Anyone have a recommended route or advice on doing this drive in one day from the London area(North/East).

Im planning a road trip and would like to maximise cycling time hopefully by doing it in one go via the tunnel. There will be a few cars and a couple of drivers in each one if needed.

tunnel – reims – dijon. avoid paris.

I would always drop off the peage into a small town to grab lunch – and have a half hour break from the road.

tunnel – reims – dijon. avoid paris.

+1

Stop in Reims to admire the Cathederal:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/5iHApU]Notre-Dame de Reims[/url] by brf, on Flickr

tunnel – reims – dijon. avoid paris.

+2

Good pizzas in the Carrefour in Reims.

I’ve just remembered that’s no longer on the Autoroute.

Yeah, as above – Reims, Troyes, Dijon, Lyon, Grenoble. We did the same drive a couple of weeks ago, headed beyond Bourg d’Oisans over the Lautaret for a kayaking trip. It’s a pretty easy stretch, long and a bit boring but not horrific. We switched drivers twice – once at Reims, once at Lyon – after leaving Dunkerque at 4:30 in the morning.

I drove to Alpe d’Huez last summer from Bristol, via the tunnel. We left at 6pm and were there for 8am next morning – changed drivers every two hours so we could keep alert. Take a flask of strong coffee and some food if you’re going overnight.

Take the route as above avoiding Paris, but at Dijon take the A39 to Lyon, via Bourg en Bresse. It’s hardly further and avoids the heavy traffic on the A6.

thomthumb – Member
tunnel – reims – dijon. avoid paris.

I would always drop off the peage into a small town to grab lunch – and have a half hour break from the road

+3
Doing similar next week, using this route then heading into Switzerland the week after.

Same again, two drivers swapping over every fuel stop.

Left the tunnel about half 7 in the morning and arrived in Briancon (south of Bourg) early evening. That was taking it easy in a 1.2 litre Corsa so not exactly shifting.

Really easy.

Or, split in into two days, go via Paris -> Fontainebleu, go bouldering in the evening, sleep in one of the non dogging carparks (Roche au Sabots for example), go bouldering in the morning, continue with drive.

If you’re using a diesel car or van, tank it at the Carrefour just down the road from the ferry – Avenue Georges Guynemer, Jct3 off the N216

Last week it was €1.24/Ltr so about a quid

Head from Rheims towards Dijon. Before Dijon take the A39. This takes you into the Jura, and continue until you take the A42 after Bourg en Bresse. Stay on this until the A432 – E of Lyon – and this takes you directly past St Exupery airport. Then shortly after the airport take the A43. You’re now heading towards Grenoble and you will take the A48 eventually. Head towards Sisteron / Gap and then towards Vizille. When you see the sign for “Stations Oisans” head towards Briancon and you are on the correct route that will take you through Bourg d’Oisans. Allow 10 hours total from the tunnel including stops, but beware that heading around Grenoble in the evening from 16.30 until 19.00 you are likely to hit traffic.

Key things are to avoid Dijon and Lyon. This route does that. (I do this several times a year, summer & winter). Enjoy!

Slight hijack.
Thinking of doing something similar myself, put the route into mappy.com and the toll charges are over 70 euro one way. I’d be driving from Newcastle over 2 days so with the cost of diesel, ferry, tolls and room for a night it’s not that much cheaper than flying.

Has anyone done this route using non-toll roads for part or all of the way?

Got one of these a couple of years back and use it whenever I drive in France. Saves time (sometimes quite a bit with the queues!) and the fumbling around trying to reach across the car to pay at the toll machine.

https://www.saneftolling.co.uk

Has anyone done this route using non-toll roads for part or all of the way?

You can do – say – Newcastle to Laon in a day on the A26 OK, I did it yesterday
That cost around €15
From there, the N roads may get you there in another day

Driving this route next week for the megavalanche. Coming from the lakes so does any one have any tips for a decent hotel to stop overnight about two to three hours south of Calais?
Sorry for the slight hijack!

There’s an Ibis Budget just off the A26 near Reims – it’s OK

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-3568-ibis-budget-reims-thillois/index.shtml

Cheers, that looks bob on.

If you want to take more time to get down and stop off en route missing tolls then stop for the day in lac blanc bike park and come down through Switzerland paying just the vinyette. Takes longer but good challenging fun tracks to ride

Has anyone done this route using non-toll roads for part or all of the way?

You can do – say – Newcastle to Laon in a day on the A26 OK, I did it yesterday
That cost around €15
From there, the N roads may get you there in another day

Just to put some meat on that
The drive from Laon to Bourg d’Oisans avoiding tolls looks like a tough day according to ViaMichelin
http://tinyurl.com/ouopaq7

There’ll be plenty of other options to drop on and off the Autoroutes when they’re ‘Péage’ but it’ll take some research

It is often cheaper to fly if you don’t have a car full but driving allows you flexibility and no penalties for the excess baggage most folks take.

We missed Leon out last year and went up the side of the Rhone stopping for a swim and an ice lolly thinking it would miss out some tolls too, when we checked it made no difference.

Its £80 tolls and £80 fuel each way in simple terms.
The drive avoiding them is hard going, stick an extra person in the car!
Its def better value if camping, if going with holiday co then if fly if doing nothing else, it just makes life easier.
Tunnell makes a difference too, time the ferry wrong and it can take near 5 hours to cross.
Buy fuel and food off the motorway, have a look where carrefours are first or just come off when you kee a mid size town, motorway fuel gets expensive when your burning a lot!

The drive home is the worst, factor in a stop for the night as you will be knackerd. Ride all day, pack and drive till 10ish, get up and get a early afternoon crossing getting you back late evening.

Avoiding the toll roads is longer and more tiring. What you save in toll charges you’ll nearly end up paying in fuel.

+1 Sanef Tolling. I thought it would just save on the hassle of waking the wife up to pay the tolls and the usual hunt around for change. It actually knocked off a good hour off going down to Spain and kept the MPG up as you only slow down for the tolls no stop start queues.

Avoiding the toll roads is longer and more tiring. What you save in toll charges you’ll nearly end up paying in fuel.

I missed 1 junction and spent about 2 hours doing 100km somewhere round Djon, the tolls are the way. It’s worth it.

Also be careful just popping off the toll for a break as some of the junctions are a long way apart. (see above)

That’s just reminded me. Check for where they are building the new rail lines as we got caught up in a 4 hour traffic jam at Reims coming back last time due to these works.

Thanks for all the replies, there’s some good advice here especially the route details and the cost reminders. I had completely forgotten about the tolls which may mean we squeeze into fewer cars.

As it seems popular others may be interested to know that accommodation already seems scarce for the end of June next year, partly as were heading into the main holiday season and partly due to the Marmotte sportive which is the first week in July.

Thanks again.

There are plenty of online traffic services. If one of you has data on their phone you might like to use the excellent app WAZE.

Tolls are the way to go unless you want to take 2 days with an overnight stop to get there. The locals can be quite cute getting on/off the motorway so they miss/minimise tolls but as they use the roads all the time you can understand that. As a tourist it’s best just to pay up and enjoy the relatively quiet motorways.