Hello
We're taking our car away to France (DisneyLand Paris) and wondered if there's any advice anyone can offer?
Also:
- Fuel, use regular unleaded in the UK, what's it called in French Petrol Stations?
- Are there toilets at most petrol stations for the general public to use?
- Anyone used the toll roads, do they take cards or just cash?

Thanks for your help

Unleaded is labelled "sans plomb" in France.

There are toilets at most rest areas, but where there is no shop these can be fairly basic. There may be a dish for you to contribute €0.50 or so each.

The toll roads take both cards and cash, but I would never rely on my card being accepted and would make sure I had sufficient cash as well.

Near to Calais, some of the toll booths are set up for the convenience of right-hand drive cars. Otherwise, the front seat passenger has to handle payment.

Petrol is much cheaper at grocery stores (LeClerc, Carrefour, etc.) than on the autoroutes or at petrol stations off the autoroutes (about 10 cents per litre less) so if you can, fill up at a grocery or hypermarket.

There is no such thing as leaded petrol anymore. 80% of the cars in France run on diesel anyway.

Every rest area has toilets as does every service station on the autoroute. It is one of the services that they must obligatorily provide, even if you purchase nothing.

Try www.viamichelin.com for routes, petrol costs and tolls, as well as speed limits.

I had miserable luck using a U.S. credit card at toll booths, so I found that lots of cash works, a little slower, but it still works.

Use the toll lane that has a person in attendance.

Credit cards never worked for us at Carrefours..Cash worked very well at manned booths and most of them seem to be. Toilets are usually at rest stops and Restuarents when we were on the pliage.

As a newcomer to this forum, you need to be careful about advice from American posters who assume you are as well. It never occurs to them that most travellers aren't.

Most French petrol stations don't have loos. ESPECIALLY petrol stations in supermarkets.

But you won't be using most stations: there are "aires" at least every ten miles along motorways. Most don't sell petrol or food (though there's a UK-style service area selling both every 20 miles or so): they're just large (and often astonishingly well landscaped) picnic areas with loos and a phone booth.

There's almost always at least one supermarket with petrol by the main motorway exit before and after every substantial town, and the price gap between them and motorway stations is substantial (generally look for the Carrefour, Leclerc, Casino or Auchan totem poles. They also operate a few motorway stations, though they're as extortionate as BP or Total) . They mostly operate 24 x 7, though as automats outside normal business hours. You'll rarely have difficulty with British credit or debit cards at them ("Credit cards never worked for us at Carrefours." is relevant only if you live in the kind of third world country that doesn't have chipped cards). But cards can get trickier when they switch to being automats.

Modern credit and debit cards work universally at toll booths ("peages"). Steam age ones don't. The easiest way to deal with peages in a right hand drive car is always for the passenger to pay the toll, using a card and the payment machine (look for the "card" icon in the gantry before the booths). Always try to avoid manned toll booths if you can.

Check out the AA website and find the list of equipment that you should carry in your car when driving in France. It includes things like a breathalyser kit, warning triangle, reflective tabard, etc. All are obtainable at Halfords and similar places.

Have you travelled through the tunnel by car before? It is best to book in advance, but if you arrive at Folkestone early you will usually be found a space on an earlier shuttle. The shuttles are being speeded up this year, and services made more frequent. All security and immigration checks are done before you board, so when you arrive at the other side you just drive straight off onto the motorway.

Have a good trip.

It should be noted that the emergency triangle and the reflective vest must be accessible inside the car, not placed in the boot.

In fact it is only the reflective vest that needs to be IN the car, as you will need to have it on before getting out. The triangle can be in the trunk/boot.

http://www2.securiteroutiere.gouv.fr..._14-04-08.html