driving to South France

[kiwibella]

I'm trying to budget our travel expenses for getting down to Southern France in the half term. I reckon the tolls will be about £50 each way but uncertain about petrol costs. Actually we have diesel Ive read about filling up at the supermarket instead of services but any experiences or prices would be very helpful.

supermarkets are cheaper but make sue you are inthe pay at kiosk lane as a lot of the machne petrol stations don't take uk credit cards

DS2 was 18 months the first time we did the long trip and it was fine - slept for quite a bit so actualy easier than DS1! We did leave at 4am tho (kids in PJs from bed to car) - which I vowed never to do before I had kids - but it def suits us better getting a chunk of driving out the way whilst DC sleep.

Worzel... we are going in a couple of weeks and dd2 has just gone 3. Everything is crossed that we will survive the journey!
Not planning on going near Paris but keep hearing about how lovely the bridge is.

are you in a car or van?

cos in a van the view is fabulos - not sure how much you can see in a car...

OllieWolliwWoo... this is our first time to CM, in fact first time to holiday in France (apart from a few days in Paris).

We are driving from Calais to Nr Saintes (with a night stop over outside Le Mans)

Really looking forward to it. Enjoy your hols.

Help! I just tried to order a Liber-t card but it doesn't like my post code - & I'm not sure what the second line of the address section is for either - google translates as "no track"???

Thanks to OYBC , I have applied today. I put my postcode in the line above and then put in a random French postcode. it has all gone through OK and i have received a confirmation in English.

Sorry, meant to say thanks to OYBBC and Portofino.

Also second the use of Novotels when travelling with children

This is such a useful thread - we're driving down to the south of france too this summer, I hadn't thought about half this stuff. Planning the route and where we'll stop is on my 'to do' list.

Portofino and Ohyoubadbadkitten, we drive down to the South of France several times a year but we have never bought the toll subscription as we are in a people carrier with a roof box so are over 1.85m and I seem to remember you have to be under 1.85m to use the Liber-t lane. Do you know if this is the case?

Thanks!

Ponders.. regarding the Liber-t I put the postcode on another line and put a 0 in the postcode and it accepted it!!

It's the Liber-t Balade that you want. There is definitely a height restriction I guess to stop trade vehicles. It doesn't seem to mention it on the web site though...

Ruthie, I did the same as you with the postcode. You stick the holder on the windscreen behind the mirror, and the RFID slides out as you probably shouldn't leave it in the car. It has a direct link to your credit card after all.

Oh thank you! Will try again!

PS different companies sell them, but they are valid for all the motorways.

OK, have got past address & reached payment page, but it isn't https or have a padlock at the bottom - is it safe?????

oh, have just seen huge padlock on the RH side - is OK then????

Brussels - so therefore Calais - to Nice is about 12 hours drive. Montpellier and Languedoc is a bit less - maybe 10?

Last couple of times:

Left home about 9.30. Arrived Macon Nord about 5pm (Several stops and road works on the Motorway) Left Macon after Breakfast - arrived St Tropez about 4.30pm. The traffic the 2nd day was much worse, but included a lot of queueing for tolls.

Left home about 9.30. Arrived Lyon Nord about 4pm (further south but no road works). Straight in the Pool. Left after Breakfast - at Siblu parc by lunchtime.

Done it - when they say month, do they mean calendar or 30-day period? (Just so I know!)

Don't forget to tell your bank/card provider before you go! They don't like card fraud in France!

Won'tGoIntoDetailTiggaxx

No idea. You only pay for the tolls you use and something like 1.50 per month for the invoicing, so even if your journey straddles 2 periods it shouldn't be a MAJOR issue.

Will do, Tigga

Porto, there is a 10 euro set-up fee as well - after that does the card last forever, do you know?

Well not forever maybe.....But as far as I am concerned I saved maybe 2 hours of my life queuing in just the one return trip. My time is much more expensive than 5 euros per hour.

Oh it does sound wonderful - last trip we started out using cash & went on to credit card but this sounds so much better, thank you!

be careful if you have a people carrier type car AND a roofbox as you are then too tall to qualify as a type 1 car and you cannot use the liber-t pass

what about bikes on roof racks?? (first time we are taking our bikes...)

Got this from sanef this evening:
"Bonjour,

Vous consultez le site Internet de sanef, pour visualiser vos factures, vos derniers trajets sur l'espace abonnés, ou pour connaître l'état du trafic.

Nous souhaitons vous informer que votre espace abonnés sera inaccessible du lundi 17 mai 8 heures au mercredi 19 mai 8 heures.

En effet, nous vous proposons un nouveau site Internet à partir du 19 mai.

Plus ergonomique, il vous permettra de vous connecter avec plus de facilité. "

So new website available from the 19th. (is what I think it says!)