We will be traveling via car from Versailles to Dijon on 7/15, a friday and the day after Bastille Day, so peak travel on autoroute du soleil. looknig for backroads/easier driving/scenic stops from Versailles to Dijon to avoid autoroute. Tips/suggestions welcome.
Posted by
Pantego, NC, USA
1014 posts
Get a car with GPS or bring your own with Europe chip added. Tell the GPS to not do toll roads or major highways. It will take you down smaller roads and through towns. We did this coming from Berlin to Paris. Took longer, but we wanted to see France anyway, plus gas was cheaper and no tolls to pay. Just a FYI. Gas stations in small villages, towns, etc. are NOT open on Sunday. Been there, done that.
Also, Tesco and Carrefour (major grocery stores) have gas pumps at some stores.
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
1975 posts
Here a few places on the way to Dijon I think you can consider:
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Fontainebleau
Nemours
Gien and nearby Pont–canal de Briare
Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses
Saint-Fargeau and medievil contstruction site Guédelon
Auxerre / Vezelay
Époisses
Semur-en-Auxois
Guédelon is hidden away in a forest so you have to visit it to see it. A well detailed map with touristic (green lined roads) info can be helpfull too in combination with a GPS. If you want to explore the countryside think about a scale of 1:200,000 like the Michelin Regional maps.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32756 posts
Tesco?
Have a look at the Bison Futé website run by the French government for alternate routes on busy days.
Posted by
Colorado Springs
2825 posts
There's a book called "Back roads France" by DK publishing that might be worth a look. Could find a copy at your library or buy a used one (cheap) on Amazon.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
For advance planning, www.viamichelin.com will also suggest "discovery" routes or routes without tolls.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5835 posts
Tell the GPS to not do toll roads....
Have a map and/or pre-visualize your route.
Visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, I was driving from Oakland to San Francisco and my GPS kept trying to put me on the freeway to San Jose. Turns out I had inadvertently still had the GPS set to "no toll roads" from a prior trip to PA. If you know the Bay Area, the shortest route between Oakland and San Francisco is the Oakland Bay Bridge, a toll facility. Fortunately I knew the route and got on the Bridge and once on it, the GPS got me to my designated destination. Know when to ignore your GPS.