Hi everyone, we are thinking of driving to tortosa from the uk in the near future and need some advice,
we shall probably take the eurotunnel at night and then drive down during the night stopping some where in france for a break in the journey can anyone suggest a good place to stop in france maybe in the south also how long should we allow for the journey we were thinking of a couple of days with a break , also are there any particular places to avoid enroute and any suggestions on a pleasant route
  Thanks.
  Jon.  

Jon,
    I have made the journey lots of times, if you go motorway its fast but not cheap, from Calais to Tortosa one and a half to two days depending how fast you want to go and thats through Paris with a satnav.You can avoid Paris and go via Rheims which adds something like fifty miles to the run. Also you can take the Route National roads but be prepared for long hold-ups and convoys which you can't overtake easily if you have right hand drive,obviously this way takes longer but is more reasonable.Try and refuel off the Autoroutes if possible,much cheaper!
As for stopovers I favour the Logis de France because they are family owned small hotels and normally the food is very good. There is a catalogue which can be obtained from the French Tourist Office or if you find a Logis they have this free of charge on the counter. There are motels and hotel groups all the way down the autoroutes at all prices,Campanille,Ibis etc.........all can be found on the net as can Logis de France.
Hope this helps a bit.................any questions, come back!

                                                    Old Nelson.

Hi Jon
I'm doing this reverse trip on Saturday/Sunday but using Dieppe to Newhaven crossing as I am staying with friends in
Newhaven where i used to live.  I like the viamichelin.com site for driving directions.  It will also give you an indication of fuel
costs, what tolls to pay if you choose the motorway routes and where the motels like formula1 and others are.
(oh and locaations of speed cameras  ;) )
Safe journey,
Haze

I have done it a number of times and prefer to go via Lyon not Paris, as old nelson says, it is slow and easy to get lost, the peripherique exits are not well advertised and IMO, it is really easy to take a lot longer timewise despite saving 50 odd miles. I usually drive it in one go, via Lyon on the Autorutes @90mph it takes 13 hrs +/- from Calais.

If you want to stop, in the S of France, Carcasonne is worth a visit, only a short hop off the AP7-E15 coastal motorway [A61-E80 to Tolouse] .. and it has a Formula1 hotel nearby.

hi, we did the drive 5 times last year. paris can be busy even at night. the best time we did was birmingham to tortosa via eurotunnel in 20 hrs. The longest it took us was 28 hrs. That was the weekend that the whole of france started there holidays, at 3 am we were in 3 lanes of crawling traffic for about 150 miles. Lyon is definately the safest option. it can get very busy around lyon, so time that part  well.

Thank you all for your advice we are looking forward to the journey it should be quite pleasant
as we plan to take a couple of days and travel through the night
thanks jon

We have done this trip numerous times both ways, as yet although the traffic around Paris has been busy we have never been stuck unlike Lyon where we have been caught in a traffic jam for 5 hours so beware of when the French decide to decend on the south of France!  The best thing we did was invest in a SatNav and if you go via Paris the sights are great and you also get to go over the Milau Bridge, further south, which is spectacular and there is a viewing area there where we try to stop and get a coffee and stretch our legs.
Have a good trip!