Ess

By this Saturday we'll be in France with a rental car. Boyfriend is the driver, and I'm the navigator god help us! I bought a big spiral bound yellow Michelin road atlas of France. Anybody have any tips on driving in France, e.g. something particularly strange or confusing for a first-time driver there? I know sans plumb means unleaded. Thanks to everyone for all your previous help.

Sherry

The two times I traveled by car in France, I thought the trafic circles were the hardest to navigate. The one good thing about them, though, is if you miss your turn off then you can make another turn around the circle. Also final destinations tend to be found going from town to town to town rather then relying on specific route numbers. All in all, I found driving there not at all difficult. Parking can sometimes be a little trickly as the spaces seemed little to me. Everyone seems to drive fairly fast, too.

mode

Just return from two weeks in France with rental car. Ditto round-abouts; yield to those in the circle first, can recycle to check directions. Need a navigator and driver. With good map, roads are fine, each are numbered well, color coded and numbered at each Km usually along the road small markers. The diretional arrows that point to towns can be a little confusing becuase they look as if they are pointing left and they actually mean straight ahead. Gas stations close at 11 p.m. and are not in every small town. They take major credit cards. The automatic pumps may not take Visa or Mastercard. Getting out of Paris was the worst experience. Next time I would pick up car outside of Paris, i.e., airport. Toll roads (paege looks like pay) are expensive and not worth it. Major road usually parallels toll road. Other than that, it was fun and worth the cost to see the country side and small towns. Many roads have parking areas and/or picnic areas. Signs are basically better than U.S. except for the directions arrows mentioned above.

Ess

Thank you both very much! I think we'll be ok with traffic circles and fast drivers - people drive like maniacs where we live. Your info on going town to town for final destination vs. route number, toll roads, signs, gas stations is very helpful. I'm sure the price of gasoline will give us a shock compared to the USA. Thanks again.

John

I'm not sure I agree about the toll roads not being worth it. Spend a few hours queued up behind a string of smoky trucks crawling through the countryside and you decide. In our opinion the extra cost of the toll highway is easily covered by the decrease in frustration and the ability to look at the countryside going by instead of the brake lights of the guy in front of you. Plus, and I don't know if others share this perception, the quality of the food at most of the Autoroute service islands is remarkable given the norm in the US and other European countries. It IS France, after all, I suppose...

StCirq

Be absolutely certain that your car does take unleaded gas before filling it with "san plomb." You probably know this, but a lot of French cars take diesel, and if you should fill a diesel car with "sans plomb" instead of "gazole," the car will die almost immediately, and you'll have to have it pumped out and refilled. Most diesel rental cars have a sticker on the tank that says gazole, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check when you pick up the car. Diesels, by the way, get much better mileage. <BR> <BR>Roundabouts can definitely be tricky. There will almost always be a sign saying "Cédez le passage" or "Vouz n'avez pas la priorité" as you come into one, but even if there isn't, assume you must yield. <BR> <BR>

sharon

For our more difficult needs (i.e. driving from the Loire to Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle) we consulted Michelin on-line. They have a great mapping tool - the directions were incredibly accurate and incredibly precice. They just started a new site specifically for this purpose: http://www.viamichelin.com <BR> <BR>Bon voyage!

Ess

I'll make sure to ask which kind of gas the car takes, we certainly don't need a dead car! Sharon, I checked out that Michelin site the other day - it's great. John, I'm sure we'll want to take the fastest route possible to get around Paris and head south. Toll road will probably be our best option there. Thanks again, everyone, for your input.

elvira

I grew up in New England, so rotaries weren't an issue for my sister or me, but our Missouran friend had never seen them. <BR> <BR>A short distance before you get to the rotary is a sign that shows arrows going off the rotary "direction lalala". We used the clock as reference, using 6 o'clock as the approach road. Navigator says "exit 9:00" so the driver knows which exit without pointing and "no the OTHER left". If you miss it, or aren't sure, just go around again; I don't know why every place in the world doesn't use these! <BR> <BR>I think the Michelin maps are excellent, as the roads are show in great detail so you know your exit is on the right, just past a big curve, or there's a small creek on the left. <BR> <BR>If you stop at a roadside food place, and get 'a emporter', DON'T sit at the outside tables. "A emporter" means you can't eat at or on any of their facilities (eating in the car in the parking lot appears to be legal). Man, did we get chewed out in persnickety French over that. <BR> <BR>Finally, we got a hoot over the "French head". Drivers are always looking to pass, so everyone in front of you is shifting his/her head slightly to the left to see around the vehicle in front of THEM; they all look like they've get an inner ear problem. Pretty soon my sister and OldHand had the same "head".

Ess

Thanks, Elvira. I'm going to try your clock method. I'm used to the traffic circle from eastern long island - although there you just have to take a deep breath and jump in because there's never a clearing in the traffic. Now I live in western long island where if you don't drive aggressively in entering and exiting the highways you just sit by the side of the road. The French can't be much worse than here. I had a laugh over the french head!

linda

Ess, I have enjoyed this thread, it brings back a lot of memories. I found that the French drive like they queue, all bunched up. It was quite humorous to be on a wide open highway, only to find yourself in the middle of a little group of traffic-much like that great commercial-Staples I think. However, on a very busy and aggresive highway in the south of France, it was frightening. The bumper to bumper clustering made it feel dangerous to merge. I finally quelled my fear by deciding to stay in my lane until Spain if I had to(I was in Nice). I must add that I grew up driving in Boston and Cambridge and lived and drove in NYC. Finally, I saw a brief break in the traffic, held my breath-but did not close my eyes-and merged while still somewhat close to Nice. <BR>My driving was mostly uneventful, excluding that one moment <BR> <BR>linda

linda

Sorry if my post is a little choppy. I had a very difficult time posting. <BR> <BR>linda

Skidoo

Heed St. Cirq's post about diesel and gas. From experience you can drive about 3 blocks before the car dies!!! Our car was not marked--we took the car manual to the gas clerk and showed him--he pointed us to the gas pump. It turned out that the directions for the diesel model were in the BACK of the manual!! We had to leave the car at a tire company for the rental to pick up the next day. After MUCH negotiation and explanation with the rental agent they accepted our explanation with no further charges! I will bet that their rental agreements now have a big "DIESEL" stamp across them!

Ess

Linda, thank goodness I'm not doing the driving, with the manual transmission it would be jerk and stop the whole way down the road. A good thing I don't understand curses in French. But actually all I have to do is make sure we get on the right roads. I really do prefer to leave the driving to someone else - I'm like a dog, I love to go for car rides as long as someone else is driving.

my opinion

Spend the extra money and get an automatic.. one less thing to worry about, unless you are used to driving a stick