Planning to take ferry or Chunnel to France. Don’t want to use motorways once I’m there. I know French D road limits are ~50mph outside of towns and I’m good with that.
Any recommendations for where to go to enjoy the drive getting there. First (or last) lag that looks nice in theory (according to Google) is Calais to Le Touquet (D940) - 90-mile coastal route offering a picturesque drive with sea views, charming villages…
Anyone got any experience they can share?
I did exactly that last year.
Set google maps to avoid motorways and had a very leisurely drive to Le Touquet. The villages can be a bit of a pain with 30kph limit and occasional speed humps but we weren’t in a hurry.
We stayed 1 night there and then drove to Honfleur which goes inland a bit to avoid Le Havre. Next day was a drive to Mont Saint-Michel.
I have another France trip coming up in June and after listening to a mate, he suggested chapgpt, the AI tool. No need to log in but just type what you want and it comes up with some good suggestions.
Have a great time
Thanks. Will try the AI approach too…
With no sea legs left I’d definitely let the train take the strain.
Once in France set your sat nav to avoid motorways and any direction you head between East and South will take you through splendid scenery at a convivial pace.
Personal favourites to visit aside from the Le Touquet Calais route you spotted to finish on would include the splendid Chateau d’Anet which I stumbled across on my last visit but did not have time to stop and explore.
Maybe stop over night in Alencon where the Ibis has served well on many occasions. Le Mans, the 24 Hour and Classic events, will have passed but the museum is a must for petrol heads, Once at Le Mans a day trip trying to find the original 60 milie lap for the 1906 French GP was fun when I tried it 40 years ago, I found it but turns out clockwise was the wrong way !
Le Mans and close by Chatres both have impressive Gothic cathedrals which might float your boat.
I’d also recommend a non motor way 3 hour drive down to the beautiful Romorantin Lanthenay which is surrounded by woodlands which i did not have time to explore on my last trip but the town centre is as rural French as you could wish.
The Matra museum there is an absolute must for the avid petrolhead. I stayed at a delightful airbnb the name of which I’d happily dig out for you,
From there you could make your way to Le Treport and on to Le Touquet.
Anyway main thing to know is no matter where you decide to go or which way you go you are sure to find something of interest,
Bon Chance.
Drove some of D940 on Monday morning on way back to dieppe. Certainly better than autoroutes. Couple of nice sections to stretch legs if traffic obliges
If you see a sign for a speed radar. There will almost certainly be one within next mile.
Sounds like you’ll avoid it anyway but do not drive main roads around Rouen unless you have a crit air pass as the low emissions zone includes the main roads (unlike other French crit air zones ) sign up for one online. £3 and lifetime pass for car, saves any hassle.
We drove down as far as Brittany. Beautiful beaches and coastline there.
Further north nearer D940… etretat is a well known scenic spot also inland route du cidre
If you do get down to Brittany. Jardins de la Matz does an incredible fancy dinner (£35ish for 5 set courses) also looks a nice place to stay but minimum 2 nights. Have to book as they only have 20 covers
PM me if you want some more specifics
If you go down to Brittany just past mont saint michel is a town called Dol De Bretagne nice little town but time your visit for a Saturday morning [ market day ] it seems to be just the morning till around 1.00 , proper French market with about 80+ stalls all up the main street and well worth a visit.
If it’s more a normandy trip there are loads of things to do and see we’ve been twice and still have’nt seen it all, my favorite museum was the American one at Sainte Mere Eglise also don’t miss the American cemetary above omaha beach.
Inland from Le Touqet is the beatiful hilltop citadel of Montreuil with superb views from the walk around the walls and a lovely town square with cafes and a church. Le Treport is also worth a visit with a great quayside fish market and nearby is Eu with the medieval chapel wehere William the Conqueror was married.
Another vote here for Montreuil-sur-Mer. A lovely town centre there with plenty of cafes and restaurants, and a walk round the ramparts / walls offers lovely views.
Also near to Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer is worth a visit. The new town is a modern concrete mess, but the walled “old town” (vielle ville) up above the new town has lots of cafes and restaurants, with a couple of very large easy car parks just outside the old city walls there.
The Somme Bay steam railway (https://www.chemindefer-baiedesomme.fr/) is also worth a visit if you’re in the area (from either Le Crotoy or Saint-Valery-Sur-Somme), with lovely views over the bay
My experience is be prepared to do some motorway miles if you need to. The rural roads can be lovely, but you will make very slow progress and it can become very frustrating, when its town after village after town with 20 mph limits, and lots of traffic calming. Best plan we’ve found is pick where you are going, get there on the motorway which will be very quick, then enjoy the drive at the other end.
If you can get far enough west then Honfluer is fab, so is St Malo, Dinan, Brittany in general,
As you say they dropped their national speed limit down a few years ago in the A and B roads types, but not everywhere we found a couple of years ago, some roads were still the equivalent of 60, but most residential areas are now 20, or at least have sections that are, which I don’t have an issue with, it makes for a nicer environment, but you need to be on the look out for the signs!
Thanks all.
Good point about taking motorways to destination and then enjoying that. Are there areas with better off-motorway roads in general, or are they basically similar, and I just need to choose the scenery/towns that sound interesting?
If visiting Brittany this is well worth a visit
The Manoir of the Automobiles
4 rue de la cour neuve - 35550 LOHEAC
Tel: 02 99 34 02 32 - Fax: 02 99 34 05 01
Email: musee@manoir-automobile.fr
Dropped you a PM.
In regard to saint malo. Top tip.
Drive to Dinard. Park in the skatepark de dinard. It’s free. Walk through the park and round the harbour side on the west side. There are two passenger ferries that depart from there to saint malo. Much nicer way to get to and from saint malo. Quieter parking area. No need to bum fight for space like outside saint malo.
The ferries are about €8 -9 euro return pp
yes, I can vouch for that, its a fair way over but a terrific museum,
honestly, if you want the very best driving, then just head for the alps… 
We took our Mx5 to Normandy last year, and we are about to go to Nouvelle Aquitaine in most of June. We plan to use the motorways to get to places of interest, as France is a big country. If you intend to do the same, I’d recommend purchasing an Emovis tag (Liberté tag) before you go. It’s an electronic tag that pays the tolls and bills you later. Means you pretty much sail through the tolls. We did Normandy without one and the passenger had to keep getting out of the car to pay.
The A13 is now booth free you just drive through. But you do have to remember to pay online after the fact
Just got ours for our trip next month.