driving in france
 

we are planning a trip to France in May - we want to get out of the cities, but are not confident highway drivers even in the US so am reluctant to stress out our vacation by attempting European highways in a new language. Is it possible to drive around the french countryside on local roads - we are thinking Brittany, Normandy, the Loire Valley, maybe up near Alsace-Lorraine...thanks

Of course it's possible to drive on local roads. Go to either mappy.com or viamichelin.com and check out routes. Check the box that says "avoid highways."

Keep in mind that driving times do not include stopping for refreshments, stretches, health breaks. I always add additional time to the suggested times since I'm not in a hurry and do not drive more than 90km per hour on local roads.

Get yourself a good map, such as Michelin, for the areas you want to drive. Have this map before you leave to familiarize yourself with driving routes.

Depending on where you are from, you may well find the driving in France a lot more pleasant than in the US.

actually.. that is the MOST wonderful way of visiting the country. Those non autopistes are absolutely fabulous. Get a good map of the regions and enjoy the small villages and castles.

You'd be hard pressed to identify any difference between a French autoroute, a German autobahn, or an American expressway, other than the signage. And an exit is pretty darn evident what it is, even in a Cyrillic alphabet.

I suppose local backroads would be more scenic, but bear in mind that if language is what throws you, you'll have roadsigns far more frequently on back roads than on an expressway, where they can be 10 miles apart.

Whichever, get a GOOD map.

May I suggest that you get a GPS with European maps. We got one before we left for our trip to familiarize ourselves with it (saved important locations in the address book; some locations just provided GPS coordinates) and the GPS saved us many times.

just don't trust the GPS 100%. been there.. done that. Especially back to the airport. LOL!

I drive in France all the time and except for when I need to make time between two faraway points, never drive on the autoroutes. Take the N and D roads. Get a good atlas and learn the international road signs (a chimp could master this in 10 minutes). Of course you don't have to drive on the highways!

France is a very easy country to get around. We spent a week and a bit driving around Brittany last month (trip report here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-movements.cfm ) and I was reminded once again how incredibly well sign-posted French roads are - from the freeways down to the smallest country roads.

My strong recommendation would be, however, to start and end the driving portion of your trip somewhere besides Paris. For a newbie, especially a jet-lagged one, Paris is just too hectic a place to try to navigate. (Really, that applies to most cities with populations over 5 million.)

You might also think about using the train for long-distance portions of your visit, coupled with local car rental to get out into the country. On our trip, for example, we rented a car in northern Brittany (Morlaix) and drove it around Brittany for a week or so, then we took a direct train from Rennes to Strasbourg. Had we wanted, we could have collected another car at Strasbourg (most car rental companies have offices as most major train stations) and gone off into the Alsatian countryside from there. Dead easy.

I would not completely disregard the autoroutes, as they are far safer than the small roads in certain areas. Test both methods of getting around.

It also helps to know certain things like 95% of the trucks are banned from the autoroutes on the weekends.

thank you - you all are great - wonderful ideas!

We're from the US and have driven France many times. Haven't been to Alsace-Lorraine but have been to all of the other areas you mention. Unless you want to spend all of your time driving or you have a really long time for your trip, I'd recommend limiting yourself to the Loire, Brittany and Normandy.

You'll be fine if you have one person as a navigator and one person as a driver. Smaller back roads are much more interesting than the autoroutes (a freeway like everywhere else in the world). I have the large spiral bound Michelin map book. Buy a map that is very detailed rather than one that covers a large area without much detail. Make sure they also have maps of the larger cities you will need to drive through because these are what typically cause us the most stress because most often you have to drive right through them rather than being able to circle them. We don't use a GPS at home and have never used one in our many driving trips to Europe. If you have never driven in Europe before, make sure to familiarize yourself with European road signs (they are pretty standard across Europe) because they are what might most throw you for a loop.

May should be a beautiful month to visit. But be aware that there are several long holiday weeends that month so you may want to plan ahead with reservations rather than just winging it. We nearly always use Nova in northern Ireland for our European rentals. Their prices are usually very good, and we've had good customer service from them. One more thing, if you can drive a stick shift, you'll find a much cheaper rental than automatics.

I find French roads to be the best signposted and marked in Europe. Even the smallest local road has a number and can be easily matched with the map to make sure that you are on the right track.

But: Saying that driving on local roads is less stress than driving on the autoroutes is nuts. You have much more traffic merging and crossing left and right, have to be alert in every village to make the right (or left) turn, have slow-moving traffic that you are supposed to pass, and so on. You have much more road signs than on the autoroutes. Speed limits change every kilometer up and down (plus speed traps/cameras). It takes much more brains and alertness to drive 100km on a local road than 100km on an autoroute. It's also the much more scenic alternative but it's not the "easy way".

Agree with all of above.
While I enjoy driving the N (nationale) and D (départementale) roads for the scenery, except for the very large cities, i.e. Paris, the French autoroutes are quite stress-free and easy to drive on.

The majority of drivers abide by the "keep in the right lane unless passing" rule, and because of the significant penalties drunk drivers don't drive on the autoroute. Also speed limits are reasonable so you don't have to worry about being surprised by a car doing +150 appearing out of no where (like in Germany).

Learn the names of the towns/cities along the day's route since that is how the directional signs will be posted (i.e. Direction: Le Mans, or Direction: Tours)

I disagree. I have driven the Autoroute du Sud from the Dordogne to Provence more times than I care to remember and find it immensely stressful, especially when it's raining or windy and on a weekday when the trucks are out in full force. Yes, you have to be alert on the D and N roads, but I find them way more relaxing than the autoroutes.

Here's a site that will help you a little with the road signs:
http://tinyurl.com/6qs5de

We had a little trouble last trip (ahem, driving the wrong way on a one way street in Avignon in search of our hotel because we didn't know what the no entry sign meant. Yikes!) We didn't do our homework before leaving, but we have since learned out lesson.

Frankly I tink driving o n major highways is a lot easier in europe. Granted the sped limits are higher - but the lanes are wide, the roads are kept in very good repair and the singage is easy to uderstand. mDriving onlocal roads can be much more picturesque - but may roads are 3 lanes (the one in the center for cars passing in both directions), you don;t have wide paved shoulders, locals will want to drive much faster than you will be comfortable since you won;t know where you're going and there will be many more choices to make and signs to deal with.

Our experience:

Signs are easy to deal with since the meaning is clear as most are symbols. the few that re in French you can translate if you can;t intuit) - obvious signs about "votre ceinture" are telling you to fasten your seat belt.

To do this you need to get good detailed maps - as well as specific driving street maps (which can be downloaded) of any town you plan on entering. We us Michelin for the larger maps - they're very reliable. And you should have a route planned out and set in your head before you get in the car. and the navigator has to take complete responsibility for decision - so the driver can concentrate on the other traffic.

We love driving and often do road trips in europe - since the drivers are generally much better than in the US - and we enjoy fast driving on the highways - that you really can;t do here. But local roads can be more challenging. And if the limit is 60 and you want to do 40 - you will need to pull over regularly to let other cars pass - or they will ride your tail protesting loudly.

Someone touched on it but to reiterate, know the next town you are going to because that is how the signage will read on a roundabout, for example. It won't say "route 2" but it will say "Direction Le Mans". Driving and seeing the back countryside is such a pleasure.

Learn how to navigate roundabouts. I got some dirty looks the first time I encountered them because we don't have them where I live in the States.

Remember too that you may have to give way to the right on some smaller roads, and in some towns. You really need to learn the road signs and pay attention to them.

I often decide at the beginning of a trip that I will not use the freeways at all, but after being stuck behind a truck for 15km or having to weave around innumerable tractors, I sometimes change my mind.

Get a good map and a gps

The small towns are wonderful.

Our first impression of driving in France, many years ago, is that you better know where you are going, they drive very, very fast, and have little patience for people who dawdle..they use the horn more than we are used to, but the sinage is good. You must keep up your speed, otherwise, they come up behind you and blink headlights furiously. You have to maintain the minimum speed and stay in the appropriate lane, be aware of the exit ahead of time. However, we agreed that they are, for the most part, very skillful drivers, and thus predictable.

However, we got a little wiser on the next trips and we make notes before we leave.

The horn? I almost never hear a horn. They <b>do</b> flash their lights at you when they are not pleased.

The one thing I find a bit stressful on the French autoroute is the toll booths. You have to make sure you get into the correct lane to give money to an actual person, as I have heard that some lanes are automated and do not accept US credit cards.

Other than that, I agree that highway driving is less stressful than the alternatives if you are going any distance and are not planning on stopping en route or going for the pleasure of seeing the countryside.

The roads are marked by the name of the next major town, which is in much bigger letters on the signs at roundabouts and intersections than the road number you are following on the map. This is fine if you know the names of all the towns on your route, but less so if you have to look quickly at the map while trying to navigate the roundabout. The good thing about roundabouts is that you can keep going around until you know which exit you want.

That said, I would only use the autoroute for going long distances or when you don't want to think about things too much.

I have driven on the autoroutes with my parents, my brother, and my nephew, all of whom have given me their American credit cards to slide into the credit card slot. They have always worked with no problem. I think that some of the people who have had problems just do not know the correct way to slide them in. It is not at all a question of chips, because the chips are not used -- even on the French cards, only the magnetic strips are read. This worked for my American Express card (which I finally cancelled after 28 years) and also my Monoprix credit card which I regularly use in the toll booths, and neither of them has ever had a chip.