Traffic in the South of France in August!! How bad is it really???

[momalwaysu]

Great Information here. Would love the help of some veteran travelers of France!

 

If we arrive in La Seyne sur Mer, would it be possible to drive and see Aix, St Remy, Les Baux and perhaps a winery in our stop?? We are in port 7 am until 6:30 pm

 

I understand traffic can be bad in August, which is when we are there. Will we have trouble driving back to La Seyne sur Mer from the Aix area in the late afternoon?

[Hlitner]

You are wise to consider August traffic when much of France in on holiday.....many of who head to the south. However, with a little common sense your plan is doable. The good news is that most of the route from Aix to Le Seyne is on Autostrade roads which handle traffic quite well (although the tolls will put a dent in your wallet). That being said, we personally prefer to use the smaller country roads, but there is a time and place for the Autostrade. You probably know that it only takes about an hour from La Seyne to Aix. However, driving to the St Remy/ Les Baux area does add at least another 45 min each way (more if you use some of the picturesque back roads. You would probably want to get an early start and go directly to St Remy and Les Baux and then save Aix for a later stop since it provides a more direct route back to the port. If we were doing this kind of trip (we have done a lot of driving in France) we certainly would plan on being back in La Seyne by 4:30 or 5 which would give you a good margin of error in case of unexpected traffic. One other factor we like to use in our personal calculations is where will the ship be the following day! We like to know that in the worst scenario we can catch the ship the following day. That being said, in more than 20 cruises in the region we have never missed a ship (always a first time).

 

Hank

[moyaroo]

Great Information here. Would love the help of some veteran travelers of France!

 

If we arrive in La Seyne sur Mer, would it be possible to drive and see Aix, St Remy, Les Baux and perhaps a winery in our stop?? We are in port 7 am until 6:30 pm

 

I understand traffic can be bad in August, which is when we are there. Will we have trouble driving back to La Seyne sur Mer from the Aix area in the late afternoon?

 

 

The really bad days for driving in France are First weekend of July and August and last weekend of July and August. Otherwise, yes a lot of tourists in the South of France but it is bearable.

[momalwaysu]

Thanks a bunch for the info! Can't be much worse than traffic in Atlanta, GA

[Cruise Junky]

We've stayed in Provence for the last weekend in August. Of the places you mentioned, on Les Baux was crazy for parking so I'd get there as early as possible. There's tons of public parking in Aix and St. Remy has lots of street parking (unless it's market day). The worst traffic we've encountered was on the freeway from the Coast to Provence or in downtown Nice.