How to avoid road traffic chaos on holiday in France

IT'S that time of year again. The holiday season in France has well and truly kicked off. Monday next is Bastille Day and a national holiday. So the chaos is expected to start this weekend.

It's also highly probably that foreign holidaymakers will share the same roads.

The following is quite a useful guide, published in today's Le Figaro, to road traffic forecasts all over France from now until September. Hopefully, you can use it to avoid getting held up.

Bonnes Vacances!

Traffic forecasts from July to September-Bison Futé

Key:

Green: normal traffic

Orange: movement difficult

Red: movement very difficult

Black: movement extremely difficult

Weekend from 11 to 14 July: red and black

Departures:

Saturday, July 12 is classified BLACK in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps) and RED elsewhere in the country.

 

On Sunday, July 13 is classified ORANGE in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps) and GREEN nationally.

On Monday, July 14 is classified GREEN throughout

Return:

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11, 12 and 13 July are classified GREEN nationally

Monday, July 14 is classified RED Ile de France and in the regions of the Far West and North.

Everywhere else is classified ORANGE.

Weekend from 18 to Sunday, July 20: very busy everywhere

Departures:

On Friday, July 18 is classified ROUGE Ile de France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 19 is classified ROUGE everywhere

On Sunday, July 20 is classified GREEN across the country

Return:

On Friday, July 18 is classified GREEN across the country

Saturday, July 19 is classified ORANGE in Burgundy regions, East, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

On Sunday, July 20 is classified GREEN across the country

Departures:

On Friday, July 25 is classified RED in Ile de France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 26 is ranked RED everywhere

On Sunday, July 27 is classified GREEN nationally.

Return:

On Friday, July 25 is classified ORANGE in Burgundy regions, East, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 26 is classified ORANGE in South-West (Aquitaine, Dordogne,Lot-et-Garonne-Gironde,Landes), Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

On Sunday, July 27 is classified ORANGE across the country

Weekend from 1 to August 3: The busiest weekend of the summer

Departures:

On Friday, 1st August is ranked RED everywhere

Saturday, August 2 is BLACK everywhere

On Sunday, August 3 is classified ORANGE nationally

Return:

On Friday, 1st August is GREEN everywhere

Saturday, August 2 RED everywhere

On Sunday, August 3 is classified ORANGE nationally

Weekend from 8 to August 10: difficulties on Saturday

Departures:

On Friday, August 8 is ORANGE everywhere

Saturday, August 9 is RED everywhere

On Sunday, August 10 is GREEN everywhere

Return:

On Friday, August 8 is ranked nationally ORANGE

Saturday, August 9 is classified RED regions South-West, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and orange on the rest of the territory

On Sunday, August 10 is classified ORANGE in the South-West and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

Weekend from 14 to 17 August: RED on return

Departures:

On Thursday, August 14 is classified ORANGE Ile-de-France, in the Great-West and North.

The day is classified GREEN in the rest of the territory

On Friday, August 15 is classified GREEN throughout

Saturday, August 16 is classified ROUGE in Rhone-Alpes regions and South-East.

The day is classified ORANGE elsewhere

On Sunday, August 10 is ranked nationally GREEN

Return:

On Thursday, August 14 is classified GREEN throughout the country

On Friday, August 15 is classified GREEN throughout the country

Saturday, August 16 is classified RED across the country

On Sunday, August 17 is classified RED Ile-de-France, in the Great-West and North-ORANGE elsewhere in the country

Departures:

Friday, August 22, is ranked GREEN throughout

Saturday, August 23 is classified ORANGE in the Rhone-Alpes regions and South-East.

The day is classified GREEN on the rest of the territory

On Sunday, August 24 is ranked GREEN all over th country

Return:

Friday, August 22, is ranked ORANGE throughout the country

Saturday, August 23 is classified RED regions South-West, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and ORANGE elsewhere

On Sunday, August 24 is classified RED in Ile-de-France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country

Weekend from 29 to 31 August: the decline was confirmed except in Ile-de-France

Departures:

On Friday, August 29 is classified GREEN everywhere

Saturday, August 30 is classified ORANGE in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps), GREEN elsewhere

On Sunday, August 31 is classified GREEN throughout the country

Return:

On Friday, August 29 is classified ORANGE throughout the country

Saturday, August 30 is classified ORANGE throughout the country

On Sunday, August 31 is classified RED in Ile-de-France and GREEN elsewhere in the country

 

photo: AFP