I have been searching around the net, but have yet to come up with a really good resource for planning a road trip through France. I’m thinking of starting in Nice & making our way north west over the course of about 2 weeks. Wondering if anyone knows of any sites, guidebooks etc,, to help specifically with planning a road trip (I have the 2019 RS France book).
Thanks :)
I used Www.viamichelin.com for planning a trip in opposite direction and found it helpful
Also get a good Michelin paper map
Use the places you know you want to visit as a guide, then research the towns in between locations. In the course of researching you’ll come across many places you never knew existed. You’ll miss a lot of places sticking to one guidebook, or even a couple. I use sites like TripAdvisor to get ideas on things to see, as well as Internet searches. I then notate distances between the cities to determine what is doeable in a day. I try to keep total driving time to about 2 hours a day, so there is plenty of time to stop and see things.
Once you have a paper map, Google the Administrative districts and Departments of the areas you will be driving through. Many districts have tourism websites. For instance, Google "Languedoc" and "Herault," which is a department in Languedoc. Once you figure out how to find the information, you will find a wealth of it. But, nothing replaces a guidebook, in my opinion. In addition to Rick's book, I also like the Michelin Green Guide.
Get a detailed France map and once you sketch out a possible route, get the regional and departmental maps, which have a lot more detail. I have done 4 road trips around France and used mostly N and D Routes, which are well maintained and take you through towns. The latter taking you a little further afield through smaller towns and villages. Both are usually pretty scenic. I used the A Routes (tolled highways) mostly only when I wanted to get from point to point quickly, making only one or two sightseeing stops along the way.
Thank you for the suggestions. Much appreciated.
Michelin also publishes various road atlases like this one, maybe more than you'll need but very detailed and in several languages. Rather than ordering one before your trip (they are heavy) you could get one in Nice for use along the way.
Besides Via Michelin, I like to use Google Earth, which helps me find hotels and other stopping places, and provides a "street view" letting me "see" key intersections and landmarks. I work with these tools ahead of time and, as wifi is available, on the trip. Google Maps allows downloading of metropolitan area maps for offline use.
If you have a portable GPS, you could invest in a downloaded Europe map and bring it along to help you on the way. One of my favorite features is the turn-by-turn directions, in English, with sometimes hilarious mispronunciations of French place names. I set distances in kilometres so they correspond with the signs I'm seeing along the way.
I'll just throw in a few tips for driving in France.
The signage, including on the Autoroute, is generally by name of town/city and not by compass direction. This can be baffling if you know you want to head north but you have no idea whether, say, Le Mans is north or south of your current location. Since you can't know ahead of time which town/city will be on a sign that you'll be approaching at highway speed, it really pays to study the map before setting off and memorize the major towns/cities along your intended route.
Tolls are operated by different companies and they have different policies about accepting foreign credit cards. Some toll machines may not accept your VISA or MasterCard. To save headaches, have enough cash Euros on hand to cover your tolls, just in case.
Public parking lots are sometimes divided into cars-only (horizontal bar at entry that prevents buses & tall vans/trucks getting in) and separate lots for buses. Don't park in a bus lot -- the bus drivers resent having a car taking up one of their spaces and they may intentionally block you in and refuse to let you out until they're ready to leave. This happened to us as we didn't realize what the horizontal bar was for.
bx,
One other point to mention is that it's highly advisable for each driver listed on the rental form to have an International Driver's Permit for driving in France. According to the Embassy of France in the U.S......
"You may drive with a valid U.S. driver’s license if it is accompanied by a notarized translation in French. It is strongly recommended that you carry an International Driving Permit. You must be 18 years of age or older to drive in France."
You can easily obtain an IDP at any AAA / CAA office for a small fee. These are valid for one year and must be used in conjunction with your home D.L.
I'd suggest packing along a good GPS unit. You could also use a smartphone with Google Maps or whatever, but you'll need a good data plan unless you download offline maps. I usually pack along a good map as well, such as a *Michelin" map.
Happy motoring!
