France budget help
 

Hi
I am a single mom with two boys I adopted . I prefer to take an interesting cultural summer vacation rather than putting them in these very generic expensive summer camps.
I am however on a very tight budget.
This summer we are going to France for 4 weeks. I have already planned flight and gites.
We will drive from Paris to Sarlat where we will spend a week sightseeing
Dordgone region and then drive to Provance where we will spend 3 weeks at three different gites. Travel along the coast. Maybe to Italian riviaria -
I have already paid for flights and gites but I am stuck on what I will need for gas -tolls -food -sightseeing. As I mentioned I am on a tight budget and I prefer to grab a delicious pastry from a local bakery and get out and see as much as possible . As much as I would love to
Eat my way through France I don't see it as a possibility.
Any thoughts on budget ??
Many thanks for any and all input

Tolls on the French autoroutes are very expensive. You can take alternative routes unless you are in a hurry and save a good bit that way.

Use www.viamichelin.com and click on the "avoid tolls" option.

In route options you can pick "economical route"

Mark

When dining, go for the menu of the day (fixed price menu)! It will save you a bundle.

I guess I am wondering how much money would you bring for food for a month knowing we will stay
In a gite and can cook breakfast and have picnic lunches

Don't drive to the Dordogne from Paris. It's dull and expensive and if a sunny day you'll be blinded by the sun in your eyes the whole way. Train tickets are cheap if you buy them 3 months out from your dates of travel (which may be right now!). You want to use www.capitainetrain.com and look for PREM fares (they are nonexchangeable and nonreefundable, so make sure you get on those trains) - they can be a HUGE savings over driving, with the attendant high costs of fuel and tolls.

Get the train from Paris to Brive-la-Gaillarde and pick up a rental car there. Use AutoEurope/Kemwel for the best car rental rates and service.

<< I guess I am wondering how much money would you bring for food for a month >>

Don't bring any money. Use ATM machines to get cash. Exchanging money will give you a very bad rate and cost you a lot more.

Plan on spending about 25% more than you would at home. This is based partly on the exchange rate and partly on having to buy things you would normally have on hand at home - paper/plastic products, condiments, laundry detergent, etc. At home you can watch for sales and stock up and save money.

Soft drinks are probably more money and chips and things like that come in small bags so will cost more. All those "delicious pastries" will certainly add up. Learn to like bread as it's cheap. You'll have to dump the perishables when you move.

I once drove the length of France from Paris to Provence and vowed never to do it again. Long and boring.

Thanks for the info
I was considering taking the train and picking up a car but my plane gets in on a Saturday into Paris around 1pm then if I take a train By the time I get to Brive la G the car rentl place closes and then they are not open on a Sunday that was my one flaw in choosing my air tickets - hence the driving ...

Absolutely DO NOT get off a plane at 1 pm in Paris and drive to the Dordogne, or much of anyplace else. Go into Paris, spend the night in a cheap hotel, and take the train to Brive the next morning. Spend the Sunday night in Brive if you must (you can get a car rental outfit to meet you on a Sunday and open the rental office for you for about 25-30 euros if necessary).

Honestly, what are you thinking?

Actually I wasn't really reviewing my itinerary I was asking some budget info
Food tolls gas etc - and any thoughts on how much those things would be

Yes, but the thing is, your itinerary is costing you FAR more than it needs to. You can figure out tolls and gas on www.viamichelin.com. It's way more expensive to drive - and way more taxing and time-consuming and boring, than taking the train. Sorry, thought I was helping. Apparently not.

I'm sorry I tried to be overly helpful. I'm asking the editors to remove my post.

If you really don't want help on something then you should not have written anything about driving from Paris to Sarlat. You could have only asked how to determine tolls and fuel. You did ask about budget and StCirq was answering that question by responding about cars and trains.

I appreciate the thought but when I looked into it
The train from Paris to Brive was 130 euros for three
Then I already have a gite paid for so I am paying for a night in a hotel
And also Brive has no automatic cars also I got a great rate of 600 euro for a
Car for a month - I will need a car travellling about anyway in the south
but if I add in the trains my budget goes up
And it's all about the budget at this point
Does any of this make sense ? I do appreciate the help

I understand about budgets as I travel with limited funds. I do think you should have a backup plan as the road to Sarlat is long and it will be dark when you arrive. Half of the driving time is off motorway. Hopefully the peripherique will not be crowded on a Saturday afternoon.

130 euros for 3 isn't a bad rate, but I doubt you got the best fares because you don't know how to use the SNCF or Capitainetrain websites. And it's still probably less to take the train than driving. NOBODY can guarantee you an automatic, as they are fairly rare in France, so don't count on that and practice your manual driving. Doesn't matter what they tell you in an email or over the phone - It will depend on what's there in their lot the day you arrive.

You're insisting on getting a budget vacation but shooting yourself in the foot by ignoring the advice here. Bye.

Thank you that is helpful info ... I was considering breaking up the trip maybe stop in saint Benoit du salut for the night ...
So drive 3 hrs after I land then do the rest Sunday ... That may be more reasonable ...
Do you have another stop idea ???

StCirq makes a very good point about the automatic car. Since you're arriving late, it is possible that there are none available. I've seen lots of posters on this board complain about this. Do you drive a manual transmission car? If not, do you have a backup plan in case you cannot get an automatic?

Sorry but I can't help with a stop 3 hours south of Roissy (assuming you're landing at CDG airport). It will be some place between Orleans and Bourges.

Interesting. Folks trying to help who are VERY knowledgeable and aren't agreeing, so not helping.
How much money for food? We don't know the ages of the children.
Gas--very expensive so the more/longer you drive the more expensive (as from Paris to Sarlat instead of the train).
Tolls--take the back roads and save--otherwise, expensive from Paris to Sarlat.
Food--budget for yourself--for 3, budget 75E/day and live within it? Less. Shop the supermarches.
sighteeing--some will be gas, some will be entries. Look them up in a guide book since you are maybe the only one knowing where you are planning to go?
And I'm not sure how many times I have seen St. Cirq mention how boring the drive from Paris south is--both to Dordogne and Provence.
And so you "sacrifice" a paid for night at a gite for a better travel experience?
Out of curiosity, are you spending any time in Paris--or bypassing it because you think it will be too expensive.
Have you travelled in Europe previously--American? English?

I understand that you've already paid a bundle for the car, so you might as well use it. But allow for being pretty tired that first day. It’ll be around 3:00 when you get out of the airport with your car. Maybe stop an hour or so from the airport that first night, check into a motel, go out and buy food for dinner and maybe snacks for the car trip the next day. Eat outdoors if you can, and go to bed early.

Research the motel and supermarket now, while you're at home and have your internet connection. Leclerc is one of the big supermarket chains. On their website you can look up store locations, as well as get an idea of some of the food prices. Whatever supermarket you choose, check their hours carefully. If they close at 6, you might need to go there before you get to the motel. They will probably close at noon or one on Sunday.

Hopefully the next morning you wake up rested and get an early start. Drive a few hours and then take a break at another supermarket. This time you'll be shopping for food and supplies for the next few days. It's Sunday, and even the big supermarkets closest to your destination will be closed by noon or 1:00. Many places are closed on Monday as well.

The Zagaz website will show you the price of gas in euros (and in liters). Google the euro-dollar cost just before you go so you'll have an idea of what each euro will be costing you.

If you like Google maps, try a few different versions of the route from CDG to your first gite. There are alternatives to the autoroute, which is expensive and boring. On the other hand, you and the kids may not have much tolerance for a meandering drive, no matter how pretty the scenery.

I also like the Viamichelin website, which will tell you the cost of tolls and gas for whatever route you choose and show you places of interest on the way.

No matter what route you take, give yourself and the kids frequent breaks. Most of France is enjoyable, so you don't have to rush to your gite to be having a good time.

thank you Gretchen and Coquelicot I really appreciate the constructive comments.
to me no matter how boring a drive is ... YOUR IN FRANCE IS MY THINKING!
I am personally a seasoned traveller ( less confident to travel with my boys at this age to go to difficult countries) I have been to Paris about 8 times and have taken my boys there on our last trip to france so I don't feel we need to repeat. On out last journey they changed our flight and we flew into London so we look the train to paris and then I immediately drove to Loire valley. That completely wreaked me as you can imagine ... we spent 8 days driving in Loire then we went back to paris and dumped the car for another 9 days.
This trip is very different than I have done because it is more driving ... it is much longer almost 5 weeks and a different region I have never been and I am on a tighter budget.
Ideally I would like to drive thru to Sarlat mostly for budget reasons. I have already paid for our gite which starts on the saturday we land .... that was my one big error in my planning ...but I dont think I can make it - so I am researching some stops along the way but didint know whether to wing it or plan it ? my boys are almost 7 and10. so not giant eaters but didnt know how much money to bring for food. At home I am a master picnic packer but i honestly cant remember what my budget was on my last trip I did the Viamichelin website for tolls and gas becasue I remember on my last trip how shocked I was about the tolls and how expensive but I wasnt sure that site is accurate. And it does not really take into account when yoiu spend the day driving around from town to town so I coiuld only figure from one main destination to the next so I didnt know how much to allow for travelling about the South. Also since I have not been down to South of France where most of our trip will be ...Do you think I will take trains to some cities or is the car a preferable way to go- I am only driving on one direction because my plane leaves out of Marseille. Thank you for your kindness