Driving to the South of France - which route, where to stopover

[snorkle]

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I've done this trip a few times. Total driving time would be about 10 -12 hrs depending how far along the south coast you go.
So you can do it in one day if you want but I think its best to break the journey up into two and stop over half way.
The autoroutes are great, much better than the Uk motorways and have loads of service stops, usually every 30 miles at the least. Most of the stops have playareas and good catering facilities (again much better than UK).
If you go onto theaa.com or rac website you can do a travel route from Uk to the part of france you are going to and that will give you a much better idea of time.
Anymore questions -fire away - france is my fav topic!

We always used to drive straight down before having kids, and I think 11 hours was about average. We use the autoroute because it takes far too long otherwise and isn't that pretty unless you go right off the beaten track. Last year we stayed in an Accor hotel by the side of the motorway - pretty good value but not exciting. It was good stopping because the children could swim when we got there rather than going straight to bed.

We stop in Novotels, all in one family room + a great breakfast. Depends on where you are heading. We stoppes at Bourges last year, but have done Dijon and other areas - wherever looks good on the map.

We take early Calais crossing and arrive 4pm ish at stopover, then on destination site between 2&4 next day.

We stopped at the Novotel in Rouen last year. It was brilliant. Spotlessly clean and comfy and the breakfast was superb. We had three children, the youngest of whom was three years old and we had to take two rooms despite saying that he could share our bed. We had an interconnecting door and the children all shared so we had a brilliant night's sleep (and telly until late, and reading, and wine!). There was an outdoor pool and play area which the children thoroughly enjoyed too.

For B&B have a look at www.gites-de-france.fr (in English)

if you go via Bourges I can suggest a fab hotel in the town which felt like a real start to our holiday last year.

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Bourge was IIRC about 6 hours DRIVING plus a lunch stop from Calais. We ttok the 7.55 ferry, arrived 10.30 frenchtime, stoppped for lunch and got to Bourges around 5.30. The hotel we stayed in was really pretty, in the town with a nice swimming pool. Bourges itself is very pretty, so we stopped, swam, had a beer, then explored and had supper in teh town. We had a good nights sleep, another swim and then set off for a day. Our kids were 7 snd 5 at the time and it was really nice, it made the holiday start then.
les tilleuls
Total cost about 140E or £100 a bit more than a B&B, but worth it IMHO (check out reviews online they are all good)

Snorkle, we tend to go the other way avoiding Paris. To be honest we normally just go straight down to the south.