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.

any recommendations for european breakdown cover?

we have UK cover with greenflag through our bank but need to sort some EU cover out

only 3 sleeps

£37 for 2 weeks with Green Flag here

but try contacting green flag direct to see how much to extend your existing cover to Europe

(are you getting v excited??)

3 sleeps! I'm officially jealous. We have to wait until July.

Anyone else going to be in the Gers?

Ah yes, but then we will be at home (probably getting rained on) when you're out there in July

(we're going in 2 sleeps!!!)

ponders which bit are you off to?

can't get through to the liber-t people so wait and see

we are going to Roussillon - west of you, near Perpignan.

Leaving Wed morning, tunnel Wed afternoon, overnight S of Paris, arriving Thu teatime - yay! (Showers forecast Friday but I don't care!)

Oh I do hope your liber-t thing arrives, sherby. They are issued by different centres I think (depending on which bit of map you click on?) Le Pontet is near Avignon. If you do get it for £1.73 it's a bargain!

Ooh we stopped off at Cabasson on the way back to Toulon airport. Twas very nice.

Can recommend lunch here

three sleeps... we're all on countdown!!

How exciting! I hope you have a lovely time. Got to wait til July 10th for our holibobs! DH didn;t want to go til after the World Cup was finished, but we have friends in Bavaria. I have convinced him that a) this is (sort of) on the way b) that they have a tv.

Fingers crossed for an England/Germany Final. Though someone told me this couldn;t happen due to group thing.....

Just done the Liberté thing but slightly foxed with the flowery French web page and hoping it's worked. It seemed to. You just get to a page where it wants you to either print or retour, yes? And then hopefully they'll send me an email confirming the card. And the card, obv. There didn't seem to be much of a 'yes, you have done it all right' feel about it all. And my French is execrable these days.

Ha, it worked! Telepéage badge arrived today in a protective bag which much be conserved and I must not allow the badge to evite the pochette in case it is detected by antennas. Marvellous. Good service, too. Five days from a foreign country is pretty cool.

lol

You don't have long to go, Portofino! We're off five days after you. Can't wait. I do love the French language. It always makes me laugh. There's something very fussy and matronly about it.

BTW, for anyone doing this in the future, gmail helpfully delivered all the confirmation emails to my spam folder. Thanks, gmail. Just because I haven't specifically told you I speak French I don't think you should make assumptions.

Anyone going down there around August 1st, I would STRONGLY recommend avoiding PAris !!! Go on the motorways via Rouen, Le Mans and Tours then down the N10.
We used to stop over at Rouen but now we leave home (nr Manchester) around 6am ish and Dover-Calais ferry, then drive straight down to just south of Poitiers on the N10. Tend to get there about 9pm so not too late for our 2 DD's, almost 4yrs and almost 2yrs. Have been doing this same trip every couple of months for the past 5 yrs (renovating house).
Good luck everyone, driving on the French roads is SO much easier and less stressful than UK motorways (carparks !).

3 weeks to go! We're not going to France this year though (for a change) but Italy, via Germany on way out and Switzerland on the way back. Dd has never seen a mountain! I think I will start my own thread about driving in Italy as I have no clue.....

Oh, that sounds like an exciting trip, Portofino. Mountains and three countries sounds great.

We always go via Rouen, shocknews, though this will be the first time with a child in tow - we flew the past few years. Will be setting off on 15th July and it seems really close now. Telepéage badge sitting in car glovebox inside its pochette as I am paranoid about forgetting it.

Hello.

I'm planning on travelling from the UK down to the south of France in September. I will be travelling with my toddler in a van....camping holiday for around a month. Please any tips and advise will be great. thank you