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This is the first year that we will try the drive in one go - Having made the journey from Le Harvre / Dieppe to Spain several times in the past, so long as there are no hold ups, driving time to Sant Pere Pescadore is 11 to 12 hours. I tow a trailer tent and normally drive at 70 mph. The Autoroutes are virtually empty other than Saturday, when it is awful

My kids are a little older 9,11 and 14 - they all agreed that it would be much better to get the journey done quickly rather than spread over 2 days

Even though we have done this journey a few times, this is the first time in one go... and I am a little apprehensive - worst case we will stop overnight somewhere between Clermont Ferrnad and Spain, so I will probably make a contingency plan.

We head down A75 to Beziers, then take the A9 to Spain. On a Saturday the A75 will get very heavy, and we have been held up badly at Beziers through the toll to join the A9 and again passing Perpignan

There really isn't a good way to avoid this area; however, if you manage to stop around Beziers an early moring start would probably see you missing the worst of the traffic

You can cross into Spain at Port Bou - this is beautiful, but very mountainous and slow - I have been tempted (while sitting in a stationary car for 4 hours around Perpignan) to drive down the coast road from Paul Leucate all the way to Port Bou, however, I fear it would take most of the day.

My advice if you have to drive past on Saturday, is try to get going early and hope for the best

Quote: Originally posted by bentondeep on 21/2/2013

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I set off on a Monday 12 Aug morning from UK. Hopefully crossing the border around lunchtime Tuesday. Is the traffic only generally a pain on a Saturday?

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Never been held up on a week day, and always held up on Saturday - I am sure that there are exceptions to any rule though

When the traffic is clear, you can cover huge distance on the Autoroute with little stress in a relatively short time (compared with the UK). However, once the traffic reaches a certain volume, the jams and toll booths mean that hold ups are worse than the UK.

My impression is that the A75 is particularly susceptible - huge hills mean the traffic is forced to slow dramatically, and large stretches are free which makes it really busy

The A9 is also really bad - I guess that it is because it is the only crossing on the East Pyraneese into Spain