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Road Tolls

Hi.

I will be driving from Barcelona airport up into France. It's about a 3 hour drive, which I will be driving on a Sunday afternoon in early September.

Looking at google maps, it looks like the road I will be taking is a toll road (the E-15, apparently). Since I am going to be a bit tired, I would like to know exactly how the toll situation will work.

Questions:

  1. How do the tolls work exactly? I seem to have a vague recollection of taking a ticket when entering a toll roadway, and then having to show my ticket and pay when exiting the toll roadway. Is that how the tolls on this road work?

  2. I will be crossing the Spanish/French border. Are tolls collected at the border? If so, is a new ticket issued?

  3. About how much should I expect to pay, total? (I will be exiting near Perpignan)

  4. How, exactly, does payment work? Do I have the option to select a manned booth for payment? Do I need to have cash, or will a credit card (Visa with a chip) be accepted?

  5. Anything else I should know?

Posted by
10206 posts

To learn the amount that you will have to pay, plug your route into ViaMichelin.com. It will tell you exactly how much the tolls are.

If I remember correctly, the detailed directions it provides also note where you stop at toll booths, but I might not be right about that. But take a look.

Posted by
7160 posts

I haven’t driven that stretch. For payment, the machines I remember took credit cards or currency. Many toll booths are not manned so have some cash with you in case you card doesn’t work for some reason. I just used cash, as the largest toll I had was 12€; most were a couple Euros at most.
You will pay a toll at the last booth in Spain, and if the road in France is also a toll road, you’ll pay again. No different than in the states when going into another state. Finally, stay at or below the posted limit as there are plenty of cameras along all roads in Spain and you can get a ticket for going as little as 2kph (1.2mph) over the limit.

You can calculate to cost by using the link below. Click on the country, then the circles to get the toll cost by section of road. https://www.sixt.com/toll-roads/europe/spain/

For information on driving in Spain, you can go to: https://about-spain.net/travel/map.htm. Under the speed limits section, it says how to avoid the toll on the E15/AP7, which might interest you.