# Paris



## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

Hello,

I would just like to know what peoples opinions are who drive through france to the UK and also coming back to Spain as to wether they avoid paris or follow the sat nav route down to paris and then around the ring road, i've never done it and would just like to know what to expect.

I have asked this question on the France section but only got one answer so i thought i'd try the Spanish section, i will be travelling from calais at 0830 on friday 27/05 if that makes any difference,

Thanks 

Paul


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

pg1710 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I would just like to know what peoples opinions are who drive through france to the UK and also coming back to Spain as to wether they avoid paris or follow the sat nav route down to paris and then around the ring road, i've never done it and would just like to know what to expect.
> 
> ...


We drive round the periferique often, it is best to avoid rush hour but it is easy and our sat nav copes with it well.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Ive done it through Paris twice ... and never again

I have since come down the East of France via Lyon etc.

The reason? I used to drive to Paris a lot on business, so know it well. The first time we drove through there to Spain we were in a Luton Van, and we hit it about 7 am. It was quite difficult, especially as we were not sure of which exit we needed to take. If you are stuck in the wrong lane of the Perifierique then it can be a nightmare to get over  The French "rush hour" drivers are not very forgiving.

The second time we were heading North to catch a Ferry in Calais. We got there about 3 pm and spent the next 3.5 hours sitting in traffic queues. Needless to say, we were late in Calais and very stressed

You just need one accident and the whole route can get snarled up, and to my mind it isnt worth the risk and hassle.

Frankly taking costs and sanity into consideration, if you take the Portsmouth Santander Ferry and then drop down, its a lot better trip, abd thats what we have tended to do the last few trips.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

This is our preferred route - avoiding Paris.

Estepona, Spain to Calais, France - Google Maps


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

Thank you,

The ferry option coming out isn't possible this time, but we're going back via the bilbao to portsmouth route.

I am hoping to hit paris about midday if i go that route so i should avoid the rush hour traffic the sat nav is a tomtom go 1000 live with live traffic updates so i'm hoping that should give me aq good chance of avoiding any hold ups but i'm more concerned ofwhat the alternatives are if there are any hold ups so i can divert.

I've looked at the other routes and they seem to put 45 minutes extra on the trip, the only other one that looks any good to me is heading down to evreux as i need to get to millau.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pg1710 said:


> Thank you,
> 
> The ferry option coming out isn't possible this time, but we're going back via the bilbao to portsmouth route.
> 
> ...


No, you could go dover / Calais, Troyes, Lyon, Perpignon etc etc. Forty five minutes is not a lot on a journey of maybe two days

The time of day wont help you if there is one snarl up or accident. You could spend hours there. Alternatively you might not ... it's a lottery. Once you're on there, you're on there 

Choice is yours, I can only tell you from my past experience


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> No, you could go dover / Calais, Troyes, Lyon, Perpignon etc etc. Forty five minutes is not a lot on a journey of maybe two days
> 
> The time of day wont help you if there is one snarl up or accident. You could spend hours there. Alternatively you might not ... it's a lottery. Once you're on there, you're on there
> 
> Choice is yours, I can only tell you from my past experience


My wife has just come out witha good point the day we're travelling is the start of school holidays in the uk so i suppose there will be more traffic that day heading to eurodisney especially as they've been doing a lot of offers where children can go free.

The route you've put above does that put me near millau as i need to stop in millau over night i'm not bothered about toll roads


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pg1710 said:


> My wife has just come out witha good point the day we're travelling is the start of school holidays in the uk so i suppose there will be more traffic that day heading to eurodisney especially as they've been doing a lot of offers where children can go free.
> 
> The route you've put above does that put me near millau as i need to stop in millau over night i'm not bothered about toll roads


Not sure. All I can tell you is that the routes join somewhere near Montpellier iirc. If you were to drive it non stop from Calais on day one you would get somewhere around Valences or slightly South by late afternoon, and then Valencia the following day. Its about 8 or so hours drive a day


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> Not sure. All I can tell you is that the routes join somewhere near Montpellier iirc. If you were to drive it non stop from Calais on day one you would get somewhere around Valences or slightly South by late afternoon, and then Valencia the following day. Its about 8 or so hours drive a day


Thanks for the advice found the route now and going to stick with it calais, evreux,chartres, millau, then down to denia & hope to get to the villa for saturday evening,

Just a completely different question now, i know the weather has been a bit hit and miss lately with a bit more rain than normal but has anyone ventured into there unheated pools yet or is the water still a bit too chilly


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pg1710 said:


> Thanks for the advice found the route now and going to stick with it calais, evreux,chartres, millau, then down to denia & hope to get to the villa for saturday evening,
> 
> Just a completely different question now, i know the weather has been a bit hit and miss lately with a bit more rain than normal but has anyone ventured into there unheated pools yet or is the water still a bit too chilly


Yes I have, the pool is around 22 - 23 degrees at the moment


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> Yes I have, the pool is around 22 - 23 degrees at the moment


That's it i'm a bit jealous now, we had a few hot days so far but now it's back to normal uk weather coats and jumpers.

I'm paying for my wife to swim with the dolphins at mundomar as a birthday suprise dont suppose anyone here has done it but if so is it any good.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

pg1710 said:


> That's it i'm a bit jealous now, we had a few hot days so far but now it's back to normal uk weather coats and jumpers.
> 
> I'm paying for my wife to swim with the dolphins at mundomar as a birthday suprise dont suppose anyone here has done it but if so is it any good.


don't be too jealous - he won't be swimming today - it's cold & wet out!!


we haven't swum with the dolphins, -that's still planned -but my girls did have their photos taken stroking one a few years ago


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

pg1710 said:


> That's it i'm a bit jealous now, we had a few hot days so far but now it's back to normal uk weather coats and jumpers.
> 
> I'm paying for my wife to swim with the dolphins at mundomar as a birthday suprise dont suppose anyone here has done it but if so is it any good.


Yes we have done it ...... but in the Bahamas


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

jimenato said:


> This is our preferred route - avoiding Paris.
> 
> Estepona, Spain to Calais, France - Google Maps


That's the route I always used. . I'd never even entertain going through Paris.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We used Michelin maps and they were excellent but we always avoid Paris. I guess it depends on where you are heading to in Spain or from, but we went from Calais, down the French coast (ish) and crossed into Spain at San Sebastion then headed straight down through Madrid and Granada. 

We swam with dolphins twice (Florida keys) and loved it both tyimes. Would recommend it to anyone.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

thrax said:


> We used Michelin maps and they were excellent but we always avoid Paris. I guess it depends on where you are heading to in Spain or from, but we went from Calais, down the French coast (ish) and crossed into Spain at San Sebastion then headed straight down through Madrid and Granada.
> 
> We swam with dolphins twice (Florida keys) and loved it both tyimes. Would recommend it to anyone.


By far the route I have enjoyed most is Portsmouth / St Malo and down the West Coast and through the Pyranees. Its the route we took when I bought my car over from the UK and we stopped at a few seaside towns on the way. However, the Ferry isn't cheap


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> By far the route I have enjoyed most is Portsmouth / St Malo and down the West Coast and through the Pyranees. Its the route we took when I bought my car over from the UK and we stopped at a few seaside towns on the way. However, the Ferry isn't cheap


Thats why we went to Calais - after adding up all the costs - petrol and tolls and a cheap hotel, it was far cheaper to do the extra driving...


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

thrax said:


> Thats why we went to Calais - after adding up all the costs - petrol and tolls and a cheap hotel, it was far cheaper to do the extra driving...


The reason i'm driving is purely down to the fact that i wont be held to ransom by the airlines and car rental companies for travelling with 3 children 2 of which are disabled and all 3 still need car seats so the car rental wanted to charge us £210 for 3 car seats for a 2 week period plus aswell as that the need for a roofbox for the childrens pushchairs put that up a further £150 pound so the total car rental was coming in at £1400 then the extra baggage costs at the airports in the end the best price was coming in at around £3000 so that makes £4400 ish just for the travelling weigh that up against driving through france return trip at £500 ish or return on ferry at £1395 if i remember correctly and it's a no brainer for me. I could of gone on a package holiday which would be cheaper but dont like the idea of a packed noisy hotel this way i'm renting a villa so can do as we wish within reason.


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

sorry to hijack in a way but for the drive from Calais down through France avoiding Paris, how expensive are the toll roads, I'll be driving down to San javier in July and tempted to avoid them completely but then again they are hassle free. Anyone have a rough idea of the costs.

Cheers

John


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

MacRov said:


> sorry to hijack in a way but for the drive from Calais down through France avoiding Paris, how expensive are the toll roads, I'll be driving down to San javier in July and tempted to avoid them completely but then again they are hassle free. Anyone have a rough idea of the costs.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> John


From calais to Denia it's about 75 euro using viamichelin


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

Not as much as I thought it would be at all....hmmm, how do you pay, is it at booths ? will make it fun in a RHD car


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

MacRov said:


> Not as much as I thought it would be at all....hmmm, how do you pay, is it at booths ? will make it fun in a RHD car


You pay at the booths, i'm doing it a RHD aswell, so my wife can have the fun part of paying, if you use the via michelin site and start from calais and add via evreux then put your destination it will tell you the toll and fuel costs you can adjust it to car type and fuel type and the average fuel costs


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

cool, I've put it via Le-Mans and it comes over to Spain through Bayonne then over to Zaragoza then Valencia & down to San Javier. 
If I put via Exvreux it takes me through the middle of France and into Spain through Perpignan and past Barcelona and onwards that way.
2 entirely different routes and only an 18 mile difference haha, decisions.
Oh and I don't think my dogs will be much use in the passenger side to pay the tolls haha


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

MacRov said:


> cool, I've put it via Le-Mans and it comes over to Spain through Bayonne then over to Zaragoza then Valencia & down to San Javier.
> If I put via Exvreux it takes me through the middle of France and into Spain through Perpignan and past Barcelona and onwards that way.
> 2 entirely different routes and only an 18 mile difference haha, decisions.
> Oh and I don't think my dogs will be much use in the passenger side to pay the tolls haha


No i dont suppose they'll be much help, the reason i,m going that route is it seems more direct but i'm booking into a hotel millau enroute for a overnight stop and that's about the halfway mark.


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

me n the dogs are just gunna slum it in the service stations car parks, that way I can keep an eye on the trailer etc. Speaking of service stations, are there many throughout france, don't wanna end up stuck with no fuel lol

edit// found the show service stations bit on the map, there';s loads


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

MacRov said:


> me n the dogs are just gunna slum it in the service stations car parks, that way I can keep an eye on the trailer etc. Speaking of service stations, are there many throughout france, don't wanna end up stuck with no fuel lol


From what i am led to believe they are more frequent than over here, are you leaving from Aberdeenshire, my wife thought my idea was hairbrained


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

pg1710 said:


> From what i am led to believe they are more frequent than over here, are you leaving from Aberdeenshire, my wife thought my idea was hairbrained


I'll be leaving from my folks house, which is near Dundee but still a mammoth drive, quite looking forward to it


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## pg1710 (Jul 19, 2010)

MacRov said:


> I'll be leaving from my folks house, which is near Dundee but still a mammoth drive, quite looking forward to it


Good luck, got to go.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

MacRov said:


> I'll be leaving from my folks house, which is near Dundee but still a mammoth drive, quite looking forward to it


I did the drive from southampton to southern spain via Dover twice in a fortnight. Once in a Luton and once in my own car and both times with a passenger to pay the tolls. The forst bit through France was deadly dull but as we got closer to Bordeaux it began to get more interesting. But I enjoyed both trips apart from the Luton getting a rear blow out just before Le Mans


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## SmokeyBeagle (Apr 13, 2011)

*Paris? No probs at all!*



pg1710 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I would just like to know what peoples opinions are who drive through france to the UK and also coming back to Spain as to wether they avoid paris or follow the sat nav route down to paris and then around the ring road, i've never done it and would just like to know what to expect.
> 
> ...



We went from Netherlannds over Paris Sept 2010 trailing a big caravan in last year, came back on a Wednesday +- 1300hrs 2 weeks ago. We chose the "N" roads ( route national), missing the "TOLLS: ( over expensive) completely. We were trailing quite a large caravan and our animals with us in car. PARIS IS NOT A PROBLEM AT ALL!!! Paris is actually a doddle. My husband had sleepless nights over PARIS for actually no reason what so ever, much easier than LYON!. 

If you are lucky Paris is a doddle as I have already said, also it is so busy that if you are in the wrong lane (everybody in Paris is in wrong lane!) you can change lanes so very easily.....Just dont worry about it at all ....everybody is trying to change lanes, and tommorow is another daywe are all here to tell the tale. Its a good experience, really and no problem!


If you have a navigator in your car, listen and use that rather that your wife and you will get through Paris in no time at all, and you will still be friends with your wife!!

Smokey


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