A car road trip in France: organising your stages and nights

You don't need a campervan for a road trip: a car is still the simplest way to discover France at your own pace. Freedom comes at a price, though: every day you have to decide where to stop, where to eat, what to see and where to sleep. Here is how to prepare all of that without spending your evenings on it.

Set the framework for your trip

Three questions are enough to get started:

• the start and destination, or a loop back to your starting point;
• the length of the trip, keeping a day in reserve;
• the type of accommodation: campsites, hotels, B&Bs (chambres d'hôtes), or a mix of both.

Split up the stages

A good road trip alternates driving days with days spent in one place. For each day, think in three parts: a reasonable stretch of road, lunch and one or two visits, then somewhere to stay for the night. Avoid long driving days back to back: fatigue builds up and you end up crossing regions without really seeing them.

Choose where to sleep

Outdoors

A campsite is the most flexible option and often the cheapest, including by car with a tent. Check opening dates out of season.

Comfort

Hotels, B&Bs, inns and gîtes offer a real bed and often breakfast. In high season, booking a few days ahead saves you driving around in the evening.

For a trip in a campervan or motorhome, the rules are different: see our guide where to sleep in a motorhome or campervan in France.

Meals and sightseeing

Finding a restaurant for lunch and another for dinner near your stop avoids nasty surprises in small towns, where kitchens close early. For sightseeing, stick to one or two activities a day: a château, a museum, a viewpoint, a natural site. Any more and the day turns into a race.

The car checklist

• Servicing up to date: tyres, fluid levels, lights.
• A Crit'Air sticker (France's clean air vignette) if you drive through a low-emission zone.
• High-visibility vest and warning triangle, first aid kit.
• Offline maps for areas with no signal.
• Chargers and a phone holder.

Let Pakvia plan the route

Pakvia splits up the trip for you. Enter your start, your destination and a trip length of 1 to 21 days, and choose "Car": the route follows the road network, and you choose your accommodation, Outdoors, Comfort or Both. Each day includes accommodation taken from OpenStreetMap, lunch, dinner and up to two activities, and opens in Google Maps.

Tempted by a motorcycle instead? Read motorcycle road trip: planning your stages. And when you are ready, plan your road trip for free.