Experiences of driving to S. of France in one go?

[Stinkyfeet]

We've pretty much decided on a Canvas site in the Languedoc for our holiday in June. We also think we'd prefer to do the drive in one go rather than having an overnight stop.

So, I'm just trying to find out tips and advice for the long drive. Things like best time to do it, how often you tend to need to stop and how long for. And any other useful stuff would be much appreciated!

ho hum. I would say you are pushing it a bit, but I guess it depends how you drive. My children always seem to need to stop a lot.
We got as far as Macon one time, and that was starting early in the morning from the Channel.

Last summer I drove from east of Munich to Paris in one day, but I wouldnt do it again. When we arrived, I was too knackered, and the hotel messed us around, but I didnt have the energy to protest.

Hotels are good value for money in France, pick a small family 1 star one and it wont cost the earth.

we drove to the alps.

i would never do it again. fkin nightmare

God no. Sounds like hell on earth to me.

I like a reasonably long drive, a shower, soemthing to eat and a good nights sleep then continue on.
We always seem to get a snarl up somewhere on route and to be in a car for days kills your legs and makes you bad tempered
My DH used to do this with his parents as a child. He describes it as very close to child abuse
seriously - he HATED it

It depends on a lot of things - time of year (in August forget it), day of the week, tolerance of passengers (if you have young children who will whine) etc.
It CAN be done (we used to when I was little)but you have to leave at silly o'clock from UK and avoid Paris at rush hour. Good thing about going to Languedoc is you can use the new route over the Milau bridge which is much quicker. As other posters have said there are some good cheap hotel chains in France we stay at Etaps which are great for stopovers.

There is no way I would attempt this in one go - it probably take you a minimum of 12-15 hours driving time not counting for breaks/getting lost - you'd be looking at a 24 hour journey and then another 24 hours recovery time.

How about flying and hiring a car if you don't want to lose a day?

If you want to do it all in one go you won't physically be able to stop that much so I think you'll have to play it by ear and just stop at one of the many motorway service stations when everyone needs a break.

We drove up from the Alps after Christmas, in theory a 7.5 hr drive.

With only an hour for lunch and I think 2 other 15 min stops, it still took us from 9am to 6pm.

The DS were great though actually, we had loads of audio CDs and music they like and it went well for the first time (ILs down there so regular trip).

Have a look at mappy or via michelin for a fairly accurate estimate of how long it will take you.

Also check what time you can arrive til at the campsite, could be a problem if it takes longer than you expect to get there.

I wouldn't do it in one go. We drove to Provence with one overnight stop in the summer - it still meant long hours in the car. The roads are good (although very busy as you get closer to the south) and there are lots of places to stop (Aires). But France is a big country - unless your DCs are exceptionally patient in a car I wouldn't do it.

there's that high speed train you can get where you just load your car on and just sleep in your bunk. It's VERY expensive though but if you can afford it, might be worth looking into?

Actually, forget that - seem to not be running to S of Fr this summer link but you could still do it for part of the journey.

I drove to the north west once and it was a bloody nightmare. We had a 12mth old in the back and a car full of stuff and it was seriously hard going. Trying to negotiate foreign roads in the dead of night with a sat nav that doesn't speak french is pure hell. I would not do it again, I'd fly. I'd sooner cut off both my legs and serve them to the french instead of frogs legs then drive to the south. You must be bonkers!

We drive from the uk (surrey ) all the way to Spain in the Summer . My Ds has been doing it since he was 18 months old and he is now 10 . We avoid Paris and go via Reims it looks longer on the map but it isnt and the bypass makes it so much quicker . We go all the way down to Torrie on the costa Blanca near Alicant . We can get to Barcelona in one hit as this is 980 miles from our house . hope this helps

When I was a child we drove to north Spain in one go.

It was awful and I would never do it ever again.

My father drove family and grandfather down to S France, Fayence, skirting Paris and stopped overnight at Macon (Macon wine is fabulous), found a hotel and had a good meal.

He decided it would be entertaining to drive back through part of the Alps (is a very good driver), we had every kind of weather possible - sun, fog, snow, gales - and sheer, vertical drops and couldn't find a room at the inn because of a local festival and it being the weekend; really should have booked. We eventually stopped at Lyon for the night and saw an amazing son et lumière shown against the backdrop of the cathedral that made my mother cry.

We also spent some time at Vimy Ridge and had a cafe lunch before boarding the ferry home.

Right, so we should probably scrap that plan and rethink!! I very much appreciate all your thoughts - we thought it was a bit ambitious, but doable.

I will now research en-route stopovers!

Thanks all.

We drove from the north of Spain to the South East once and it took us about 9 hours after a 20 hour ferry ride. It was awful, so tiring and I wasn't even the one driving. We now tend to drive to Madrid which takes about 4ish hours from the ferry and stay overnight and do the same sort of journey time wise the other side and it is far better, much safer too I think.

We did Manchester to Mid Brittany over Christmas. The journey this side was horrific (mainly due to the snow tbf) and it took us 11 hours just to get as far as Ilford.

On the way home, the 5h 48m journey from my parents house to the tunnel took 10 hours. We then had 3 hours at the tunnel and a further 1.5 hours to the travelodge. Plus the 3.5 hours the next day.

There is no way on this earth that DH or I ever want to drive for that amount of time again.

Its your choice and go for your life, but IMHO, you must be fucking craaaaaaaaaaazy .

Have done this journey quite a few times - would definitely recommend a stop around Lyon area on the way, and Chablis on the way back. This was going to Nice area though.

It's a bit of a killer, but the overnight stops can be part of the holiday. It's even more fun if you don't book anywhere in August, as my Dad always refused to - and oh, the places we stayed

somany

My DH always wants to just find somewhere God - we had two great stops and two where you didn't want to sit on the bed , let alone get in it.

We talked about it. I won. We book

Ha-ha. At Lyon, our unbooked stop-over in August, we watched continuous line of ants come under the bedroom door, up over the bed and out under the patio door. We amused ourselves by building them obstacles.

Wore flip-flops in the shower and didn't use the towels.

Definitely should have booked!

So we should definitely book stopovers, not just turn up then .... !

Dp is very much a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants sort of a bloke, and would prefer to stop when he's ready and I'm sensing that's not a great idea!

I would book! As Pagwatch said, sometimes we were REALLY lucky, and found an amazing place to stay, other times we were driving around for hours with my Mum leaping out at less and less desirable places to ask if they had any rooms, just to be greeted by a sad shake of the head.

One time my parents went on holiday (thankfully without me) and couldn't find anywhere to stay, so they just pulled up and slept in the car. In the morning, they were woken by buzzing and lorries - they were parked on a rubbish dump.

Another time we ended up staying at a fairly famous author's house who took pity on us - full use of their guest bungalow and swimming pool! A major coup for my father!

I still have nightmares....

Jeez I wouldn't even contemplate no stops or not booking.Getting to the South of France avec les enfants I hate to say is not a fly by the seat of your pants thing.

We've done it a lot. Dordogne 1 stop and Provence 2 generally.Both a freakin nightmare (well with my gang anyway).

My sister last year flew to meet us all I'm still getting over how fresh they were with their 18month old twins. Dp and I were still recovering from the journey with our gang 5 year old twins and dd 4 3 days in and are now seriously considering flying next time.

We've driven down south since our twins were 10 months old so have lots of tips on how to make things easier but even so-brace yourself

I generally find exception of the nightmare ahead helps. Daydreams of picnics in glades found by chance chewing one's baguette whilst les petits tumble happily in the grass make everything worse.

Also prepare with military precision and you can avert a lot of the stress.

Although to be fair you are travelling in June, not in August, so not at ALL peak time.

But most of the motorway hotels are a bit, well, noisy! whereas there are nice chambres d'hotes a little off the motorway.

Just check it's not a bank holiday weekend when you are travelling - cue chaos on the roads - I can tell you if you give me your dates.

We have done this journey quite a lot as we LOVE the languedoc region. We usually get an early evening channel tunnel train and then drive to Bourges/Valance ( the centre of France ) ish and then stay in one of the cheapy motels like Ibis or Etap. Then set off early the next day to enjoy the scenery and the Milau bridge etc - beware of the A75- loads of speed cameras and the French are really cracking down on speeding Brits!

On the return journey we always do it one go. If you need "nice" services I can find the map and our scribbles with good play areas/food etc