London/Paris/South of France trip 2026

Rosa_Damascena

Albermarle said:

I do not think the word 'frugal' and London & most nice parts of France sit together very well.

Pre Covid, I stayed in a Northern French seaside town and was astonished by the prices, even just for a couple of beers.

Paris is expensive and no good for vegetarians, I'd rather stay at home and treat myself to something nice than go on holiday and then find myself miserably watching the budget. London - which is commutable for me - can be a lot less expensive if you know where the bargain are to be found.

I am so glad that when I travelled extensively in my 20s and 30sit was far more reasonable than it is now!

stingray751

I just came back from a 2 week driving holiday to the South of France with my 2 teenage sons.  We went via Dijon and Avignon on the way down, and Annecy and Paris on the way back. The South of France can be quite pricey when you're there (accommodation and eating out) but you can find really reasonable hotels/Eurocamps if you book in advance. 

We went via Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) and the experience was excellent as always, although as it was the height of summer there were 1 hour queues through passport control. When I went in April there were no queues at all. Cost was about £400 return but you can get it cheaper if you book different times.  You can save money by taking the car ferry as that's half the price but will take 1 hour longer each way (1h 35min for ferry vs 35 mins by Le Shuttle).

We took our ID.3 EV and electric charging was very easy on the autoroutes, and much cheaper than in the UK. I subscribed to VW's We Charge Pro plan (£16 for 1 month) which reduced Ionity charging in France down to €0.32/kWh.  The charging cost to drive 1,850 miles was £140. For a diesel car you're probably looking at about £175-£250 depending on efficiency.

The autoroutes in France are way better than our motorways (smooth, fast, generally few hold ups, nice rest stops, ample EV charging, petrol pumps), but you have to pay tolls and for our trip it was about £200. I'd say this was definitely worth it as we're a family of 4 and meant that we got to our destination more quickly.  I used  EmovisTag so the tolls are paid automatically, mostly without even stopping.  To save money you could avoid Autoroutes but it would take much longer.

So in total, driving the family to the South of France and going via the cities listed above cost £750. Hope this helps.