the on-a-mission feeling.
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