Routes on East side of France (2 Viewers)

[alasdairandannie]

We have done the Western routes roughly following n10 before but are headed to Nice next month and are after some non-toll recommendations. Google suggests a rough axis of Reims, Troyes, Dijon, Bourg en Bresse and Sisteron. We would welcome any views please. We have plenty of time. Thank you.

 

[suavecarve]

We are going Eastern route next week.
I like to get past Luxembourg on day 1 ( Dudelange with Rodemack as Plan B) and we will then head to cascades du Herrison as we havent been for a while, dropping down past Geneva, making our minds up about Vercors then probably Gap to lac de serre poncon as there is cycle route I fancy around Digne somewhere but then we will be around Provence including Mercantour for a while.

We dont use tolls though

 

[lorger]

Where in the U.K. will you be starting from, we use the Hull - Rotterdam crossing which makes sense if heading to Nice and you’re from north. This route means you can head through Belgium- Lux toll free, once in France it’s still toll free for a while and once toll starts the alternative isn’t to bad, we’ve mainly used the tolls due to time restraints. We’re just looking into our first retirement trip of 60 days, this crossing is £400 return, what I save on fuel, tolls and time is worth it.

 

[Grasmere9]

We are heading down from Dunkirk to Chenas outside Macon.
Stayed at a few lovely sites.

 

[Grasmere9]

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[Grianan]

I love the eastern route .., worth spending time in Burgundy if you can. But Lyon is my pet hate - always seem to end up in a traffic jam.

 

[lorger]

I love the eastern route .., worth spending time in Burgundy if you can. But Lyon is my pet hate - always seem to end up in a traffic jam.

Has to be the worse stretch on that route, we’ve tried it a different times and days and still busy

 

[Brains]

My chosen route would be:
Home to Harwich (or Hull) to arrive at 8pm.
Harwich/Hook ferry overnight in a cabin for night one.
Green Camping on the Rhine near Koblenz for night two,
Swiss border area for night three
The Italian lakes for night four
Nice for night five.

Or with two drivers you blast the route through in a single day as it's 850 miles, or one driver in two days
(Calais/Nice is about the same miles/time but you pay tolls and the route is fairly boring, the ferry/train crossing is also not as nice and may cost more)

FYI We live within an hours drive of Dover/Folkstone.
We nearly always use the Harwich/Hook crossing, as the actual door to door time is faster
(and the cost compared to the Channel is usually similar, but you get a nice cabin as part of the deal!)

 

[Gaston aires]

For me , Bruges, onto Luxembourg, then Alsace Lorraine then head South into various gorges, ending up into Provence.
Fab u lous
Phil

 

[Ingwe]

Where in the U.K. will you be starting from, we use the Hull - Rotterdam crossing which makes sense if heading to Nice and you’re from north. This route means you can head through Belgium- Lux toll free, once in France it’s still toll free for a while and once toll starts the alternative isn’t to bad, we’ve mainly used the tolls due to time restraints. We’re just looking into our first retirement trip of 60 days, this crossing is £400 return, what I save on fuel, tolls and time is worth it.

We agree with you on the use of the Hull/Rotterdam ferry. We start from York and the saving of the long, boring trip down the length of England is worth the cost of the ferry. The short time in Belgium isn’t too bad and once in France the roads are great.

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[AGT]

We have a base in Tourrettes Sur Loup which is in the Nice Metropole and have gone up and down the East side of France a number of times.

Mostly we use the Autoroute to/from Lyon, but South of Lyon would head straight down towards Nice. If you follow the Route Napoleon from Grenoble you will have an excellent road and a great selection of places to stop - Sisteron, Digne les Bains and Castellane. Castellane sits at the East end of the Gorge du Verdon and you can venture along there without too much worry (the road on the North side of the Gorge is better). Castellane has an excellent aire in the centre of the town and there are lots of campsites.

From Grenoble you can also head for the Far East - picking up the Routes des Grandes Alpes which will run you all the way to Nice. From Grenoble you head into the Briancon valley over Col du Lautauret (no problem). There is an excellent aire at the start of the valley in Le Monetier Les Bains and also a good camp site. From there it’s an easy drive to Barcelonette which is a very pretty town with lots to do if you hike or cycle. From Barcelonette (in the summer only) the heroes route is over La Bonette which is allegedly Europe’s highest paved road. It’s a good and interesting road, and not too challenging. You come down off the Bonette into the Mercatour park which is really lovely and directly to the North of Nice. There are not a huge number of campsites in the Mercatour although there are aires at some of the ski stations, Isola (town - not ski station) and Sospel. We have been at the excellent campsite in Roquebillieres this week to escape the heat and were evacuated this morning because of a flood alert!

Check the weather before opting for the Route des Grandes Alpes. It could be very different from the Route Napoleon. Also check the exact Routes des Grandes Alpes which you are following - much of it is optional and so don’t just follow the signs without researching what you are getting yourself into. The main road down through Isola to Nice is fine.

And if you are in the area, don’t miss spending a night or two in the free aire at Gourdon. Beautiful little village and fantastic views over the whole bay. Best approached and exited from Pres du Lac rather than Pont sur Loup as it’s a much better road.

 

[sedge]

The Route Napoleon is aka the A75 and the southern end leads to Grasse.

 

[Jo662]

I love the eastern route .., worth spending time in Burgundy if you can. But Lyon is my pet hate - always seem to end up in a traffic jam.

I’m the same,it’s good going South,but we always get stuck in traffic going North.

 

[Jo662]

And if you are in the area, don’t miss spending a night or two in the free aire at Gourdon. Beautiful little village and fantastic views over the whole bay. Best approached and exited from Pres du Lac rather than Pont sur Loup as it’s a much better road.

If anyone has seen the film ‘A good year’ with Russel Crowe ,that’s the village it’s based in,and it is beautiful.

 

[alasdairandannie]

We are going Eastern route next week.
I like to get past Luxembourg on day 1 ( Dudelange with Rodemack as Plan B) and we will then head to cascades du Herrison as we havent been for a while, dropping down past Geneva, making our minds up about Vercors then probably Gap to lac de serre poncon as there is cycle route I fancy around Digne somewhere but then we will be around Provence including Mercantour for a while.

We dont use tolls though

Thanks. No intention to use tolls either

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[alasdairandannie]

My chosen route would be:
Home to Harwich (or Hull) to arrive at 8pm.
Harwich/Hook ferry overnight in a cabin for night one.
Green Camping on the Rhine near Koblenz for night two,
Swiss border area for night three
The Italian lakes for night four
Nice for night five.

Or with two drivers you blast the route through in a single day as it's 850 miles, or one driver in two days
(Calais/Nice is about the same miles/time but you pay tolls and the route is fairly boring, the ferry/train crossing is also not as nice and may cost more)

FYI We live within an hours drive of Dover/Folkstone.
We nearly always use the Harwich/Hook crossing, as the actual door to door time is faster
(and the cost compared to the Channel is usually similar, but you get a nice cabin as part of the deal!)


View attachment 935990

Thanks. We're heading through Eastern France to be able to enjoy the benefits of grape harvest time.

 

[alasdairandannie]

We have a base in Tourrettes Sur Loup which is in the Nice Metropole and have gone up and down the East side of France a number of times.

Mostly we use the Autoroute to/from Lyon, but South of Lyon would head straight down towards Nice. If you follow the Route Napoleon from Grenoble you will have an excellent road and a great selection of places to stop - Sisteron, Digne les Bains and Castellane. Castellane sits at the East end of the Gorge du Verdon and you can venture along there without too much worry (the road on the North side of the Gorge is better). Castellane has an excellent aire in the centre of the town and there are lots of campsites.

From Grenoble you can also head for the Far East - picking up the Routes des Grandes Alpes which will run you all the way to Nice. From Grenoble you head into the Briancon valley over Col du Lautauret (no problem). There is an excellent aire at the start of the valley in Le Monetier Les Bains and also a good camp site. From there it’s an easy drive to Barcelonette which is a very pretty town with lots to do if you hike or cycle. From Barcelonette (in the summer only) the heroes route is over La Bonette which is allegedly Europe’s highest paved road. It’s a good and interesting road, and not too challenging. You come down off the Bonette into the Mercatour park which is really lovely and directly to the North of Nice. There are not a huge number of campsites in the Mercatour although there are aires at some of the ski stations, Isola (town - not ski station) and Sospel. We have been at the excellent campsite in Roquebillieres this week to escape the heat and were evacuated this morning because of a flood alert!

Check the weather before opting for the Route des Grandes Alpes. It could be very different from the Route Napoleon. Also check the exact Routes des Grandes Alpes which you are following - much of it is optional and so don’t just follow the signs without researching what you are getting yourself into. The main road down through Isola to Nice is fine.

And if you are in the area, don’t miss spending a night or two in the free aire at Gourdon. Beautiful little village and fantastic views over the whole bay. Best approached and exited from Pres du Lac rather than Pont sur Loup as it’s a much better road.

Really helpful thanks AGT. We're 3750kg so I don't want to too much 'mountaineering'. Route Napoleon looks good.

 

[suavecarve]

We have a base in Tourrettes Sur Loup which is in the Nice Metropole and have gone up and down the East side of France a number of times.

Mostly we use the Autoroute to/from Lyon, but South of Lyon would head straight down towards Nice. If you follow the Route Napoleon from Grenoble you will have an excellent road and a great selection of places to stop - Sisteron, Digne les Bains and Castellane. Castellane sits at the East end of the Gorge du Verdon and you can venture along there without too much worry (the road on the North side of the Gorge is better). Castellane has an excellent aire in the centre of the town and there are lots of campsites.

From Grenoble you can also head for the Far East - picking up the Routes des Grandes Alpes which will run you all the way to Nice. From Grenoble you head into the Briancon valley over Col du Lautauret (no problem). There is an excellent aire at the start of the valley in Le Monetier Les Bains and also a good camp site. From there it’s an easy drive to Barcelonette which is a very pretty town with lots to do if you hike or cycle. From Barcelonette (in the summer only) the heroes route is over La Bonette which is allegedly Europe’s highest paved road. It’s a good and interesting road, and not too challenging. You come down off the Bonette into the Mercatour park which is really lovely and directly to the North of Nice. There are not a huge number of campsites in the Mercatour although there are aires at some of the ski stations, Isola (town - not ski station) and Sospel. We have been at the excellent campsite in Roquebillieres this week to escape the heat and were evacuated this morning because of a flood alert!

Check the weather before opting for the Route des Grandes Alpes. It could be very different from the Route Napoleon. Also check the exact Routes des Grandes Alpes which you are following - much of it is optional and so don’t just follow the signs without researching what you are getting yourself into. The main road down through Isola to Nice is fine.

And if you are in the area, don’t miss spending a night or two in the free aire at Gourdon. Beautiful little village and fantastic views over the whole bay. Best approached and exited from Pres du Lac rather than Pont sur Loup as it’s a much better road.

Have I been looking for you !!!
Firstly great advice about those couple of routes and good to know (with incoming hot weather) that there are still cooler places.
We are relatively well versed in Provence but only touched the Mercantour travelling through. I have to echo your thoughts on Gourdon and the picnic area is a far better stopover than the official aire and really great views of the Antibes peninsular.
We have had the Wild Swimming in France book for a number of years and done all the clues of the Esteron and I ve found a couple more clues to do and some good balcony roads though we will be on E bikes not motorbike.
I have all the wild swimming points marked down, Beaux villages, Balcony roads, aires but what I am missing that your local knowledge will assist me with ?
Is there anywhere along the valley of the Vesubie that you can stop overnight and leave the van during the day (no marked aires) ?
Any clues or swimming gorges in the mercantour I should be aware of ?
Any local secret spots (quite happy to receive a pm if they are to remain secret)

Our current plan is slightly changing to coming via Lyon (not through) and heading straight to Uzes to pick up the wine then crossing the Rhone to Cavaillon and following the disused cycle route to Forcalquier then hitting the Mercantour so possibly from 1st September to 10th we will be around there looking to find a nuit marche or fete on a Friday or Saturday night. Are you aware of any around that time ?
We ll probably follow the coastal cycle route round to near Marseilles after Mercantour.

Any guidance would be gratefully received and I am very jealous. 10-30 miles North of Nice to Toulon is regularly my choice of the best place in France.

 

[maison]

From Dijon to Lyon follow the Wine Route. Lots of pretty stone villages, chateaux and wine outlets.

Dijon to Beaune, on to Nuit-St-George, Givry, Chablis etc.

We used to live in that area.

 

[Ridgeway]

Don’t forget the three lakes region in the Jura our local hidden secret. Swiss/French answer to the Lake District, just with nicer weather

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[PlacidoD]

You did say you have lots of time but have not told us your ferry route?
I am on my way out 27/08/24 and retracing my motorcycle route for old time's sake as I have not used it since the Hull-Zeebrugge route stopped around the time of Covid.
So my route will start at (Dieppe) (heading for Switzerland then the Italian Lakes) but then head up to the Franco/Belgian border for my trip down memory lane mixing motorway and back roads for variety. Adapting it for a Calais or Dunkirk start:

Day 1 - Calais/Lille/E42 Tournai-Mons/R5 to N40/Beaumont/Phillipeville/Givet/Wellin/then E411&E25 to Luxembourg/A6&A3 thru L'bourg then/A13 & A8 to Zweibrucken/ then 424/D662 & D1062 thru Vosges du Nord to Haguenau environs overnight.
Day 2 - Over the Rhine at Baden-Baden then down the B500 through the Black Forest with a small detour via Wolfach crossing the border into Switzerland at Waldshut-Tiengen.

You could could take the toll free German Autobahn south from the Baden-Baden/Haguenau area instead of the B500 if you want to speed up your journey. From somewhere in the Basel region you can either use motorways through Switzerland (and pay the vignette) or head across in the direction of Lake Geneva then straight south.

Hope that helps?

 

[Jo662]

Our current plan is slightly changing to coming via Lyon (not through) and heading straight to Uzes to pick up the wine then crossing the Rhone to Cavaillon and following the disused cycle route to Forcalquier then hitting the Mercantour so possibly from 1st September to 10th we will be around there looking to find a nuit marche or fete on a Friday or Saturday night. Are you aware of any around that time ?

We are going to the vineyard in Uzes again Jon,at the end of Sept, a lovely place you shared with me a few years ago

 

[suavecarve]

We are going to the vineyard in Uzes again Jon,at the end of Sept, a lovely place you shared with me a few years ago

We may be going there on the way back as well for winter supplies

 

[Camper634]

Where in the U.K. will you be starting from, we use the Hull - Rotterdam crossing which makes sense if heading to Nice and you’re from north. This route means you can head through Belgium- Lux toll free, once in France it’s still toll free for a while and once toll starts the alternative isn’t to bad, we’ve mainly used the tolls due to time restraints. We’re just looking into our first retirement trip of 60 days, this crossing is £400 return, what I save on fuel, tolls and time is worth it.

Do you mind if I ask where you booked Hull to Rotterdam return for £400.Best i could get was £550 through the Caravan Club.That is for a Monday sailing in September!

 

[maison]

We are going to the vineyard in Uzes again Jon,at the end of Sept, a lovely place you shared with me a few years ago

Where do you stay for Uzés?

The site we used to visit closed quite a few years ago.

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[Jo662]

Where do you stay for Uzés?

The site we used to visit closed quite a few years ago.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5aPgDmTaS7YNKaFV7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

It’s just a short stroll from the town center

 

[lorger]

Do you mind if I ask where you booked Hull to Rotterdam return for £400.Best i could get was £550 through the Caravan Club.That is for a Monday sailing in September!

We haven’t actually booked it yet as we’re waiting for our end date at work before booking, I used the P&O website sailing out and back on a Tuesday. The price came in at a couple of pounds over £400 for 2 berth cabin, we normally upgrade to a 4 berth to save climbing into top bunk. I just checked again and for a cabin with double bed it’s coming in at £440, we have a 7m van with 2 adults.

I always booked through CMC until a couple of years ago, I still get a quote from them and sometimes phone P&O to see if I can get better prices, the price stayed above is just on their website.

 

[suavecarve]

Where do you stay for Uzés?

The site we used to visit closed quite a few years ago.

Uzes to pont du Gard on bike.

We found this newly built (2018) old railway line which is impeccably flat and got really good tarmac. It's 12 Kms long and you can continue to Beaucaire alongside the Gardon. The route takes you through car park where you pay 18 euros for pont du Gard but it's a voit vert so free for pushbike...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

If you go, the wine and in particular the rose, is very nice and last bought at 13 euros for 5 litres 2 years ago.
The link will also show you a voie verte or disused railway line which was recently made and you basically cycle to (and across if you want as the PdG is a cycle route !!!) Pont Du Gard with no parking fees !

 

[Jo662]

Uzes to pont du Gard on bike.

We found this newly built (2018) old railway line which is impeccably flat and got really good tarmac. It's 12 Kms long and you can continue to Beaucaire alongside the Gardon. The route takes you through car park where you pay 18 euros for pont du Gard but it's a voit vert so free for pushbike...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

If you go, the wine and in particular the rose, is very nice and last bought at 13 euros for 5 litres 2 years ago.
The link will also show you a voie verte or disused railway line which was recently made and you basically cycle to (and across if you want as the PdG is a cycle route !!!) Pont Du Gard with no parking fees !

Yes,we liked the Rosè as well

 

[alasdairandannie]

You did say you have lots of time but have not told us your ferry route?
I am on my way out 27/08/24 and retracing my motorcycle route for old time's sake as I have not used it since the Hull-Zeebrugge route stopped around the time of Covid.
So my route will start at (Dieppe) (heading for Switzerland then the Italian Lakes) but then head up to the Franco/Belgian border for my trip down memory lane mixing motorway and back roads for variety. Adapting it for a Calais or Dunkirk start:

Day 1 - Calais/Lille/E42 Tournai-Mons/R5 to N40/Beaumont/Phillipeville/Givet/Wellin/then E411&E25 to Luxembourg/A6&A3 thru L'bourg then/A13 & A8 to Zweibrucken/ then 424/D662 & D1062 thru Vosges du Nord to Haguenau environs overnight.
Day 2 - Over the Rhine at Baden-Baden then down the B500 through the Black Forest with a small detour via Wolfach crossing the border into Switzerland at Waldshut-Tiengen.

You could could take the toll free German Autobahn south from the Baden-Baden/Haguenau area instead of the B500 if you want to speed up your journey. From somewhere in the Basel region you can either use motorways through Switzerland (and pay the vignette) or head across in the direction of Lake Geneva then straight south.

Hope that helps?

Thank you. We’re headed down through France South from Reims but will look at your ‘out’ route for our return.