Driving UK to South of France any recommendations?

[mummumlife]

Hello,

After much deliberation my family of 4- 2 boys aged 5 and 2.5 have decide to drive from Glasgow to South of France in July where we have been invited to a wedding at Saint Tropez. We were originally going to fly to Nice but due to the costs and the arrival times of the flights, it would be more fun to drive.
We plan on staying overnight before arriving at Calais as its almost a 9 hour drive there and leave in the morning on the Eurotunnel. Looking at my Google Maps the route to Reimes - Beaune - Lyon then to Nice seems the quickest and has tolls.
Could anyone offer me some advice if this is the best route to take please and any nice mid range hotel recommendations which are good for kids? I like the idea of staying in a tree house. We would probably do one night stay before arriving at Nice for couple of nights then go to the wedding at St Tropez. Many thanks in advance x

We live on the continent, so I can't comment on the full drive from the UK, but this will be our third year going to the riviera for May half term so we know the drive fairly well and always go via Lyon.

Nice is quite far from St Tropez... are you sure you don't want to stay further down the coast? It doesn't look far on a map but that road to St Tropez is not a motorway and it can take a good hour to get there from where we stay near St Raphael, which is a good hour from Nice. The beach is also rocky and very, very full. If you want to stay nearer that end of the riviera, check out Antibes and St Jean Cap Ferrat too.

Not a treehouse or even a hotel, but our kids of similar ages (5 and 3) really enjoy the Eurocamp site just outside of St Raphael called Esterel. The Eurocamp accommodation itself is a little run down (go for a nicer unit if you can) but the park is fabsuper clean and manicured and the pools and waterslides are perfect for the kids. Mine look forward to that cheap little holiday more than pretty much anything else we do with them because they love the pools so much. It's almost halfway between Cannes and St Tropez so might be good for you if you want to stay in one place and do day trips instead of moving around. The drive to Cannes along the coast is really fabulous (Cannes makes a good day trip as it has sandy beaches and the croisette is lovely). At that age I'd totally recommend a visit to the Monaco aquarium as wellour 5 year olds still remember it from two years ago.

How many days are you allowing to travel by car to St Tropez pre wedding and then back to Glasgow post wedding?.

Think you will become thoroughly sick of the car and given the ages of your children I would actually consider flying into Nice instead and hiring a car there (however, its still around 70 miles from St Tropez on single lane roads especially nearer St Tropez and the traffic can be horrendous). Driving there could well be actually more costly in terms of accommodation, food, tolls, Eurotunnel fares and petrol too.

If you travel to Dover via the Dartford River Crossing on the M25 you will need to pay in advance for a DART pass (they no longer accept the £2 cash payable at the toll booth). Only use the official gov.uk website and no other for this purpose.

Another option is fly to Nice & take the ferry to St Tropez - it's just over 2 hours. As a PP has said, the beach at Nice isn't small kid friendly - it's rocky & there's a steep decline into the sea. However, about 10 minutes away by train is Villefranche (the beach is opposite the train station) which is much better & sandy in parts. The view around you when you get into the sea is very pretty & classic Riviera. Get there early though & take beach mats!

It is a beautiful part of the world but soooo busy in the holidays. You mentioned July is this before the schools break up. French school break up earlier I believe - certainly France is much busier with french tourists after 14th July.

Have driven down in the past with a 4 yr old; we just got on the motorway and stopped regularly at service stations - many of which have play areas. We've stopped around Reims / Troyes / Arras,

As others have said the distance Nice to San T is longer than you think and the roads in July are horrendously busy as is accomodation - book it now. We've stayed at the La Baume camp site in Frejus - good facilities for children, restaurant, bars, pools, play areas, plenty of shade. Great beach at San Raphael.

Are you planning to stay in St Tripez for the wedding? It’s quite pricey and not hugely child friendly, not much beach to speak of. Also it’s quite a drive from Nice - there’s about 1.5 hours of motorway then the last leg is on windy mountain roads and the coast roads; this part takes about 40mins in clear traffic but if busy could take hours in nose to tail traffic. August is peak period but even so that part of the drive could be grim even in July. An alternative is to look at staying in Ste Maxime which has good beaches, is child friendly, would be cheaper than St Tropez, is nearer to Nice (although you’d still have a bit of a drive to get there, it’s cuts out the final beach roads part of the drive) and most importantly you can catch a boat from there across the bay to St Tropez which takes about 20 mins and there are numerous sailings each day.

Sorry 1 hour of motorway from Nice to the A8 turn off for St Tropez/Ste Maxime, not 1.5....

Info about navettes from Ste Maxime to St Tropez here www.bateauxverts.com/en/navettes/sainte-maximesaint-tropez/

Hi,

We've done that drive through France for the last 10 years down to the south coast of france.

First couple of years we did Calais to Reims which is about 2.5 to 3 hours and stayed in a Novotel on the outskirts, just off the motorway. Then another 6 hours to Montpelier down the route de soleil which is the toll motorway you have mentionned.
Last few years we have driven a bit further from Calais to Dijon, another 2 hours or so, and again used a Novotel on the outskirts and easily accessible from the motorway. We decided that these were better options for us as quick and easy check in, they both have pools, a bar and restaurant with ok breakfasts and we could get back on the road fairly easily the next day. For us the novotels work as driving around unfamiliar cities would have been a marriage wrecker! Plus we had bikes on the top so needed the hotel parking.

Nice is really not very nice. I recommend you stay at www.fermeaugustin.com/ in Ramatuelle..

When were you last in Nice MariaNovella? Would have to completely disagree with you (sorry!).They've spent millions 're-furbing it & it's an extremely attractive city.

I was last in Nice in October 2018.

There's good overnight stop options near Lyon or Dijon depending on how far you are willing to drive - we usually do the overnight ferry (Portsmouth to Caen) though

I'm sorry, I think that drive is incredibly long with a young family and I have travelled up to 1200 km regularly with my kids since they were born. Glasgow to Nice is 2000 km! I think you will all be miserable and stressed. A real endurance test. Add in 3 hours delay here and there for roadworks / traffic jams / long delays in Eurotunnel etc and it could be horrendous. Have you factored in the road tolls? They really add up, though the driving experience is generally good.

Also, do not underestimate the traffic jams on the Riviera. I don't go there any more in peak season because of the gridlock.

Definitely look out for a good campsite with swimming pools complex! There are plenty of good ones around, choose your location wisely so you can avoid using your car when you're there.

Have to agree with the pp who doesn't like Nice - I never warmed to it either, maybe just because there are so many nicer places in the area? Just a bit souless?

Ok! Obviously we’re going to have to agree to completely differ!

We have drove from Northern Ireland to near the Spanish border ... with Dublin/Holyhead and Southampton/ Caen. We also visited other parts of France, and it was very usual to meet other Irish and Scottish families who drove there.

For us, what worked when the children were young is getting the frequency of stops correct. We did a quick 15 to 20 min "pee" stop after 2 or 2.5 hours, then a longer 1hr+ "picnic" stop after another 2 to 2.5 hrs. Any longer, and rows broke out. The children will happily play games and read.... and you can also have dvds/downloads of movies now.

English motorways are very busy from the midlands south and lots of delays/ roadworks so we averaged 45 to 55 miles per hour between stops.
French motorways are brilliant with not as much traffic, and we easily averaged 70 miles per hour between stops. So in france we would clock up 300ish miles between "picnic" breaks.

Just beware

1. the extra cost of french tolls.... but they are totally worth it for covering ground quickly.
2. Fuel prices at french motorway stations is much more expensive than at supermarkets (was 10 or 25 cents per litre more) .... if you can find a supermarket just off the motorway ... it is worth topping up (Fuel in french supermarkets was cheaper than uk).

Enjoy the adventure!!

Thanks very much everyone. I really appreciate all your comments.
I completely underestimated the costs and the fuel and tolls alone would actually cost approx £400 and thats one way and excluding Euro Tunnel ticket! Then all the accommodation in between too! So it works out more driving than flying even though we get more days by driving. We can travel from 6th to 15th July. The wedding is from 10th to 12th July.
Our friend is extremely generous and providing accommodation at St T for the wedding.
We have done long drives in the UK and Germany with the kids and luckily they are great with travel but from the sounds of all the traffic jams it is probably best we don’t drive. The wedding is just before the french school hols I think, its until the 12th July.
I think maybe just my hub and I will go on this trip and fly over to Nice to keep costs down. My other dilemma was wether to take the kids or not to a wedding but I think i have made up my mind now. I know some of you may say its selfish if I don’t bring the kids but they will have another road trip with us later in the summer and I need to watch the budget. Think I’ll leave the driving down France till when the kids are older.

As an alternative have you considered the train? In the summer Eurostar does direct services from Kent to Marseille in about 6 hours. The 2 year old would be free. You could then either change trains (there is a line running along the riviera) or pick up a hire car. Train is s but boring but at least you can walk around and go to the buffet/loo when you want.

I’ve just been to Avignon and back on Eurostar. No stress way to travel if it goes well, but can be subject to delays. On the way back I was delayed 3 hours as the train had to be re routed onto a slower track due to an accident.
Only 7 .5 hours though. You could go straight through to Marseille then get a train to st tropez or the nearest station ( don’t know if st t has a station, I suspect not).
I don’t think you’re selfish not taking the kids, I think you’re sane! It might be quite hot and little ones and weddings aren’t always a great mix.

Thank you @CoolShoeshine and @whataboutbob and everyone that’s commented. It’s only for a few days so I get to enjoy some me time 😋Would love to drive down france with the kids in the near future 😊