Poster: A snowHead
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Hi there
Am driving out to the three valleys after christmas.
Just wonderring if anyone has driven out using the french 'nationales' A-roads and avoid having to pay the auto tolls?
steely
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Tried once, have paid for the tolls ever since.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It was.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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jonsteel, not something you can do if you're in a hurry, i.e. can't afford three times the usual journey stretch
A couple of years ago, MrsTallTone and I drove back from Val Thorens to Lyons airport keeping off the autoroutes; it took about four hours IIRC, but was thoroughly enjoyable as we saw so much of France that we'd missed on the (motor)way there.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Boredsurfing, I reckon that 140 Euro I spend on tolls for the journey to the Alps is the best investment on the journey. Did once make the mistake on a long journey in France of going cross country . Never again, way back form the place we did tolls and shaved 2 hours of the journey. Never again.
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We've done it. Doesn't take that much longer as you can still stay on motorway for much of the way.
From Calais head to Dunkirk, then Lille (no toll on the A25), into Belguim, south to Luxembourg, continue to Metz, Nancy (no tolls on this bit), to Epinal. The stretch from here via Besancon and then N83/N5 into Switzerland to Geneva is single-carriageway but not that slow. From Geneva take the normal N-road route to the 3V.
[Viamichelin says this is about 3hrs and 100km further than the toll route.]
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Same as what RobW, says - only we don't go into Switzerland (and only do the reverse - we do the tolls overnight on the way there)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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jonsteel wrote: |
Hi there
Am driving out to the three valleys after christmas.
Just wonderring if anyone has driven out using the french 'nationales' A-roads and avoid having to pay the auto tolls?
steely |
if you can't afford the tolls just follow a car closely through the credit card exit (not the mixed credit card / telepeage, they'll be too quick). As the barrier goes up follow the car in front through leaving a couple of meters gap maxi. It is known as the Poor Man's Telepeage.
Otherwise I've done Calais -> Troyes -> Dijon -> Bourg en Bresse -> Tunnel du Chat -> Chambery -> Trois Valleys on a number of occasions. If you leave the ferry at around 8pm you can be in resort for the morning.
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davidof, Don't forget to check your credit card is in date as the toll machines dont check if they are valid or expired.....so I'm told
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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dulcamara, About 70 each, good value IMO.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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If we are pressed for time we use the toll roads but I prefer the slow trip. My wife and I have often made the trip avoiding tolls, if you can afford the extra day travelling it can be a pleasant journey. Our minibus is over 2 metres so the money we save on tolls covers the cost of a nights accommodation and food.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Tolls Calais to Albertville
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Exact tolls (August 2008) (and at 31/08/2009 ) are here:
The tolls are €68.90 72.40 so that's €137.80 144.80 there and back or around £107 129.68 at today's exchange rate.
To be precise
A26 Calais to Reims 267.2K € 18.90 20.20
A26 Reims to Villefranche limas 381.0k €26.90 28.10
A4 Reims to APRR 105.7k €8.60 9.10
A43 St Quentin F. Barriere to Chambery Nord 67k €9.80 10.20
A43 Chignin Barriere to Ste Helene Barriere 36.0K €4.70 4.80
Total as at August 2008 €68.90 72.40
My 4x4 does around 30/35 mpg. Diesel is marginally cheaper in France so I reckon on about £155 each way |
From http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=44343&start=40#1063249
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 19-11-09 17:10; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Boredsurfing wrote: |
Tolls Calais to Albertville
Quote: |
Exact tolls (August 2008) are here:
The tolls are €68.90 so that's €137.80 there and back or around £107 at today's exchange rate.
To be precise
A26 Calais to Reims 267.2K € 18.90
A26 Reims to Villefranche limas 381.0k €26.90
A4 Reims to APRR 105.7k €8.60
A43 St Quentin F. Barriere to Chambery Nord 67k €9.80
A43 Chignin Barriere to Ste Helene Barriere 36.0K €4.70
Total as at August 2008 €68.90
My 4x4 does around 30/35 mpg. Diesel is marginally cheaper in France so I reckon on about £155 each way |
From http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=44343&start=40#1063249 |
they've gone up a little since then (end of march IIRC)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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bertie bassett, Updated cost as at 31.08.2009 now shown in brown in my post above
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Boredsurfing wrote: |
bertie bassett, Updated cost as at 31.08.2009 now shown in brown in my post above |
Pedantic me? Never...
I did recall it was a round 15 euro for the 1st 2 tolls coming from the Tarentaise...sad I know but...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I would have though that what you save in tolls you spend on fuel accelerating and braking a lot more.
Some of the route to the Pyrenees is toll free autoroute standard (A20) if I remember rightly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just smash straight through the toll barriers like they do in the movies
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Thank you all guys and robw in particular. confirms what i thought. Actually heading down from dunkirk as my girlfirends in Bruge. Have driven in belguim before and seemed pretty quick to get down to Luxembourg. But after that could be slow going though
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Boredsurfing wrote: |
Tried once, have paid for the tolls ever since. |
Yes, I only tried it the once. Think I got about 1/3 of the way down and gave in.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We often do "off toll" for the southern part of the journey (between Calais and Reims is just dire, though we have done it). But that's always been in the summer, when you can shop in the morning for fresh baguettes, cheese and fruit, and sit by a river or a canal for an hour for a sleepy picnic etc. In the winter, we generally just get on with it, and pay. Oddly enough, although the journey takes a lot longer off the péage, it's so much less boring that it doesn't feel like it. The best journey we did I spent a happy time planning a route which was almost all on "picturesque" routes as defined by Michelin (ie the roads with a green line along them). It was delightful - but it's not the way to go if you have a one week ski holiday and limited time off work.
On one occasion when I was determined to do the whole way without péage I got done for speeding through a completely deserted village, with no speed limit signs at all (but it had a name, so I should have been going at 50 kph). I was racing through this desert of a place, where the last sentient inhabitant must have moved out in about 1974, at a good clip - oh, must have been 43 mph. That cost me 90 euros so was a bit of a false economy.
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On my motorbike tours I now just set the sat nav to avoid toll roads. And program in every high Alpine pass I can find
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Like pam w, says, if you want to see lots of lovely pretty little spots, eat nicer lunches and tootle your way to the slopes it is good. Until you get behind Fermier Permier and his grand tracteur...or mad Tante Nelly and her compulsory beige peugeot 205...all good fun in summer when it is all an adventure...
The tolls prices that Boredsurfing, quotes came out about similar for our summer trip down to Annecy.
So the answer is, yes it is doable, and has its attractions if you want to discover what a fantastic place rural France is.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Scarpa, however, this would be a poor strategy in January.
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Quote: |
this would be a poor strategy in January
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the motards seem to disappear in the winter. I think they hibernate, like marmottes.
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w,
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I'm busy nesting.
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Poster: A snowHead
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My wife made me do it once (she was Scotish) because she wanted to see more of France she then slept most of the way.
I spent more than the tolls on a room and meals for the night and lost a day at each end. I don't do that now!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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past tense....
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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and mis-spelt....
and ungrateful?
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