Route From Calais To Vendee

EViS

We will be driving from Calais to a small town between La Roche and Niort in the Vendee region of South-West France.

We are looking to save some money on tolls as long as the journey doesn't cost us much more in fuel and can comfortably be completed in one day.

The options I have found (using a combination of viamichelin, google maps and about-france) are as follows:

Option 1: Via Caen avoiding tolls (approx 9 hours)
Option 2: Via Tours avoiding tolls (approx 9.5 hours)
Option 3: Via Le Mans avoiding tolls (approx 9 hours)
Option 4: Via Le Mans with tolls (approx 7 hours)

Has anyone followed these routes before and can offer any advice on which is the most sensible? Or can anyone recommend any other routes which have the right balance of toll costs vs a sensible journey duration?

zagfles

When we went to the Vendee all the motorways on the route were free, though we got the Portsmouth-Caen ferry, rather than going via Calais (which would have been a big detour for us). We went Caen-Rennes-Nantes-Vendee coast.

Unless you live in Kent it's definitely worth considering a longer crossing - Portsmouth-Caen is only 3 hours on a fast ferry and it'll save you a lot of driving, petrol and tolls.

EViS

Thanks for the response but the Eurotunnel is already booked and even with tolls and additional fuel works out cheaper for us. On top of which I much prefer to drive that sit on a ferry.

MartJ

Depends what day you are planning on driving, I have found that the Route National Roads are a lot busier in the week with heavy lorries and you can get held up in traffic jams near larger towns and cities, we got caught in one last year near Orleans added about 2 hours to our journey time.

We much prefer the toll motorways, a more relaxing experience than motorways in UK. Also depends what fuel your car uses, diesel is much cheaper in France than in UK.

Useful site for finding fuel costs where you are going is http://www.prix-carburants.economie.gouv.fr/ its in French but easy to understand.

Did you get your EuroTunnel Tickets using Tesco Vouchers a great way of saving on costs on crossing of channel.

nickyhutch

We did this a couple of years ago, and used some toll roads, some not, just as a variation. The toll roads weren't a bit busy. We went via Rouen and stayed the night there, thinking the trip would be about 9 hours. In fact it was nearer 6 or 7, so we could have easily done it all in one go, with 2 of us sharing the driving.

Eurotinnel was great, especially for someone like me who can't stand sailing.

Bogtrotter

EViS wrote: »

We will be driving from Calais to a small town between La Roche and Niort in the Vendee region of South-West France.

We are looking to save some money on tolls as long as the journey doesn't cost us much more in fuel and can comfortably be completed in one day.

Option 1: Via Caen avoiding tolls (approx 9 hours)
Option 2: Via Tours avoiding tolls (approx 9.5 hours)
Option 3: Via Le Mans avoiding tolls (approx 9 hours)
Option 4: Via Le Mans with tolls (approx 7 hours)

Can't comment for the complete journey since we normally travel from Cherbourg.

Option 1: This is the route we use to get to Deux Sevres quickest. Basically its motorway the whole way. I haven't travelled from Nantes to your destination but any other driving I've done within the Vendee seems to take longer than I estimate due to generally single carriageways punctuated by towns. Depending on the time of day maybe the last leg on the A83 Peage between Nantes and Sainte-Hermine costing €6.80 might be an acceptable toll journey.

Option 2: Our destination is physically closer to Tours than Nantes but its much slower to travel to Tours because mostly single carriageway and lots of tourist traffic around Loire valley.

Option 3: Haven't travelled it but I would imagine the same issues as option 2.

Option 4: Again never travelled it. Probably a good route but at nearly €50 toll on top of €50 fuel its too expensive for my tastes

flopsypurple

we travelled calais to vendee a few years ago now but we went avoiding toll roads and it was a nightmare very long and slow on return journey we took toll roads and it was lovely well worth paying for especially with children in the car.

EViS

Thanks for the replies so far. Seems a mixed bag of opinions. Our Eurotunnel (with Tesco Vouchers in deed) arrives in Calais at 7:00 am (local) on Saturday if that helps anyone offer some further advice.

Bogtrotter

EViS wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. Seems a mixed bag of opinions. Our Eurotunnel (with Tesco Vouchers in deed) arrives in Calais at 5:30 am on Saturday if that helps anyone offer some further advice.

Probably the best time to travel with few lorries and ample time to make the journey.

One other option, should the toll motorways be acceptable for you, is to travel the Caen route but use the peage between Calais and Abbeville, Rouen to Caen and Nantes to Sainte-Hermain. Probably could do it in 8 hours with a significant saving on tolls over the Le Mans route.

EViS

Bogtrotter wrote: »

Probably the best time to travel with few lorries and ample time to make the journey.

One other option, should the toll motorways be acceptable for you, is to travel the Caen route but use the peage between Calais and Abbeville, Rouen to Caen and Nantes to Sainte-Hermain. Probably could do it in 8 hours with a significant saving on tolls over the Le Mans route.

Is there any way to see the cost of those toll roads together with a route map on the viamichelin website? I cannot see any option to create a 'custom' trip.

Bogtrotter

EViS wrote: »

Is there any way to see the cost of those toll roads together with a route map on the viamichelin website? I cannot see any option to create a 'custom' trip.

Don't think you can add waypoints to force a specific route on viamichelin site but you could add a destination close to the required route to make it select a specific path.

For example we sometimes stop at the SuperU at Nozay (just minutes from the motorway) to refuel and buy some provisions on the way. If you add Nozay as a destination it will select the Caen route with minimal increase in travel time due to the stopover