Driving through France in September

DiS Travel Guide
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Heyo, we are going to camp for two weeks in Spain in September. Our destination is about an hour from France on the Mediterranean coast. We are going to be getting the ferry from Dover to Calais on the way out and Le Tunnel on the way back. I’ve allowed two nights stopping off in France either side of the Spain part to break up the journey and see a bit of France too. Not planning to camp on these stops as I’d like to be more rested for driving.

Anyone got any suggestions for places to stop off at? There’s four of us, two adults and two kids (13 and 10)

I’m keen to have some time in Carcassonne and it would seem silly not to visit Paris. I’d also like to go across the Millau viaduct (would be on the non Carcassonne leg)

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I think it would be quicker to take the route further west, but Dijon is nice, small enough to be manageable on foot but still a proper city. I always liked Besancon as well, that’s a good bit smaller though.

The Ardeche and all around Avignon and Orange is beautiful, pretty quiet and rural

Don’t bother with the champagne region unless you really like the drink, it’s just vineyards and literally nothing else

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Carcassonne castle (and surrounding medieval streets) lives up to the hype, and wasn’t as busy as I expected (Easter holidays 2025). But the rest of the town is a bit shit.

Toulouse is close by, it’s my favourite city in France, not so many attractions but impeccable vibes as the kids say. Not sure how annoying it would be with a car.

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Chris Rea’s early draft didn’t have the seasonal appeal of a Christmas number

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We did lots of holidays down that section of Mediterranean France and Spain. Stayed in all of the mid France cities a lot (Tours, Le Mans, Blois, Alencon, Poitiers, Chatellerault, Chateroux, Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand, Montluçon, Bourges, Vierzon, Orleans, Angouleme). Stayed in Campanile hotels.

I don’t think Paris for a few hours/overnight would be worth it. Traffic, expense ect… would put me off.

I’ve driven 2 ways to get to that area in the past. Down the middle, so through montluçon and Clermont-Ferrand. Would mean you could hit through Millau and the viaduct. Could maybe stay at Beziers or Sete and then drive the coastal road over into Spain. Collioure is well worth a stop for an extend lunch.

The way I’ve travelled the most is west of Paris, normally down to Biarritz sorta area, but the following may work… Calais, Rouen, Dreux, Evereux, Chartres, Tours, Limoges, Perigeux, Agen, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Med Coast. Unfortunately, lots of these places aren’t the prettiest, but 2 days to get to Med doesn’t really give you much time to do any exploring.

We did do the east once and stayed in Lyon at a campsite, but we turned up late because of traffic and the weather was fucking shite. No reason a trip straight down from Calais to Avignon and then along the coast wouldn’t work.

Sounds like a nice trip though. Sorry if this doesn’t help

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This sounds like a fun trip! If it were me, I would think carefully about what you want from Paris and whether you will be well served by doing that this trip. Paris is great but will definitely add traffic, costs, and more busy/stressful driving to your trip. I would avoid it by car and take the eurostar another time.

Whatever you do, I recommend learning about the priorité à droite rule if you aren’t familiar with driving in France. It will save you getting annoyed at people pulling out in front of you.

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Asked my mum what route they’d go to Girona (assuming you’re camping around there). They go through France a couple of times a year when driving down through to Spain…

Calais - Rouen - Bourges - Clermont-Ferrand - Beziers - Perpignan and motorway into Spain. Overnight at Montluçon and somewhere on the coast.

If money’s no issue…

Calais to Rouen, motorway to Poitiers, on to Toulouse and then motorway through to Spain.

Paege is a very spenny way to travel though. And none of these are the best (for either cultural stuff or prettiness)

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Millau viaduct is so cool. I like Limoges as a stopping point. Really beautiful city and area in general. Langeais near tours is nice too

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little town called L’Escala, so not far from Girona yes.

Good tips thank you and everyone else.

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My mum’s words “there won’t be much time to explore”, but if you stick to the N routes and off the motorways as much as possible, you’ll get some good places to stop.

We stayed in L’estartit once, so just down the coast.

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we’re not too fussed about the exploring in france tbh but yeah she’s right.

we used to go to that part of spain as kids and stay in Ampuries and L’Escala. Got really evocative memories of the mostly flat land and pyrenees off in the distance and watching the thunderstorms. watching the phosphorescence in the sea at L’Estartit was amazing too.

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in case you want an alternative route (or perhaps to come back a different way) we had a similar journey for a holiday with our kids when they were a similar age a few years ago. We started from Rotterdam rather than Calais, which makes a bit of a difference but not much.

if I remember correctly we stopped in Reims for lunch on the first day, then stayed overnight in Dijon. Second day we had lunch in Lyon, and then stopped overnight in Nimes.

Those were all worth visiting and the stages of the journey worked well

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