Driving in France anything specific i need to know?

[thepharcyde]

I'm just basing my opinion on the beach we were at. Full of french ***** equivalents and needles in the sand



Yeh that's about right. We drove back from there to Calais in about 9 hours though

Montpellier is not on the beach its some 15km from the sea

 

[Lopéz]

Read the AA pdf and disregard most of the other advice on what to take. You do NOT have to carry a spare bulb kit, or a fire extinguisher, or a first aid kit - it's all just recommendation.

You will also need your licence, your GB sticker, and your V5 as already mentioned though.

Remember that speed limits vary in wet/dry conditions.
On some rural roads you have right of way if you are coming on to a roundabout or out of a side road (this is called "priorite a droite" and is normally clearly indicated - we did not come across this very often)
Petrol is cheapest at Intermarche and SuperU supermarkets which are all signposted (why do we have nothing like this in England?)
Roundabouts are EVERYWHERE and lane discipline on them is horrendous
As you enter a town and pass a sign like this http://www.controleradar.org/data/speed_02.gif the speed limit automatically becomes 50km/h. On the way out of the town you pass a sign like this http://www.controleradar.org/data/speed_03.gif which means the speed limit goes back to whatever it was before.

Overtaking on A roads can be hard because of the sheer volume of trucks and the arrow straight roads. Without a passenger it can get immensely frustrating trying to see around things.

I did 2100 miles in France last June and in general it was less stressful than driving in England can be.

 

[Sparky]

Read the AA pdf and disregard most of the other advice on what to take. You do NOT have to carry a spare bulb kit, or a fire extinguisher, or a first aid kit - it's all just recommendation.

You will also need your licence, your GB sticker, and your V5 as already mentioned though.

Remember that speed limits vary in wet/dry conditions.
On some rural roads you have right of way if you are coming on to a roundabout or out of a side road (this is called "priorite a droite" and is normally clearly indicated - we did not come across this very often)
Petrol is cheapest at Intermarche and SuperU supermarkets which are all signposted (why do we have nothing like this in England?)
Roundabouts are EVERYWHERE and lane discipline on them is horrendous
As you enter a town and pass a sign like this http://www.controleradar.org/data/speed_02.gif the speed limit automatically becomes 50km/h. On the way out of the town you pass a sign like this http://www.controleradar.org/data/speed_03.gif which means the speed limit goes back to whatever it was before.

Overtaking on A roads can be hard because of the sheer volume of trucks and the arrow straight roads. Without a passenger it can get immensely frustrating trying to see around things.

I did 2100 miles in France last June and in general it was less stressful than driving in England can be.

Very informative thankyou, i dont think i shall attempt many overtakes! The Mrs is now looking at train travel

Dont plan on driving much once there and the car will be left in a secure car park.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Absolutely get the train - you can do Eurostar from London, gets to Paris in just 2 hours, and then onto a French TGV to Montpellier. At almost 200mph on both trains for most of the journey its much quicker than driving, less hassle and cheaper.

 

[NickXX]

Hi,

Things to remember:

- You need a Spare Bulb Kit, 2 Warning Triangles, High-Glow Vests (or is this just Spain?) and a spare set of specs if you wear them (this might also be Spain only)
- Tolls are massive, especially if you drive near Paris
- Speed limit on motorways is 130KMH in the drive but drops to 110KHM when it rains. It is at this point the police come out in force.
- If you get caught, you can get your licence confiscated... useful to have a spare driver.
- You MUST have your V5 or equiv as you must carry proof of ownership.
- On some B Roads, people joining can have right of way!

I recommend the haynes guide on driving abroad, gives you a lot of useful info.

To be honest, driving in France is much more fun then driving here. If you have the time.... get off the motorways and enjoy the country.

SW

Yup - hi-vis jackets are now mandatory in France. I think it's one per passenger. Don't need a spare set of glasses in France. You must have a warning triangle. You will have a first aid kit, you don't need a fire extinguisher. You must have a GB logo on your plates or a GB sticker.

If you have Xenons you can adjust the beam manually with a switch in the headlamp unit. If you have halogens you must get beam deflectors.

Stupidly you need spare bulbs even if you have Xenons.

You don't need to carry any spare bulbs by law (I.e. you won't be asked to pull out a spare bulb set), but you must be able to replace a broken lamp if you are pulled over by the police. This means you can get away with one spare bulb set amongst several cars if you are travelling as a group (assuming you use the same bulbs). I usually carry a pair of old indicator bulbs with me. Side lights can be replaced with the interior bulbs in the e46.

Im starting to think it maybe easier to fly.

It is much cheaper to fly if you're on your own (I flew last week and saved myself about £500), however, depending on where you are going - a lot of fun can be had driving around especially in an e46 cab.

 

[NickXX]

Very informative thankyou, i dont think i shall attempt many overtakes! The Mrs is now looking at train travel

Dont plan on driving much once there and the car will be left in a secure car park.

Where are you going? Don't drive if you're going to leave the car in a car park unless you are planning on bringing back a hoard of fine wines.

 

[Sparky]

Absolutely get the train - you can do Eurostar from London, gets to Paris in just 2 hours, and then onto a French TGV to Montpellier. At almost 200mph on both trains for most of the journey its much quicker than driving, less hassle and cheaper.

I think this is the way forward although not as much fun but, im sure a lot more relaxing.

 

[Sparky]

Where are you going? Don't drive if you're going to leave the car in a car park unless you are planning on bringing back a hoard of fine wines.

Portiragnes-Plage on the coast.

 

[Bluelion]

Note as Ganesh indicated in the second post - the high visibility jackets must be in the car with you. In the boot is not acceptable - the driver must be wearing it if they need to get out the car (presumably on the motorway?). http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2008/05/warning-triangl.html

 

[NickXX]

Portiragnes-Plage on the coast.

Ahh, that is a LONG way to drive. Don't bother with the train, it will take ages and cost a fortune. Fly to a nearby airport with Ryanair/Easyjet and either rent a car from there or get public transport to Portiranes.

I guess it should be just under 2 hours in the air. You'd be realistically looking at well over 12 hours door to door and tolls for that distance will be very expensive. Petrol is about €1.40 a litre over there atm.

 

[Pyscho_Si]

Im starting to think it maybe easier to fly.

How long is your holiday for? When I went last year I spent a week driving through France to Spain... spent a week in Spain and then spent a week driving back. If you have the time then driving is a wonderful experience. If you are in a rush.... get the train or fly. If you are in a rush you will be using Toll roads and that will hurt your pocket.

Do you speak French? You will find that out of the tourist areas no English is spoken.

If you do intend to take a few days travelling down... make sure you book hotels with car parks. If you are not great at parking... find a hotel with outside parking as indoor parking can mean a 5th basement car park with large amount of concrete.

If you want to stay at some more interesting hotels, check out Alistair Sawday. I stayed at a few of the hotels in his book (and listed on the website) and found the quality amazing.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Drive on the right.

 

[jimblowscash]

We are driving to Montpellier in August and i am basically looking for any information regarding laws etc.

Is there anything specific we need for the car [somebody on another forum mentioned spare bulb kits etc]. Are there any laws i should be aware of eg speed limits etc?

Anyone driven a similar route?

Thankyou.

My Father in law lives about 20 miles outside Montpellier and we drive that route four or five times a year, infact were going in August... take plenty of change for tolls, try not to speed, the French poliece take great pride in ignoring all speeding French plated cars just to pull over a brit who might or might not be speeding... keep 200 euros in cash in the car, if they ticket you for speeding and you cant pay the fine they can nick you take you to the station fovernight and sell you car at auction to pay the fine, extreem but it has happend.. usuall stuff really the trip takes about 12 hours uless you trearing the arse out of it, but if you do you run the risk of getting stopped.

 

[Clarkey]

n/m

 

[bledd]

Pro tip, don't take your car to central Paris, I saw about 15 bumps in the first half an hour, all they seem to do is hold the horn and bump each other.

They all had rot boxes and couldn't care less about them!

 

[Sparky]

My Father in law lives about 20 miles outside Montpellier and we drive that route four or five times a year, infact were going in August... take plenty of change for tolls, try not to speed, the French poliece take great pride in ignoring all speeding French plated cars just to pull over a brit who might or might not be speeding... keep 200 euros in cash in the car, if they ticket you for speeding and you cant pay the fine they can nick you take you to the station fovernight and sell you car at auction to pay the fine, extreem but it has happend.. usuall stuff really the trip takes about 12 hours uless you trearing the arse out of it, but if you do you run the risk of getting stopped.

Will follow you then

 

[chrislusty]

Its very easy driving in France, on the motorways they have great lane discipline. Roundabouts are not so good though, as they would use the outside lane of roundabout to take 3rd exit, so be careful there.

I used Credit Card for the tolls, quicker and easier than cash.

 

[platypus]

Spare bulb kit.

A warning triangle (2 is recommended, but only required in Spain).

High visibility vest (one per person is recommended, required in Spain) - and make sure these are in the car not the boot.

Money for motorway tolls.

130km/h Speed limit in good weather, 110km/h in bad weather.

You have to have your paper licence as well as picture card.

Careful when driving on normal roads: France hasn't had roundabouts for long, and a lot of drivers don't really know how to use them - they are used to giving way to the right and sometimes expect this when coming on to a roundabout; they're also not very good at cycling.

You will sometimes see a sign with a black 'X' in a red triangle - this means the road joining from the right has right of way - regardless of whether you are on the main road or not.

'Cedez la passage' means give way, but not usually a problem any more since they have adopted the give way triangle.

Can't really think of any more, French roads are, in general, much nicer to drive on. Enjoy!

Oh other then to add please be considerate and use the motorways properly, something we don't seem to be able to do in this country.

 

[eatcustard]

I read it some ware a few years ago that if you get caught speeding in frogsville, you get points on your licence.

But I can be sure

 

[DannyDan]

I drove to Paris earlier this year, and despite the weather being pretty bad I really enjoyed it. I found it *far* more relaxing to be able to do things to my own timetable and bring hoardes of stuff in the back of the car rather than having to jump through hoops to meet airline timing/baggage/security requirements.

The motorways were great, didn't see a single policeman (on my side of the carriageway) for the whole journey which meant I could make reasonable progress. The tolls can be sizeable if you're travelling long distance, but the motorways are good quality and were very quiet when I went, so it's worth it.

If I was going to France again, I'd drive without a doubt.