Fastest & Easiest Route bypassing Paris - North/Southbou

[mpwilson99]

Hi All,

I have been looking at some virtual touring of a route from Home to Spain on Google Earth, in preparation for a road trip I will be making in a few weeks.

Im very pleased at least, that Google Earth and my 6.75 tomtom map show the exact same way of going ( fastest route – not avoiding the toll roads )

Now, im no stranger to danger, and have some reasonable experience of driving on european roads, including driving to the very centre of Paris, but I was just wondering is there a better way of going, to avoid the East side of Paris ( A1 / A86 ) , which from looking at Google earth is going to be a bit `mental` and a slow route to take. ? - expect it will be better in reality and not as bad as it looks.

Would this be the route you folks would take – or would seek a better route going West of Paris ?

Thanks

MPW
_________________
TomTom 700 GO user since Dec 2005.
TomTom PDA XDA user since Dec 2007.
TomTom HTC HD2 user since Jul 2012.

[Darren]

I always take the direct route via Paris and the Peripherique (their inner orbital road).

So long as you can plan to arrive in Paris outside of the normal rush hour periods then its a fast and convenient route and you will transit Paris in less than 15mins if you're on the Calais A1- A71 route.

The other option is the A86 outer ring road. This is a much longer route around Paris but if your journey means you will unavoidably transit Paris at or near either rush hour then it is the better option.

The Peripherique is for the main set below ground level in a cutting with many tunnels so GPS reception can be an issue, particularly where your exit is immediately after a tunnel but it's well sign-posted and not too big an issue.
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Darren Griffin

[mpwilson99]

Thanks Darren,

However im a tad confused, as I think the route does take me onto the Boulevard Périphérique, about 10 miles after leaving the A1, is this the same thing? - i dont know whats inner and outer, sorry.

Cheers MPW
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TomTom 700 GO user since Dec 2005.
TomTom PDA XDA user since Dec 2007.
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[emjaiuk]

Inner and outer relate to traffic direction, the same as we use clockwise and anti clockwise on the M25.

I assume you are going to the east of Spain. I agree with Darren with regard to Paris. The Peripherique can be interesting, especially scooters and motorbikes overtaking on all sides in all lanes! You need to know the name of the exit (porte) you need, All the signs show the name of the next exit on top with the name of the following exit underneath, so you get warning (although the A10 exit is immediatly after a local exit in an underpass).

An alternative from Calais is to stay on the A26 and then go down via the A6/A7 (not recomended in the hight of summer)
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[Darren]

[BigPerk]

The outer ring road ("La Francilienne", I think it's called) seemed a little tortuous when I used it some years ago - a bit like the London south circular, if you know that, with road numbers changing quite a bit; but as Darren says well worth considering.

If you do use the inner Périphérique (a very good road in spite of its reputation) the turnoffs are very close in places and can come up fairly suddenly. I found it very helpful to make a note of the previous turn and look out for it, so that I knew mine was next and could move over if necessary - you tend to get just one shot in busy periods.

As for routes, if you are touring rather than hacking it out, you might like to also consider a more western alternative, with relatively new stretches of motorway down through Rouen, Le Mans, Tours to Poitiers and Limoges. Mainly A28, though not all motorway, this was a prettyquiet and pleasant route when I used it a couple of years ago to/from Perpignan near the Spanish border. Surely not the quickest or shortest, but possibly much more relaxing and enjoyable. Just a thought!
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David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

[Border_Collie]

More or less as Big Perk. My mate drove to Calpe last year and, like yourself, wanted to avoid Paris, so chose.....

A16, A28 then, as he wanted to drive over the Millau Viaduct, A10, A85, A71, A75, A9 and on into Spain.
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Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.

[emjaiuk]

One other point, if your using 6.75 maps, I wouldn't trust TT totally. My maps aren't totally up to date with French autoroutes.
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[BigPerk]

The Millau Viaduct - now that IS worth a detour (if you like that sort of thing). We even spent a couple of hours in the local 'lay-by' looking round the 'museum' and the viewing-point. (I appreciated it even more having spent a number of years ploughing through the town with millions of others).
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David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

[mpwilson99]

Thanks all for your replies, will give them all consideration.

Basically I want the quickest route going. - i will be doing plenty of `site seeing` when I get to the beach on the Costa Dorarda.

Cheers

MPW
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TomTom 700 GO user since Dec 2005.
TomTom PDA XDA user since Dec 2007.
TomTom HTC HD2 user since Jul 2012.

[mpwilson99]

Just as a quick follow up post.

Think I found out why I seemed to get confused, if you look at my original post, i said A1/A86 , then later on i said my route seems to take my into the Boulevard Périphérique.

The difference comes in the 6.75 maps!

6.75.1409 is the same as Google Earth - Via Boulevard Périphérique
6.75.1322 takes you via the A86.

I have done some A2B timings, from the Vermars Ouest services, to N48.62845,E2.14042 ..
6.75.1409 is 40miles, 45 mins.
6.75.1322 is 48miles, 43 mins.

Think seeing as i will be using the 6.75.1322 map, and it will be late, and it be on my PDA phone which seems to take a tad longer to get a GPS fix i will keep to the A86 route for now - helps avoiding the underpasses - loss of GPS and motorbikes!

Cheers

MPW
_________________
TomTom 700 GO user since Dec 2005.
TomTom PDA XDA user since Dec 2007.
TomTom HTC HD2 user since Jul 2012.

[mpwilson99]

Seeing the news about Salou in the week, It reminded me again to look up how long it took me to drive through Paris approx 1 year ago.
I did the A86 southbound, and the A3/Bvd on the way home to UK.

These recordings are taken from my GPSSS log.
The date is not shown for privacy purposes. However the day (night) was a Saturday.

The results are as below, just in case anyone wanted to know..!
Apologies if the tables dont come out looking pretty.

Via A86 Southbound.
LAT_DEC, LONG_DEC, DIST_TRIP, LOC_TIME,
48.88423, 2.46943, 260.155, 00:36:21,
48.75446, 2.33221, 273.464, 00:55:16,

Total Section, 13.309, 00:18:55,


Via A3/Bvd Nothbound.
LAT_DEC, LONG_DEC, DIST_TRIP, LOC_TIME,
48.75444, 2.33314, 699.338, 23:50:17,
48.88391, 2.46917, 711.155, 00:07:10,

Total Section, 11.817, 00:16:53,

As you will see not much in it. Only 2 minutes difference.
I would say going via the A86 was the smoothest and easiest run of both routes via Paris.
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TomTom PDA XDA user since Dec 2007.
TomTom HTC HD2 user since Jul 2012.

[AliOnHols]

mpwilson99, before we lived in Spain and getting there very quick for holidays was important, we used to leave London Friday evening, drive through the night and arrive in Spain early Saturday morning: 11-13 hours driving depending upon comfort stops. The route was LeShuttle-Calais, Reims, Dijon, Lyon, Montpellier, Spain.

Nowadays, there is no need to slog it through the night so we choose to go west of Paris favouring DoverFerry-Boulogne, Rouen, Chartres, Orleans, (so far, this can be done on Non-toll roads if we prefer). At this point there are loads of options which are available. If we want to get a "push on" we choose Toll the roads to Clement Ferrand, Beziers, Spain or semi-toll to Limoge, Tolouse, Carcassonne, Spain (16hrs-ish). If we want to take our time and go non-toll it is via Nevers, Riom, Issoire, Beziers, Spain (20hrs-ish). However, if in the area, we always pay the €6-7 toll to pass over the Millau Viaduct, which probably saves about 1.5hrs and provides a fantastic view.

The only times we drive straight through Paris to get to Spain is when we land in France late at night or very early in the morning and it is possible to get through and out the other side before 6am. This is not based on anything other than we don't want to risk getting caught up in a Parisian traffic jam so we avoid it like the plague.

Happy Holidays.
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