Tolls in France

violet said:
Where do you stay in Norfolk? Where do you like best?
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We like North Norfolk, Cromer, Wells next the Sea, Cley, Blakeney, Brancaster, Hunstanton, all of it really. We have wild camped on Brancaster Staithe, you have to watch the tides. We’ve stayed at various CLs around Cromer and Wells. The C & MH Club site at Sandringham is nice, avoid the Pinewoods site at Wells it’s over priced.
 
Vickysponge said:
How much does it cost?
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No Idea Now, the last time we went anywhere on the Continent was 2008. From (fading) memory I think we paid around 5 to 6 hundred return?. The route is a sort of "Marmite" thing. We had no issues, but then both of us are experienced "sailors". (Me, 20 years Merchant Navy, wife was away regularly with me.)

I costed the Route through France back then, and with the Euro, Fuel @ best 13mpg in the R-V, camping and tolls the difference was not that great, and we avoided France ( in winter) Which we had done several times before. Snow, ice, and once following a snowplough!, another battened down on a site to avoid Gales which wiped out thousands of Trees and closed roads for days. And the French fetish for re-numbering roads at the drop of a hat!.

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Allanm said:
I may live in the lovely north east ( your right there) but we travel all over France. I am with LesW in his assertion that France is cheaper to tour, even if you use toll roads.
Fuel in France is cheaper. I paid £1.29 in Tesco last week. A few days ago here, I paid €1.43 (equivalent to around £1.22)
We just spent 6 weeks driving around France, almost 3500 miles. Total cost of aires and services that we had to pay for was less than €20.
We spent just over a week just after Christmas travelling from Dover to Cambridge, spent a week in Cambridge then back to Dover
Total cost of campsites ( there’s only one open in Cambridge so there was no alternative) was around £170.
Now, even with basic maths, that tells me France is substantially cheaper.
And this isn’t based on one visit, we visit 3 or 4 times a year and we find just about everything is more expensive in the UK.
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Yes fuel is a bit cheaper then but what nobody has mentioned is that you use LOTS MORE of it going to France.
 
Just to clarify the current cost of fuel in France.
Last Thursday I filled with fuel and gas at Morrison’s, the cheapest in the area, on our way to the tunnel.
Topped up the fuel at Carrefour Cité Europe, not always the cheapest but not too far off.
When I calculated the difference using the latest exchange rate, they were within a tiny fraction of a penny.

Richard.
 
Allanm said:
I may live in the lovely north east ( your right there) but we travel all over France. I am with LesW in his assertion that France is cheaper to tour, even if you use toll roads.
Fuel in France is cheaper. I paid £1.29 in Tesco last week. A few days ago here, I paid €1.43 (equivalent to around £1.22)
We just spent 6 weeks driving around France, almost 3500 miles. Total cost of aires and services that we had to pay for was less than €20.
We spent just over a week just after Christmas travelling from Dover to Cambridge, spent a week in Cambridge then back to Dover
Total cost of campsites ( there’s only one open in Cambridge so there was no alternative) was around £170.
Now, even with basic maths, that tells me France is substantially cheaper.
And this isn’t based on one visit, we visit 3 or 4 times a year and we find just about everything is more expensive in the UK.
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Think we are going to have to disagree on this one but here's some facts for you based on my recent trip.

Before leaving On Christmas day I paid £1.27 pl In the UK.
The moment I arrived in France having paid over £260 for my ferry crossing, I never paid that little (other than Luxembourg) and that's not France. And yes we use supermarkets for as cheap as we can find. The best we could find was "equivalent" not once cheaper.
£100 + on Toll roads to relieve the boredom of being stuck at every roundabout and adding monstrous time to my journey because I actually wanted to have some time skiing.
Add this to the cost of the aire we used at Dole, basically a free car park with no facilities, (nice town) and then the aire we used to ski at £18 per night for another scrubby car park full of dog shit, where someone was trying to have a shit outside my van before I caught them. (used to be free) but it had water and somewhere to empty the waste.

Total mileage covered 2200 No tolls on the way home, you do the maths.

Touring UK.
any of the places i mention can be got to within 1000 mile return, this year we toured Devon and Dorset in September, Never paid more than £20 for a full on campsite, normal cost about £10-15 on a very nice CL some gorgeous places to visit. A walk down to Woolacombe bay for a bit of surf fun. Didn't spend a penny on Toll roads, Fuel was still as cheap as France, with no ferry crossing to take in to account, Drove on to Pembroke shire for a night at a fun meet and back home.

As for your Cambridgeshire campsites, I have just checked my C&MH book there are absolutely loads in Cambridgeshire, many open all year round on hard standing ranging from a price of £10 to £18. Even if you joined the club at £50 for the year and you come across as often as you do it would still work out cheaper than what you pay at a site.

In fact having looked again and taken out my Ski Passes a 10 day holiday in France cost me double what a 14 night break cost me in the UK this year... that's a fact...
 
haganap said:
Think we are going to have to disagree on this one but here's some facts for you based on my recent trip.

Before leaving On Christmas day I paid £1.27 pl In the UK.
The moment I arrived in France having paid over £260 for my ferry crossing, I never paid that little (other than Luxembourg) and that's not France. And yes we use supermarkets for as cheap as we can find. The best we could find was "equivalent" not once cheaper.
£100 + on Toll roads to relieve the boredom of being stuck at every roundabout and adding monstrous time to my journey because I actually wanted to have some time skiing.
Add this to the cost of the aire we used at Dole, basically a free car park with no facilities, (nice town) and then the aire we used to ski at £18 per night for another scrubby car park full of dog shit, where someone was trying to have a shit outside my van before I caught them. (used to be free) but it had water and somewhere to empty the waste.

Total mileage covered 2200 No tolls on the way home, you do the maths.

Touring UK.
any of the places i mention can be got to within 1000 mile return, this year we toured Devon and Dorset in September, Never paid more than £20 for a full on campsite, normal cost about £10-15 on a very nice CL some gorgeous places to visit. A walk down to Woolacombe bay for a bit of surf fun. Didn't spend a penny on Toll roads, Fuel was still as cheap as France, with no ferry crossing to take in to account, Drove on to Pembroke shire for a night at a fun meet and back home.

As for your Cambridgeshire campsites, I have just checked my C&MH book there are absolutely loads in Cambridgeshire, many open all year round on hard standing ranging from a price of £10 to £18. Even if you joined the club at £50 for the year and you come across as often as you do it would still work out cheaper than what you pay at a site.

In fact having looked again and taken out my Ski Passes a 10 day holiday in France cost me double what a 14 night break cost me in the UK this year... that's a fact...
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Why don’t you ski in Britain if it’s so expensive to go to France?

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Tigertom said:
Why don’t you ski in Britain if it’s so expensive to go to France?
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I do?

I ski in Scotland when there's snow, often for a long weekend.
But I prefer the long winding runs of the continent. Luckily for me, my son has moved To snowy Canada, so there's a bit of ski time there coming up.
 
haganap said:
I do?

I ski in Scotland when there's snow, often for a long weekend.
But I prefer the long winding runs of the continent. Luckily for me, my son has moved To snowy Canada, so there's a bit of ski time there coming up.
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Haganap, thats what I’m getting at , it’s the amount of and quality of skiing/ boarding available on and off piste in the Alps that make you go there. We spent 5 years living and working in the high Alps , we had lots of guests from Scotland who rarely skied there, including a group who actually lived in Aviemore and never skied there.
That’s why you and most others pay a premium to travel and ski in the Alps !
Hope you enjoy skiing in Canada, we did,relatively expensive........but still good value for money.
 
We prefer the tunnel or ferry to Calais because of the dog and you can get some really cheap deals.
 
Mikecarruthers said:
Hi All
Just spent 16 days over Xmas in France and Holland we decided to go down to the south on to the med which was lovely apart from we went down the toll road from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage via Tours down towards Marseille it cost over €200 in tolls have the French gone mad they want tourists to visit and then rip them off when they get there we went to Aigues-Mortes a beautiful walled town but €22euro per night you have to be careful not to stay on the same ticket for more than 23 hours or they charge you €1.20 for every half hour after so you have to go out and come back in again it’s the same at le Touquet-Paris-Plage for the first 23 hours it’s €11.00 then for the 24 th hour they charge you a extra €6.60 for the last hour if you use Calais as a starting point the new aires is great 24 hour security gated excellent waste and fresh water, hard standing and it’s takes 5 mins to the beach and only €10.00
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We live in France. I rarely use toll roads and we wild camp most of the time. If we do use aires we go for either free ones or I set myself a limit of 11€ max. Never had a problem finding good aires. Toll roads are boring.

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Tigertom said:
Haganap, thats what I’m getting at , it’s the amount of and quality of skiing/ boarding available on and off piste in the Alps that make you go there. We spent 5 years living and working in the high Alps , we had lots of guests from Scotland who rarely skied there, including a group who actually lived in Aviemore and never skied there.
That’s why you and most others pay a premium to travel and ski in the Alps !
Hope you enjoy skiing in Canada, we did,relatively expensive........but still good value for money.
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Not sure what your getting at?

Ive never argued that skiing or boarding is worse in France? Or that i mind paying a premium for that?

Only that touring in France nowadays is more pricey and less value than the UK?
Not sure theres a relevance between the two...
But now you mention it..
If i was comparing sking in France v other resorts in europe then its on a par, but getting more pricey year on year.

Many aires that were free now charge,
Over 15 years of going to my favourite French resort's like VT, Alpe d'huez, and many smaller ones..

I now choose Austria , Italy or livigno..
I can pay 30 -90 € a night if i so choose and often do because as you say it's choice...

There's an assumption that i hate France in this thread, it's not true, i love the place, but anyone touring it 10 + years ago to touring it now would im surely agree, the cost now is no cheaper than touring the UK.. its changed.
I wouldn't go back as choice other than to run Medoc marathon in September and to do Ironman Vichy in August.
But it will cost more...and certainly not as cheap as Ironman Bolton or the Bachus marathon.

It's too expensive now, it's not as cheap as the UK
 
I have often used Route Nationals that are close to the motorways, but I have noticed that these roads are now being downgraded to Route Departmental so designated as a RD not a RN. They are still good, though not so easy to spot on a map. The time element causes us often to use motorways, though sometimes the other roads are too narrow/winding or have too many villages with their problem of speed limits.
 
Going to Epernay for a few days in February. Going on the motorway 2hr 58min 183 miles - non motorway 4hr 31 and 213 miles including very close/round/through Lille. Not an option.
 
violet said:
We have been overcharged so many times at French supermarkets that when it doesn't happen we are delighted. Promos that aren't promos, putting unpriced articles on promo shelves and advertising them as promos but charging full prices, having the same items on different shelves with different prices (and always being charged the higher price), tills that have different prices to what is on the shelf or packaging. Not saying it is done on purpose but it has happened a lot to us. The worst we ever experienced was a small supermarket in a village where 9 out if 13 items we purchased were overcharged at the check-out, including everyday items such as butter and ham. Even when we were reimbursed the overcharges the manageress decided we should pay an extra euro! We went to the local Mairie about that shop as we felt that all the local people deserved better.
Prices in France have increased quite a lot and there are fewer offers around. That's not so important for holidaymakers but very important for residents, especially those on fixed incomes.
Autoroutes can be very useful, especially to now avoid the endless speed limit changes and chicanes. We used to use national and departmental routes but not so much now. Autoroute charges do vary, the A28 from Rouen to Alençon is very expensive. What is annoying is when the autoroutes are having works done and vast sections are low speeds and curtailed lanes yet the charge is the same.
We love France and keep going back, we were there four times last year but it is like everywhere, a mix of good and less good.
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Your shopping in France sounds very much like my experience of TESCO in the UK. BUSBY.
 
Camdoon said:
Going to Epernay for a few days in February. Going on the motorway 2hr 58min 183 miles - non motorway 4hr 31 and 213 miles including very close/round/through Lille. Not an option.
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Retired so never think of journey times but how scenic is the journey..Never in a hurry.BUSBY.
 
busby said:
Retired so never think of journey times but how scenic is the journey..Never in a hurry.BUSBY.
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I am also retired but use the tolls. There is no way I can look at the scenery driving along an N road at least I can do a bit of that on a very quiet motorway.
 
busby said:
Retired so never think of journey times but how scenic is the journey..Never in a hurry.BUSBY.
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Lille I associate with steel and coal. I enjoy driving but adding 50% onto a journey - perhaps round some romantic coast or other unique landscape perhaps but that does not include this part of the world.
 
Camdoon said:
Lille I associate with steel and coal. I enjoy driving but adding 50% onto a journey - perhaps round some romantic coast or other unique landscape perhaps but that does not include this part of the world.
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Don't you just hate driving around Lille? usually ends up with a big argument with the two of us! Now, Lyon I have cracked. I just sit behind the slowest truck for 30 kms with a smile on my face, wife shouting, faster, faster and I totally ignore her. :giggle:
 
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haganap said:
Think we are going to have to disagree on this one but here's some facts for you based on my recent trip.

Before leaving On Christmas day I paid £1.27 pl In the UK.
The moment I arrived in France having paid over £260 for my ferry crossing, I never paid that little (other than Luxembourg) and that's not France. And yes we use supermarkets for as cheap as we can find. The best we could find was "equivalent" not once cheaper.
£100 + on Toll roads to relieve the boredom of being stuck at every roundabout and adding monstrous time to my journey because I actually wanted to have some time skiing.
Add this to the cost of the aire we used at Dole, basically a free car park with no facilities, (nice town) and then the aire we used to ski at £18 per night for another scrubby car park full of dog shit, where someone was trying to have a shit outside my van before I caught them. (used to be free) but it had water and somewhere to empty the waste.

Total mileage covered 2200 No tolls on the way home, you do the maths.

Touring UK.
any of the places i mention can be got to within 1000 mile return, this year we toured Devon and Dorset in September, Never paid more than £20 for a full on campsite, normal cost about £10-15 on a very nice CL some gorgeous places to visit. A walk down to Woolacombe bay for a bit of surf fun. Didn't spend a penny on Toll roads, Fuel was still as cheap as France, with no ferry crossing to take in to account, Drove on to Pembroke shire for a night at a fun meet and back home.

As for your Cambridgeshire campsites, I have just checked my C&MH book there are absolutely loads in Cambridgeshire, many open all year round on hard standing ranging from a price of £10 to £18. Even if you joined the club at £50 for the year and you come across as often as you do it would still work out cheaper than what you pay at a site.

In fact having looked again and taken out my Ski Passes a 10 day holiday in France cost me double what a 14 night break cost me in the UK this year... that's a fact...
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If you are in a ski resort everything comes at a price!!! I think most of France would be cheaper.

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The Wino said:
If you are in a ski resort everything comes at a price!!! I think most of France would be cheaper.
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I think most of the world is cheaper than a Ski resort, may I refer you to #46
 
Our experience last year in France was petrol was on a par with UK and the price per night for sites/aires we considered to be good value whether paid Aires or ASCI.
Its hard to compare food prices as we treat ourselves on holiday but we had some wonderful food and wine, which for us is a big part of our holiday.
The weather was better, scenery great, people friendly and roads good.
We took tolls down and meandered back. I’d be tempted to meander both ways next time but we’ll see ... we didn’t count the cost ... as we go away for a couple of weeks twice a year we just look for enjoyment,
 
Lot lover said:
As per usual so many of you who live in the U.K. are obsessed with price. If you really dislike France so much stay away, please!!
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Oh you mean me and another couple of posters,?

Thanks for the advice but I will go where i choose thanks,
And why you think it's an obsession is beyond me, why people can't make an observation about costs of touring without crass comments like yours is quite frankly ridiculous.

Have a great day...

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