Trip to France by Car from UK

[Metaphor]

Hello All,

I'm planning a 3 days trip to France by car and need some recommendations for nice places to visit during August.

Could you suggest some destinations that are easily accessible from the UK and any formalities for British nationals to be aware of?

Many Thanks

You need European cover on your insurance , get European breakdown cover just in case and a French driving kit - there are lists online includes hi viz , first aid kit etc . I’d go to Brittany or Normandy if you are only doing a few days as they are relatively quick to get to .

Where in the uk are you coming from? Makes a bit of a difference to which port you go to and from? Like if you love in Glasgow I'm not going to suggest Plymouth - Roscoff which is lovely btw.

What are you after? Bucket and spade holiday, or more city?

@CrushingOnRubies, thanks for your reply, will be travelling from Kent, aiming for city visit which are not very crowded😀

We do this quite regularly. We've done air B&B in Le Touquet, sometimes we stay in Calais as a base & do the odd day trip. Wissant is lovely. Bruges is my favourite city & only 1hr 30 from Calais in the car. The Novotel in the centre has an outdoor pool that my DC love in the summer.

Honfleur is lovely but might be busy in August. It’s just under 3 hours from Calais.

Any formalities?

Everyone you meet, say 'Bonjour'.

Walk into a shop, say 'Bonjour'.

Get to the till, say 'Bonjour'.

Once served, say 'Merci. Au revoir. Bonne journée'.

From Calais - Boulogne, Le Touquet, Fort Mahon Plage.

Crit air sticker! Especially if you are planning to drive into cities.

And I can't understand why I was never taught this in years of French at school. It really is the basics.

Just came on to say this- do you have one OP?

I really liked the Bayeau Tapestry museum - and the town itself is nice

Mont Saint-Michel was a good visit too a bit further round the coast

Lille?

If you go to Normandy you could visit Mont St Michel and the landing beaches.

If only 3 days, Le Touquet area as suggested above. You could do Honfleur at a push (we have done it for 4 days from Calais) but Bayeux or anywhere further West in Normandy is probably too much driving for 3 days.

Or Epernay/Reims if you are interested in Champagne.

St Malo and the surrounding area is superb for 3 days.

It really is only some cities. We haven't even got one yet. Will do when Bordeaux comes in.

• Aix-Marseille-Provence region
• Bordeaux (coming in 2024)
• Clermont-Ferrand
• Grenoble
• Lyon
• Marseille
• Montpellier
• Paris
• Reims
• Rouen
• Strasbourg
• Toulouse

Not a city break as such but the area around the Baie de Somme is beautiful. Lovely little towns like Le Crotoy and St Valery sur Somme, beautiful beaches, great seafood. Easy to visit lovely places like Eu and Mers le Bains a little further down the coast. The Baie is just an hours drive from Calais.

And as lots of people have said, don’t forget your Bonjours!

Yes but it's really cheap, lasts indefinitely, and then you have flexibility to go wherever subject to local restrictions (albeit probably not a requirement for 3 days.) We go to France via Dieppe and need one as our route always takes us through the outskirts of Rouen. They can take a few weeks to come through so worth ordering in advance.

What's a crit air sticker?

It's a clean air vignette - here.

Arras is worth a visit - a couple of beautiful cobbled squares surrounded by Flemish-style buildings, lovely to visit for lunch and a glass of wine on a sunny day, about 1hr 15 from Calais. It's also near some of the WW1 trenches if you wanted to go and look.

Lille is only a little more than an hour from Calais. Big enough to keep you busy for a few days.

With 3 days, I'd stay in northern France and visit the Normandy landing beaches and war graves.

Driving in France give from RAC

Bayeaux and the dd beaches / museums are a lovely place to visit. Look at Arromanches to stay in, I used a b&b which was mostly bikers and very friendly,
Normandy beach bnb not on booking.com! British couple super friendly, had a mini tank in the garden and had a large family room.

We are going on Saturday to Compiegne. Apprx 1 1/2 hours drive from Calais. There is a large palace, the armistice museum, nearby is the castle they used to film Merlin (the actual reason for the trip, thanks DD).

Lille is not that far away. It's a Low emission zone area so you do need to check if you require a permit.

We plan 3 days before going further to Belgium.

You need the car kit, easy to get prior to arriving in Folkstone where you will pay a fortune for all things you forgot.
UK car sticker
You can't take meat or dairy into France, so don't pack a picnic, we normally stop at a Carrefour in Calais.