viaMichelin
 

How accurate do you think the times given for itineraries are on this web site? I've read various reports where they are not accurate. Has anyone had any good experience using their suggested routes?

In France I've never had one that was out. However much I wanted them to be:(

I've found them to be accurate in France too. The only time I've had them be off is encountering construction then the times are even longer. I'm with Sheila and the sad face on this one. :-(

I've used a few of their suggested routes, just this spring from Le Puy-en-Velay to Ales. It was a beautiful drive.

I can tell you that the times they list for travel in Ireland are very, very optimistic. Sometimes by as much as 50%

I find that I can make somewhat better times on their estimates if it is essentially all autoroutes. But then, I'm sure they are generally advising not to exceed 130 kph.

By contrast, on our 2002 trip to Normandy and Britttany, our actual times were much much longer than the estimated times, for itineraries that mostly involved country roads. I am not sure that they should be blamed for that. We did not, of course, in the same fashion as a local, or a salesman, simply trying to get from point A to point B.

So, I would simply asvise you to think about whether the things which might catch your eye along the way (and I'm not even talking about places you actually stop, necessarily) - - will lead you to drive more slowly - - than you would drive if you are simply trying to get from point A to point B.

Best wishes,

Rex

I haven't used viaMichelin to plan itineraries - I like to do that on my own - but I agree with Clifton that the times, at least in France, are sometimes too good to be true. They seem to assume that you will drive like a French person, i.e., get in the car and drive as fast as you can get away with, with no stops for anything.

That was rather my point... shouldn't a route/driving time website guide address the way a local would prefer to get from point A to B?

I certainly wouldn't want mapquest.com to offer me the leisurely tourist driving style to get from my house to somewhere I need to go - - at least not as its first choice. Even if such a style were to be listed, what style would that be?

Rex, that's a valid point. The target audience and how they drive would be a major consideration in calculating travel times over a given path. However, I'd stand by my statement that I found viaMichelin's times less than realistic over a stated route in Ireland, gawking and stopping aside.

Given the example of mapquest.com, I checked a route I regularly travel from the Memphis area to the St. Louis area. The way I and most locals I know drive, no way is this trip 5.5 hrs! But, if you based the time on posted speed limits and didn't account for stops, driving slower than the limit or traffic, I can see where they arrived at that figure. It doesn't however, account at all for how the locals drive.

So, I'll try to expand on how this could be helpful to someone who is not at all sure how to put driving times in context.

1. Don't look at a single leg of a driving trip by itself as accurate, but rather compare segments that are largely "motorway" (autoroute, autobahn, autostrada - - i.e., interstate in the US) to those that are mostly not. Viamichelin does give you what total fraction of the trip is motorway.

2. Use the estimates as a relative guide. With the same driving style, a segment that will say will take four hours will probably take twice as long as a segment that they cite as two hours.

3. Use this board to learn about predictable "clogged route" days of the week and times of the year. The Autoroute du Soleil, for example, is said to be (I have never entirely seen this myself) clogged down to 90 kph or less (40 or less?) for long stretches on certain summer Fridays and Sundays.

4. Plan your driving itinerary with flexibility, as much as you can - - and think about how you will deal with a trip that takes twice as long (or half as long) as you had planned.

Travel is an adventure. Your mileage and attitude may vary.

We found the times to be fairly good approximations. They can't fit everyone--we all have different driving styles. Plus road conditions can vary a lot day-to-day. consider them ballpark figures. It usually took me notably less time than the estimates, but I drive fast.

Just returned from a trip from the Netherlands to southeastern France and viaMichelin was right on, within 15 minutes for a 9-hour trip, but we travel fast and with minimal stops. Routes given were direct and accurate with regard to road work and delays.

What a silly question. When it comes to traffic, everything depends on everything else. In off season it's easy to beat Michelin's numbers. But, then again, I do love driving fast.