Anyone used these instead of using cash to get to the alps?

does it work out cheaper?

No, tolls are same price. Actually costs more since you need to pay for the tag as well (around 40 euro).

ok cheers,

any routes to try cut down on tolls a bit?

As above, tolls aren’t any cheaper and you have to pay a deposit for the box plus an annual fee.

It’s all about convinience, it’s more expensive than just rocking up with your credit card.

If you’re going through Lyon every day then you’ll save yourself a bunch of time but for 1 or 2 trips down a year it isn’t really worth it.

Sanef Tolling

about 60e for the whole trip, which atm is about £48. already 20% cheaper than last year just on the euro rate alone.

we did a big section of non mway on the way home last week, you add SERIOUS time to the drive dodging the tolls…

In my impoverished student days I’ve driven to the Alps without using the Autoroutes but it takes twice as long…

You may end up spending more on overnight accommodation than you’d save, unless you sleep in a lay-by (done that too as a younger man!).

Sensible alternatives include going via Belgium and Luxembourg to get down To Nancy toll free, once you get down to the hilly south non Autoroute roads add huge amounts of time.

about 60e for the whole trip, which atm is about £48. already 20% cheaper than last year just on the euro rate alone.

is that avoiding the tolls?

did it this year to chamonix and was 120 each way

Calais to Geneva down and Albertville to Calais back was 146 Euros week before last for a car.

just came back from the alps and worked out at 80 euros each way to Albertville

about 60e for the whole trip, which atm is about £48. already 20% cheaper than last year just on the euro rate alone.

Drove to Geneva with work the other week, the tolls were €142 return – I know because I’m obviously claiming it on exs’

We drove via Dover, Calais, Belgium, Luxembourg (1.1E a ltr for diesel) Saarbrucken then in to France on the free section then bought the Swiss vignette (£24) to get up/down from the alps. So only £24 for all fees.

Nick

about 60e for the whole trip, which atm is about £48. already 20% cheaper than last year just on the euro rate alone.
Drove to Geneva with work the other week, the tolls were €142 return – I know because I’m obviously claiming it on exs’

You’ve got a great ex if she’s paying your tolls for a work trip. 😯

Belgium/Luxembourg is the commonly used route if you wanna avoid the tolls.

I live in Luxembourg and for drives down to the Vosges or beyond I go Calais -> Lille -> Namur -> Luxembourg -> Metz. From there depending where exactly you’re off, either head towards Strasbourg and down the Rhine or just south from there. There’s no tolls until after Metz so that’s 60% of the mileage I’d guess.

BTW if you go that way, your satnav will tell you to go via Brussels. Ignore it. It ignores the shitty roadworks and ring road; I’ve lost hours there in traffic (even on Sunday nights) and never (touch wood) got stuck the other way in 30+ runs.

Petrol, beer and tobacco is cheap in Luxembourg so stock up on the former for sure and the other two if you’re partial (just beware French customs if you go mad)

jesus christ no it was deffo about 60 each way. crumbs!

we pulled off on way down and drove most of champagne region off mway, then on way back as i said we dodged it a bit. had no idea it made such a difference.

thats mad!

is there not a michelin website that tells you tolls? 142e sounds STEEP.

ive checked again. 56e on the way down. we were off the mway from approx troyes to just south of dijon (had a delightful stop in a b&b – thoroughly recommended if driving the mrs to alps).

thats all the way to chatel. not as far as cham, and maybe you motorway less at the end, but christ alive 56 vs 142 euro!

He said 142 RETURN. So not vastly different to your 56 one way given you cut sections out. We were less than 100 return to verbier a couple of weeks ago, slightly cheaper on way back than viamichelin predicted and we’d paid on way down as a detour for non autoroute diesel (paid about € 1.25 rather than 1.45, adds up on a 60litre tank) cut off a section of toll road that seemed to have a disproportionate impact on total toll cost.

Yeah, 142 return

I got off the autoroute a couple of times for a civilized lunch etc. So there may be a slight difference than paying it right though and a bit more for the credit card conversion

Do you pay the same price for a van as a car?

From memory the section between Calais and Paris feels quite expensive vs mileage.

Unless you are on a serious budget and particularly if you ate splitting the costs it’s better to stay on the peage IMO

Our Vivaro was ‘classe’ same as a car.

From memory the section between Calais and Paris feels quite expensive vs mileage.

And go nowhere near Paris on the way to the Alps!

We missed a junction and ended up doing what was 1.5 hrs of motorway off it took nearly 3 hrs.

Not worth it at all.

Consider getting off for fuel to a hypermarket or 2.

ah return. sorry my bad.

Bear in mind that the tag system enables you to avoid the truly enormous queues you can get in the summertime, and means you don’t need your co-driver to be awake when approaching the tolls.

You do pay €40 for the tag, but that’s a deposit – send it back and they credit it to you. And it works out a little cheaper – you get charged in € converted to £ at commercial rates, rather than the tourist rates you’d have obtained your Euro notes in, or the frankly terrible rate you’ll get if you hand your credit card over.

But mostly it’s about feeling smug as you cruise past the hordes of frustrated drivers stuck in yet another one hour queue……..

Do you pay the same price for a van as a car?

As long as it’s under 2m in height and 5m in length I believe, so Transporters and Vitos cost the same.

Trailers and caravans are extra.