Route planning

Basically think of the Autoroutes as out Intersates and the Route National as out US Hws. If you just want to get from hewre to there, You youse one of these.

BP Chuck

I agree with you Chris...there is no need for a special CD with these two. The ones with the CD however, do give a bit more collateral info with the directions that have nothing to do with quality and accuracy of directions.

On the net, I usually use Mappy and Michelin. Both provide maps, route planners, and other services. They are available in French and in English.

You can get a program called "AUTOROUTES 2001" (or later version) by Microsoft. If you are dragging a laptop along, this is very handy. It is in French; punch in several town names and it will figure out the distances, etc., and give you a screen map and driving itinerary.

This program is the eqivalent of "STREETS PLUS" in the USA. Same commands; same layout.

I still keep plenty of IGN maps in my car when I am driving, even with such progams.

Michelin also puts out a program called "Atlas Routier Europe." I found this to be inferior to the MS product.

You can get any of these items at any Leclerc supermarket in France, or any big book store.

Kenavo

Jean, the website is not bad, and there are times when using the Autoroutes or Route Nationale are necessary. Sounds like your hubby chose a good time to go through Paris. Hope the trip south will be enjoyable and you get to do lots of wine tasting. Watch out for the tractors pulling carts of grapes on the smaller roads !!

Thanks for the comments--I passed them on to My Husband, the Driver. He says he'd rather make speed if possible, especially as we'll be hitting the peripherique around noon. I suspect we'll stop along the way, possibly to visit Fontainebleau, as our traveling companion hasn't seen the place, and once we get into Burgundy there are many lovely possibilities to slow us down. But if we go straight through to Bouilland we'll be able to visit Beaune the same day instead of the next one, when we'll be heading down to Avignon.

I, however, remember the stench of the trucks as we made our way at a snail's pace through Nevers....

Jean, just looking at the choice of routes, three things come to mind: trucker routes, major escape routes for Parisians, and a north-south centric bias. If you are going from Normandie to Bourgougne, you have to cross the routes at specific points to catch the gas and food places, as you are going essentially perpendicular to the map. That is, unless you plan to cross the hub of the map through Paris. Ugh, the pheripherique!! Unless you are driving late at night, why not just get out your yellow Michelin regional maps and enjoy the countryside, rather than sucking deisel fumes from a Saviem truck on the Autoroute. Of course, I have made mad dashes of 700-1000 Km in a day to make up time or to see something special, but I don't recommend it. I probably don't need to remind you that you have to plan the time for crossing anywhere near Paris to avoid the daily commutes to the outer banlieu towns.

Alas, an outer beltway like the M25 around London is not a fact, but you can get the equivalent by taking some of the lesser roads in a great arc around Paris. I hate to suggest a route, but I have not been in France for 8 years, and patterns are changing constantly. Last time I was there, I got caught in a terrible jam at Rambouillet, crossing west-to-east, rather than north-to-south. The last time we were there was 20 years earlier on our honeymoon, and it was a quiet, rural town with hardly any traffic.

Here's a very handy site for trip planning:

http://www.franceautoroutes.com

It covers the principal autoroutes in France and lets you see where you can buy gas, where there are services like snack-bars and restaurants (even showers!), where you can find picnic areas...all sorts of useful information. Thanks to this site we've been able to figure out just where we can stop for lunch on our long drive from Normandy to Burgundy is we decide to drive straight through.