Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Driving in France and speed limits

Non-dual carriageway roads that had a speed limit of 90 km/h now have a limit of 80 km/h (add 10% to your driving time).
The five main things we have learnt while living in France are... Stop signs mean stop. A lot of French drivers go all the way around a roundabout in the outside lane, so watch out if you cross a lane to exit. There are also very often zebra crossings at the exits to roundabouts. Don’t rely on indicators on the car in front telling you where it is going. On dual carriageways drivers may leave the overtaking lane quickly and pull-in more closely in front of you than you are used to.
Speed cameras are calibrated every year and they (and not you) are allowed to have an operating tolerance of 5 km/h, so if you are actually travelling at 90 km/h they are allowed to record that as anywhere between 85 km/h and 95 km/h. Because of the operating tolerance they then knock 5 km/h off the recorded speed so they can never claim that you were speeding when you weren’t. So, if the speed limit is 90 km/h and you are actually travelling at 91 km/h, the camera can record this as 96 km/h, it will then knock off its 5 km/h operating tolerance and you can get a speeding ticket.

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Air pollution (Crit’Air) stickers

Some cities in France (as well other European countries) have introduced controls on what vehicles are allowed inside the city. The control is based on your engine type and to be allowed access to a controlled zone (Zones à Circulation Restreinte or ZCR) you must display a sticker in your windscreen AND have an allowable engine type. The stickers cost about 4 € and can be ordered from the French government website, make sure you only order the sticker from the government website otherwise you may pay a lot more!
In addition to the ZCR zones are the weather dependent ZPA and ZPAd zones (Zone de Protection de l’Air) that can be active or not on a daily basis, the ZPAd zones cover whole departments (counties) such as the one in L’Hérault just to the south of us.
To find out more information about ZCR and ZPA zones or to see if a particular ZPA is active visit the Crit-Air website. You can also get the Green-zone app for your mobile that has current data for all the controlled zones in Europe. Do NOT buy your sticker via the Green-zone app or the Crit-Air website, use the government site.

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Crossing the English Channel

You have two options. The quickest, most convenient and therefore the most expensive is Eurotunnel, which is our preference. It’s better for our dog and we generally get put on the next crossing if we turn up early, and with a much lower CO₂ output it’s also much greener than a ferry. If you are not that constrained by time, the other option is to take a ferry which is cheaper, they go to places other than Calais, you can get a meal and a snooze but they do take a lot longer. The ferry companies are P&O Ferries, DFDS, Brittany Ferries and from Ireland Stena Line. There are also some comparison websites which can do the leg-work for you, two that we’ve used are AFerry.com and Direct Ferries.

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Driving after crossing the English Channel

You can drive to us in one day or two, if you are going to do it in two then going via Rouen and stopping off at Chartres is a good option. We have produced some route guides to help you get here, each one has options for avoiding toll motorways and has links to google maps to show you the route. Click on the route to view the itinerary in an internet browser or download the PDF by clicking on the red download symbol. The times are for driving non-stop with a maximum dual carriageway speed of 112 km/h and you can reduce times for motorway routes by about an hour by driving at the maximum speed limit. Click on a time to see the map.
Calais via Paris (9:15 hr, 69 € tolls)
Calais via Rouen (10:30 hr, 50 € tolls; 12 hr toll free)
Dieppe (9 hr, 42 € tolls; 10 hr toll free)
Le Havre (9 hr, 48 € tolls; 10:30 hr toll free)
Caen (8:30 hr, 63 € tolls; 10 hr toll free)

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Other routes by road

Motorway: See here for an Autoroute planner showing toll costs

Driving from the north, crossing Millau Viaduct saves you about 10 minutes but costs between 7 € and 10 € in tolls. We recommend driving through Millau and then up the Dourbie valley (D991).
Clermont-Ferrand (257km) by toll free A75 and Millau town (2:50 hr)

Montpellier (93km) by toll free A750 and A75. Exit 48 : La Cavalerie or Exit 49 : Le Caylar (1:10 hr)

Béziers (100km) by toll free A75, Exit 48 : La Cavalerie or Exit 49 : Le Caylar (1:10 hr)

Non-Motorway:
Rodez (103 km) by N88, D29, D911, D991 (1:35 hr)
Albi (125 km) by D999, D991 (2:10 hr)
Toulouse (210 km) by A68, N68, D999, D991 (2:45 hr) (tolls 2 €)

Bus:
All regional routes to Millau see Millau Bus station Millau (35 km, 55 mins) via La Cavalerie (Line : 217 Millau Station - Nant)