UKC

Just looking for some info about driving to Chamonix in August.
Any nuggets of advice you've found over the years about toll costs / avoiding certain roads / where to pitch up en route etc greatly appreciated.

Leaving from southwest and taking 2-3 days at leisure. Feel free to direct me to older threads.

Thanks in advance. Al

In reply to Summit Sense:

I can't recommend any stops but I'd caution you to avoid Formula 1 at Chalon - sur- Saone. Cheap but awful place. Very stuffy, no aircon, but if you open the windows for ventilation you get plagued by mosquitos. Very noisy all night with people coming and going. . It's used by travelling salesmen bringing prostitutes there.

It's worth upgrading to the Ibis hotel almost next door where our mates in the other car stayed. They had aircon and got a good night's sleep.

As an aside, as you are travelling leisurely you will drive right through the Somme Battlefields in NE France and it's worth building in a day there to explore them. If you haven't done it before, it's a very moving and emotional area.

In reply to Summit Sense:

If you aren't in a rush go via Lille, Belgium, Luxembourg (cheap motorway fuel) and back into France, over the Jura via the Col de la Faucille, Geneva, Chamonix. That way you avoid most toll motorways (none in Belgium and Luxembourg) and save a fair bit. Don't drive on the Swiss motorways without a permit.

In reply to Summit Sense:

I haven't downloaded it yet so I can't vouch for it personally, though I intend to get it very soon indeed, but there is an app available that lists various aires and lay-bies (lay-bys? Neither look right...) that are good for campervanning, vancamping, carcamping etc.

Can't tell you what it's called, but it comes highly recommended from a campervanning friend.

In reply to phizz4:


Check the fuel prices before you go out of your way. Last time I went, there was only 7 cents difference between diesel in Luxembourg vs Carrefour in France. Even if you manage to time it well enough to fill the tank, it's only a couple of quid.

Don't know where you are in the SW, but I would seriously look at Plymouth-Roscoff overnight if you can get a crossing in budget. Saves you making what would be a crappy journey to Dover, and you would get to avoid the busy Autoroute du Soleil in France. (I'm in the NE, and I'm a total convert to a good sleep overnight on Hull-Zeebrugge followed by driving all day.)

viamichelin.com will give you toll costs. As a guide, I think I spent about €80 in tolls each way last year from near Lille to Cham. A lot of people say you won't save much by staying off the motorway, because you'll end up using more fuel on congested national roads.

In reply to Trangia:


That's enough about them

They are the cheapest of the cheap, you get what you pay for.

In reply to Richard Alderton:

depends if you use petrol or diesel - when I lived relatively close to Luxembourg, it was worth while making a slight detour for petrol but not diesel. Similarly, petrol was cheaper in Switzerland so if heading to the Alps via Switzerland we wouldn't bother filling up before leaving home and would fill up just over the border

In reply to Summit Sense:

As phizz4 said, if you're not in a rush consider via Belgium, Lux, (I'd then disagree about Col de la Faucille - ymmv) Saarbrucken, Strasbourg, Basel, Martigny
you can also stop & climb in Belgium, Berdorf in Luxembourg and/or the N or S Vosges http://www.escalade-alsace.com/falaise/intro-falaise.php

A lot cheaper even taking into account the Swiss vignette

In reply to Summit Sense:
Driven once or twice from Devon to Chamonix. I found the best time to cross the channel was in the evening and then to drive all night from Calais through France to avoid the heat, then doing something similar on the way back too. Mind you I was a student with a rubbish car without any kind of air conditioning so needs must! If you don't mind monster drives fueled on masses of coffee and scotch eggs then you can be in Cham for about mid morning following an early evening ferry the day before..

In reply to Richard Alderton:

The OP might like to know that I have just paid £456 for an August Plymouth-Roscoff crossing. Two adults, car, bike carrier, no cabin. That would be another £69.