Driving In Provence: What To Expect & Tips For The Road

There were a few things I noticed while driving in Provence that are different from driving in North America. For one, speed limit signs were quite rare, roundabouts are more widely used than traffic lights, and the terrain is on a whole other level than we’re used to

So if you’re planning on going on a road trip in Provence, here are some driving and parking tips that I wish I’d known before my South of France vacation. 

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General Tips For Driving In Provence

The South of France in Provence actually has some of the better driving conditions that I’ve seen. The roads are wide enough to fit two cars (sad how I even have even mention that), and they’re well paved. Plus as a bonus, you’re greeted with spectacular road trip views along the way. You can go from driving through mountains and gorges to lavender fields and wineries.

The tricky part actually comes when you reach your destination. In most cities in the South of France, cars aren’t allowed, or if they are, it’s a mess with one way streets. So before embarking on your journey, here are my top tips for going on a road trip in Provence.

1. The Speed Limit Is… Unknown?

When driving in Provence, it was often hard to know what the speed limit was as signs were quite rare. We’re used to speed limit signs when you get on or off the highway, but this doesn’t seem to exist in Provence.

Instead, we noticed signs indicating what the speed limit was not. For example, when getting off the highway, there would be a sign with an ‘X’ through the 70. It’s great that we know knew the speed limit was no longer 70, but we have no idea what the new limit actually is. 

On our last road trip in Provence, we caught on that it’s indicating that it’s going back to the original speed limit. Only problem, we never knew what the limit was to begin with. So, make sure to pay attention when you see the speed limit to remember what it was, because they won’t tell you again.

2. Driving In France Tips – Get Used To Roundabouts

As it turns out, France has the most roundabouts in the world. They love them, all 30000 of them (and that number is growing every year)!

If you aren’t used to roundabouts, they can be a bit terrifying to drive through. Coming from North America, we tend to use traffic lights over roundabouts so this was definitely an adjustment.

But as you can imagine, they’re unavoidable if you want to drive anywhere on your South of France vacation. Just know that you will get the hang of them and then they’ll be your best friend. You’ll be thinking to yourself why we don’t have more of these back home!

As a general rule of thumb, you typically have 4 options at a roundabout: turn right (first exit), go straight (second exit), turn left (third exit), make a U-turn (fourth exit). Make sure you’re in the correct lane when you get to the roundabout. If you’re turning right (the first exit) you want to be in the right lane.

Roundabouts actually make driving in a foreign country easier. Think about it, roundabouts are pretty hard to miss compared to the small street signs. You don’t have to worry when and where you have to turn next.

3. Road Trips In Provence: Prepare For Toll Roads

There are tolls in France!! This was the biggest shock of all for us. We expect tolls in the United States, but had no idea that France has toll roads as well.

So before setting out on your road trip in Provence, double check your route. Sometimes the tolls are avoidable because they don’t save you that much time. Yet other times, it’ll double your driving time (like driving from Aix to the Côte d’Azur).

Depending on where you’re driving, the toll roads in the South of France can also be really expensive. On the drive from Aix to Canne, there’s a €15 toll that you can’t really avoid, so make sure to add that into your budget for the day.

Sometimes it might be worth avoiding tolls anyway because you’ll get a nice drive on the side road. Skip the highway and opt for the scenic route, driving on smaller roads through quaint towns, along the coast, or through the mountains.

What’s nice about these tolls though, compared to the driving in the States, is that you can easily pay with your credit card at the toll booth. There’s no rummaging through to find loose change, or saving every last penny you get. 

4. Tips For Renting A Car On Your South Of France Vacation

I assume that if you’re on a South of France vacation, you don’t have your own car so you’re going to be renting one. There are a few companies to rent from in France, I recommend Europcar. We rented from them in Aix, they were very easy to deal with and typically cheaper than our other options. 

If you’re renting a car for your road trip in Provence, always make sure bring your passport with you. They’ll need two forms of I.D. at the rental agency and they always ask for your passport as one of them.

It’s also a good idea to drive with your passport anyway in case you get pulled over (which hopefully you won’t). Your hometown license, probably won’t do you much good at that point.

Another thing to watch out for is car rental insurance. If you have a credit card with car insurance, make sure you know exactly what it covers. When booking a car in Europe, some companies will automatically include a collision damage waiver (CDW). The tricky part is that most North American credit cards will no longer insure you if you accept the CDW.

It’s important to read your insurance policy to know exactly what you have to decline and accept when renting a car in France.

5. Be Careful When Driving In Provence Through The Mountains

Provence is quite large, so it includes a lot of different driving terrains. For the most part, you can avoid any crazy driving conditions.

The problem come when you want to visit a city in the mountains or some of Provence’s vast nature scene – you can’t exactly take the nice large highway all the way there. Needless to say, to see some of the most picturesque spots in Provence, you’ll have to drive on less optimal roads.

Provence mountain roads are sometimes narrow and curvy with blind spots around the bend. The most terrifying is when a huge truck would come from the other direction… so always make sure to slow down before a turn, just in case there’s a truck you can’t see. 

There are also no lights set up in the mountains either, so best to avoid driving in Provence at night.

Provence By Car: City Specific Driving & Parking Tips

Along with my general driving in France tips to watch out for, each city in Provence also has its own set of struggles. Sometimes it’s getting to the city itself, while other times driving through the city can actually be the hardest part.

I’ll go over driving and parking tips for each main South of France vacation city based on our experience in each of them. 

Driving and Parking Tips For Aix-en-Provence

Aix is a very difficult city to drive in. You can do it, but I’d recommend not to. The streets in the city centre are all one way, only fit one car, and some you need permission to even drive on.

Aix is a pedestrians run city and they walk in the middle of the road all the time (it’s not entirely their fault, the sidewalks are too small to fit more than one person!). So with all that being said, it’s VERY slow driving and can take you an extra 10 minutes to get anywhere by car.

If you do drive into Aix, there’s also no place to park. You might get lucky and find street parking outside the city centre, but those are rare to come by. It’s better to park about a 10-minute drive from Aix at Krypton Parking.

There’s a bus every 10 minutes that will take you from the parking lot to La Rotonde in the city centre. Your parking pass actually includes 2 bus tickets for you and a passenger. Just make sure to exchange them next to the bus stop at the info desk.

Driving In Marseille – Tips

If you’re thinking about driving in Marseille just DON’T! If you thought driving in Aix sounded bad, then driving in Marseille is apparently 10 times worse. We didn’t even try, we were warned not to by our AirBnB host (multiple times).

Instead, opt to take a bus or train to the city centre. The city is small enough that you can walk everywhere or take public transit within the city.

Driving and Parking Tips In Nice

You should have no issue driving and parking in the city centre in Nice.

P.S. If you’re driving in Provence from Aix to Nice, this is when you’ll have the €15 toll to pay (and then another €3 toll). You can avoid the second toll and drive along the coast for stunning views (which I recommend doing at least one way).

We were able to find street parking in Nice near the Negresco hotel for a few hours. We downloaded the parking app so we didn’t have to worry about running back to the car to add more time.

We noticed that if you pay for 3 hours they’ll hit you with a huge fee (really not sure why…maybe it was a glitch?). So, instead, pay in 2-hour intervals, it’s a lot cheaper that way. We also noticed that the first 30 minutes are free, so if you want to save, you know how!

Driving and Parking Tips For Monaco

Although not technically in France, Monaco it does border it and a lot of people include it on their trips to the Côte D’Azur during their South of France Vacation.

Driving in the city centre is simple, although you might have to drive through the mountain to get to the city or leave it. It’s not a straightforward tunnel, there are roundabouts inside the mountain. Make sure you know where you’re going before entering the tunnel because you’ll most likely lose GPS signal.

There are a few parking lots around the city that all charge the same amount. It’s free for the first hour and then they start charging.

You’ll most likely want to explore two parts of Monaco on your South of France vacation. So instead of parking in one spot for the entire day, I recommend moving the car once.

I recommend parking in the Old Town parking centre first. Visit everything you want to see in Old Town of Monaco (like the Oceanographic museum) and then drive to the casino and park there.

If you don’t move your car to the Casino, you’ll have to walk back up the hill at the end of the day to get to your walk. It’s doable, but you might be really tired at this point. From the Casino parking lot, it’s a short walk to the main part of town.

Driving and Parking Tips For Avignon

Avignon city centre is once again filled with one-way narrow streets. If you want to avoid driving inside Avignon, I recommend parking in the Palais des Papes parking lot.

The Palais des Papes parking lot on the edge of town, but it’s not a far walk to the centre (about 10 minutes). It’s also close to the most important attraction of the city: the Pont d’Avignon and Park Durocher for the best city views!

If you’re driving in Provence from Aix, there is a toll road you can take to Avignon. We took it on the way there and it cost about €7 and saved us 40 minutes.

Driving and Parking Tips For Les-Baux-Pays-de-Provence

Les-Baux-Pays-de-Provence is a very small city but it draws in tourists from around the world to see Les Carrière des Lumières exhibit (I recommend a trip there!).

If you’re coming from Aix on your road trip in Provence, you have a toll road and a non-toll road option. The non-toll road option doesn’t add too much time, but if you’re not comfortable with roundabouts just yet, avoid this route. I swear, there was one every 100 meters. It made you realize how France really does has the most roundabouts in the world.

There are no cars allowed in the city centre of Les-Baux-Pays-de-Provence so you’ll have to park outside and walk up to it. Les Carrière des Lumières is about a 10-minute walk away from the town. So you can easily find a spot between the two.

There are a few small lots on the way up to the town, or you can park along the street here as well. Both options are €5 for the first hour, then 50 cents for the following hours. There isn’t a lot of availability, so if you want to make sure to have a spot, get there early.

Driving And Parking Tips For Roussillon

Driving to and from Roussillon can either be a breeze or your worst nightmare. Roussillon is one of those examples of a Provence town hidden in the mountains, not directly accessible from any highway.

There are two options to get to Roussillon: mostly highway with tolls or through the mountains for free. I recommend trying to stay on the highway for as long as possible, it’s worth paying for tolls here. As beautiful as driving through the mountains was, it wasn’t worth the fear of driving off the mountain if a truck came speeding around the bend.

In terms of parking in Roussillon, there are two paid parking lots: one at the bottom and one at the top. If you see a spot in the first one, grab it. Chances are that the second one is full.

Driving And Parking Tips For Gorges Du Verdon

After our experience driving in Scotland and to Roussillon, the Gorge du Verdon was a breeze in comparison. Albeit, if you’re not used to mountain driving, it’s still just as terrifying.

If you’re just driving through the Gorges du Verdon see the views, the best one is at the beginning at the Pont Galetas. There’s a small parking lot next to the bridge where you can get out to enjoy the incredible views. No need to risk death on this road trip in Provence!

My France Day Trip Essentials

Related Posts

• 27 Day Trips From Aix-en-Provence
• How To Spend One Day In Marseille
• How To Spend One Day In The Côte D’Azure
• Road Trip From Aix: Avignon, L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, Gordes, and Roussillon
• Why Spend One Day At The Pont du Gard [Road Trip From Aix]

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Last update on 2024-05-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API