Flying vs Driving to the South of France

Lemoncurd

Thank you all so much for the replies, there is lots of really helpful advice and info there!

We're still dithering here, if we do decide to fly it has cost us quite a bit - the flight prices have jumped from about £250 to £450 in a few days!
I love the idea of Motorail, we will def need a car when we are out there and comparing all the costs for Motorail with those for flying it comes to almost exactly the same amount for both options. I guess if we are careful, driving the full distance would work out the cheapest option and I do like the idea of being able to see a few more sights on the way down.

Neil_Taylor

Explore the driving option.
Driving in France is a dream

If you can manage the time and money, try staying at a place for two nights, with the day to explore the town and region.

Beane is great (though off route for Bergerac) We stayed in the Ibis hotel here.
http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/home/index.shtml

Better for you may be Chinon, just off the Loire valley. Richard the First is supposed to be buried here. We stayed here in a hotel from the Logis chain (these are owner run, L de F is a marketing company like Best Western)
http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm

Chartes is good also.

In fact just look at your route map and chose somewhere that takes your fancy.

We've used French and Belgian Motorail several times to Bologna, Italy and each time it's cost about £900 - £1000.
We felt this was only a little more expensive than flying and hiring, with the ability to bring back lots of wine (not now possible when flying)
Flying and hiring is now a lot cheaper so we don't think it stacks up.

So I'd say drive and enjoy the country.

Read up on French driving laws - see the AA site.
Don't speed , don't use radar detectors - (but sat-nav with camera positions is OK).

jaymac_2

Take a look at mappy.com to plan your route. It'll give you times, distances and toll costs or will do a toll free route. It also shows fixed camera locations. There are some inexpensive hotels in France so you could stop off and make the journey part of the holiday. Go for it!