toll road costs

chrisandbev

chrisandbev

Joined
Jul 28, 2021
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Location
Tiverton, UK
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83,023
MH
rapido i1090
Exp
since 1996
we are travelling through france, my wife says we should use the toll roads, i think it will be a waste of money.
we will be travelling from Saint Marlo down to Perpignam near the med.
can some one help by letting me know how much it will cost approx on the toll roads please.
 
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chrisandbev said:
we are travelling through france, my wife says we should use the toll roads, i think it will be a waste of money.
we will be travelling from Saint Marlo down to Perpignam near the med.
can some one help by letting me know how much it will cost approx on the toll roads please.
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Using Viamichelin it says using the quickest route from Calais to Perpignan Takes a little over 10 hours and will cost £75 in tolls in a car. A MH will be more expensive unless it is under 3.5t I think. A tag axle could be a lot more.

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DBK said:
Using Viamichelin it says using the quickest route from Calais to Perpignan Takes a little over 10 hours and will cost £75 in tolls in a car. A MH will be more expensive unless it is under 3.5t I think. A tag axle could be a lot more.
Click to expand...

A sub-3.5t motorhome which is lower than 3 metres will be a category 2 whereas a car is a category 1. So it's more expensive for my PVC than it is with a car. But my previous motorhome was bigger and a category 3 - even more expensive.

It is expensive. I keep saying I will avoid the tolls but generally seem to land up on them.

This is the "categoryification":

Motorway tolls: what category is my vehicle? | SANEF

Light, heavy or 2 wheels … each vehicle belongs to a specific class. There is a toll rate for each type of vehicle. Find on this page which category corresponds to your vehicle!
www.autoroutes.sanef.com www.autoroutes.sanef.com
 
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We are travelling down through France in a week or so and going Dieppe to Benidorm via Irun and will use Toll roads, towing a trailer this year and so will prefer the easy driving route .
 
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Last week we drove from Calais to the Spanish Border at Bayonne all on motorways, mostly toll. There was fog all the way and then holiday traffic as well. No way would we have attempted that journey on regular roads. Been there before and still remember all the roundabouts, lorries, street furniture, endless changes in speed limits, pedestrian crossings, Marcel and Maria out for a shopping trip in their Renault 4 etc etc.
Motorway driving in France is very enjoyable and the only way to get up and down the country quickly. Add a toll tag and use the 30 kmph gates for really effortless driving.
 
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I m really quite renowned as non paid up member of the FLT club.

I just cannot see the justification in paying 250 euros to save 3.5 hours (each way) .... Thats the equivalent of 125 litres of mediocre wine or 4 years worth of paying for aires ;)

To me and my way of thinking I would be paying nearly 40 euros for each hour saved (no extra milage) and I just cant justify that to myself.

I do appreciate that others have different thought processes and probably more disposable income or they have insufficient time on holiday that it makes sense to use the Tolls (I wont even use the Millau bridge having used it once)
 
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Nirvanauk said:
Oh, they do, they do and 20kph speed limits and speed bumps and traffic jams.....
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Never use toll roads, never encounted traffic jams, low speed limits give us a chance to look at the old buildings that we like... luckily for me I know how to negotiate a roundabout too. :giggle:
 
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We've just driven from St Martin Boulogne to Pouilly Sur Loire today, avoiding tolls and driving along dual carriageways and motorways for most of the journey. Class 3 tolls can be quite expensive, and like suavecarve, we'd rather enjoy and appreciate that expenditure in other ways. ;)

Tomorrow will see us on the excellent toll free, (and often scenic) A75 running from Cleremont Ferrand all the way down to Beziers. This year though, at €36 per crossing, we'll be giving the Millau Viaduct a miss.
The drive down through the valley and back out the other side is quite spectacular, giving you more to take in than you will do crossing the bridge. 🤷‍♂️
From La Jonquera just over the Spanish border, it's toll free Motorways all the way down to Alicante. 👍

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
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There are toll free motorways of course. They are marked in blue on the linked map:

about-france.com

Road map of France with motorways & main routes

The French motorway network, showing toll and free motorways, plus other main trunk routes or highways
about-france.com

And the Michelin Atlas more clearly sets out where the toll sections are or rather marks mileages in different colours according to whether the section is toll free or toll paying (though I wish it were clearer) and most of us can set our Satnavs to avoid toll roads.

Personally I tend to stick to toll free motorways in Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany where possible when wishing to make rapid progress - usually at the beginning and end of a stay.
 
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JockandRita said:
We've just driven from St Martin Boulogne to Pouilly Sur Loire today, avoiding tolls and driving along dual carriageways and motorways for most of the journey. Class 3 tolls can be quite expensive, and like suavecarve, we'd rather enjoy and appreciate that expenditure in other ways. ;)

Tomorrow will see us on the excellent toll free, (and often scenic) A75 running from Cleremont Ferrand all the way down to Beziers. This year though, at €36 per crossing, we'll be giving the Millau Viaduct a miss.
The drive down through the valley and back out the other side is quite spectacular, giving you more to take in than you will do crossing the bridge. 🤷‍♂️
From La Jonquera just over the Spanish border, it's toll free Motorways all the way down to Alicante. 👍

Cheers,

Jock. :)
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They must be nearing completion of another part of that section between Clermont and Moulins speeding it up even more.
Once that is complete you can make North of Paris to Beziers on free motorway with only a couple of minor diversions and it is pretty direct North to South
 
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Not sure how accurate ViaMichelin App is (pretty sure it underestimated when I gave in and used tolls going north to Calais last year) but...

For a Category 2 van (supposedly), it shows St Malo to Perpignan @ £60 each way but I think that's actually the category 1 price (Cat 2 about x1.5, Cat 3 is about double)

So Cat 3 about £120 each way.

'Toll free' would take almost 4hrs longer...

Screenshot_2025-01-05-20-53-51-126_com.viamichelin.android.viamichelinmobile.webp
 
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Always used the tools. There are the odd nice aire too,
Get an emovis tag or similar so you don't have to faff around with payment at the booths.

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I have a tag and it is certainly very slick, however using the French tolls is expensive, virtually doubling the cost of going south over diesel cost alone. I would rather take a couple of hours longer and have a more scenic route, many of the free roads are dual carriageway and I have never had a traffic jam in France.
 
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Never use toll roads in France too flipping expensive, it's nice seeing the villages rather than bypassing them.
If I want to I can get from Dieppe to the Spanish boarder in 2 days without tolls but normally enjoy France and spend a few more days doing it.
 
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chrisandbev said:
we are travelling through france, my wife says we should use the toll roads, i think it will be a waste of money.
we will be travelling from Saint Marlo down to Perpignam near the med.
can some one help by letting me know how much it will cost approx on the toll roads please.
Click to expand...
You may find some useful information here
https://about-france.com/driving.htm#tolls
 
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Just checked by statement - €284.90 for Calais - Gruissan - Uzès - Calais in October.

We only gave 2 weeks so makes sense for us.

I’d rather avoid and once we can go for longer we will need to as we’ll be counting the cents.

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Nirvanauk said:
We always take the toll roads. However lots of people on here hate them. Each to their own.
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I don't hate toll roads. They do their job well. However, I (and I imagine most of the others who prefer not to use them) find non toll routes more interesting to drive and if you are not in a rush to get from A to B then become part of the holiday. Plus the cost of course.
 
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When we were working we would often use toll roads it was either that or not visit our relatives near Lyon as much as there wouldn't be time . Now we are retired we use them less ( and they have moved back to the UK..... typical!)
 
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VXman said:
So £30 an hour. More than the cost of diesel for that hour and 3X what you would earn in Tesco.
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Or the difference in cost between cooking two meals yourself or eating out in a cheapish place. Or a very small amount compared to what a lot spend on gadgets and extras on their motorhome!
We all make choices on what we spend on .
 
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