We are renting a car at Nice airport bound for Saint Remy de Provence. I am trying to figure out how the toll plazas along A8 -- headed west from Nice Airport toward AIX, etc. -- know how much to charge as you pass through. I don't see a place where a ticket is issued leaving Nice airport. Do the toll plazas just charge a flat, fixed fee? How does it work? Any insight would be appreciated.
Posted by
Paris
10193 posts
If you want to find out how much your route will cost in tolls, input your itinerary into Via Michelin (either on the website or in the app). It will calculate it for you automatically.
Posted by
Michigan
39 posts
I believe the ViaMichelin app will tell you what the tolls are. When we drove from Nice rail station the first plaza gave a ticket and later we’d tap and pay with a card. I didn’t research ahead of time other than timing and distances but the roads were great and tap and pay so easy! Hope this helps.
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
There is a big toll plaza in Antibes that issues tickets. You then pay at another toll plaza just before Aix (keep the ticket). Then, 10 miles west of Aix there is another toll booth where you pick up another ticket, and pay upon exit at plan Orgon (if that's the route you take).
There are no free-flow style electronic tolls yet (with one small exception in the center of France).
Posted by
OP
5 posts
This seems very helpful. Thank you. My nightmare is pulling into a toll booth and not understanding it or handling it and having angry motorists behind me -- justifiably -- honking horns. I like to eliminate uncertainties or variables to the degree possible.
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
Important info that I forgot to mention: if a lane shows a 't' sign and nothing else do not use it. It stands for "télépéage" and means "transponder". 't' sign plus green arrow or credit card logo is OK.
Posted by
SoCal, USA
114 posts
Just returned from France a couple days ago. When we used the toll roads we found our American credit cards often did not work. Although, sometimes they did. We have cards with and without the scanner. Keep some euros handy just in case and ignore anyone honking or pushing you to go faster, that’s their problem.
Toll booths accept smaller paper euros ( 5, 10 and 20 ) and coins. It was a great way for us to get rid of the coins.
Via Michelin route planner is a great way to pre plan tolls. We used Waze a lot and tolls are listed there too in the check routes option.
If you are nervous about negotiating the toll booth just have your travel partner get those euros ready before you enter.