French toll

You can go to the Via Michelin website and enter your starting point and your destination and check the box for "avoid tolls" and it will give you a route to follow. Also - if you opt to go the quicker route with the toll roads, note that tolls are paid in euros. The franc is not accepted as a valid currency in France. If you do a search on toll roads/paying tolls in France on these boards, you will find a wealth of information.

Kelli, you can avoid the nice highways with probably the highest tolls per kilometer in the EU by taking the smaller and older roads through the towns and villages. However, I can't comment on the continuity of these roads from Beaune to Geneva. The trip will take longer. Note that many others, including the large 18-wheelers, do this as well. But, it works. We drove a lot of these roads as we visited Burgundy. Lots of cars and trucks as you go through the towns and villages. Very scenic. We also drove to Burgundy from Chamonix on the highway. Nice drive. But, big tolls.

Dina and Larry, I think that Kelli is speaking of the CHF40 Vignette in Switzerland. The simple way to avoid it is to stay in France with the car and not cross into Switzerland on the motorway. You can even drive in Switzerland on city streets and rural lanes without a Vignette. Just avoid roads with green signs in Switzerland. So you could take the A40 - the Autoroute Blanche - towards Geneva but as you approach Geneva don't follow the signs for the airport which will take you onto the Swiss Autobahn A1. Stay on the A40 as far as Annemasse and then use surface streets past the point of the lake and on to the airport. Pretty much a straight line. Or leave the A40 at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and take the D1206 to the D884 and approach the airport from the French side.

Thank you Dina, Larry and Nigel for the great information! Kelli

Yes Nigel, that does make more sense that it's actually the Vignette. Really, the only way to avoid paying that charge is to not drive the car into Switzerland. Which means returning it to a city in France and getting a train or other transportation to the airport. If there's a surcharge on the rental car for returning it to another country, then it might be worth the extra hassle of returning it in France.

I found this info on the Geneva airport website - very detailed info. Hope it helps. http://www.gva.ch/en/Portaldata/1/Resources/fichiers/publications/af.pdf Steve

Thank you everyone ...we made it to Switzerland! Left our rental at the Geneva Airport...no problems! Kelli