Everything You Need to Successfully Drive to France from the UK
If, like us, you naively thought a qualified driver would be all you need to take across the Channel and enter France, then you’d be sorely mistaken. To hopefully lessen your Internet trawling, we’ve put together a list of all things you need to pack, and need to know before entering France in your vehicle.
What Are the Legal Requirements for driving to France from the UK?
A warning triangle to display in a breakdown or following an accident
Reflective hi-vis jacket also for use in a breakdown
Headlamp converters for driving on the right side of the road
A UK sticker to display on the back of your car/van
We got a handy pack from Amazon which came in a rather trendy bright yellow AA branded bag, but included all of the above.
A full, valid UK driving licence (the card is fine - no need for the paper counterpart), but note that in France, you must be 18 or over to legally drive.
A paper version of your Insurance Certificate
Crit’Air sticker to display on the back of your car/van (read more about Crit’Air below)
What is Crit’Air, and What Do I Need to Know?
Crit'Air is a vehicle emissions classification system in France to combat air pollution. It is an environmentally forward scheme which exposes a vehicle's environmental impact via a colour-coded sticker - so everyone can see how green your vehicle is!
But, the main thing you probably need to know about Crit’Air, is if you don’t have the sticker displayed in your vehicle, then you could face a fine of €135, and you don’t want that on your holidays!
What is a Crit’Air Certificate?
The certificate is a round sticker that must be displayed in a prominent position on your vehicle. It displays a coloured sticker indicating the vehicle's pollution level, ranging from green (least polluting) to grey (most polluting). Older vehicles covered by less stringent emissions standards are not eligible for a certificate. The certificate aims to encourage the use of cleaner vehicles and improve air quality in urban areas by regulating access based on emissions.
Where can I order a Crit’Air Sticker?
You can order a Crit'Air sticker online through the official Crit'Air website. The process involves adding vehicle registration details and proof of vehicle ownership. It's wise to make sure you order the sticker in good time, as processing and delivery times may vary - ours didn’t come in time, so we opted to print off the symbol with an accompanying QR Code for the best chance of not getting fined!
How much does a Crit’Air Sticker Cost?
The cost of the Crit'Air sticker for us was just €3.11, plus a postage fee.
How to Drive to France From the UK
To drive from the UK to France, you have two main options. One common route is the Eurotunnel where you drive onto a shuttle train at Folkestone, which will then get you through the tunnel to Calais. Alternatively, you can take the ferry (we took an overnight ferry from Newhaven, which suited us) from various ports (Dover, Portsmouth, Newhaven), to ports in France (Calais, Dunkirk, Dieppe). Both the Eurotunnel and ferry crossings have frequent departures.
Driving in France - Know Before you Go!
Motorways cost money!
We were stung with an accumulation of toll charges that set us back £70 within the first few hours of being in France. From that point on, we made sure to use the ‘Avoid Motorways’ option on Google Maps. The countryside was actually way more stunning and easy to drive around than we expected. There were hardly any single-lane tracks - it was mainly just like single carriageway A-roads in the UK, thus not really slowing us down much, and showing us more beautiful landscapes than we’d have seen from the motorway anyway.
What are the Speed Limits in France?
Urban areas: 50 km/h
Rural areas: 80 km/h - 90 km/h
Dual carriageways: 100 km/h - 110 km/h
Autoroute (motorways): 110 km/h - 130 km/h
Car/Van Insurance and Breakdown Cover in Europe
It should go without saying, but make sure your insurance covers you in Europe. If not, you need to get that changed before you go.
Before we went to France, we had breakdown cover with the AA but it didn’t include EU countries. I called them for a quote and it was ridiculously expensive. I then called RAC for a quote, and it was around £200 cheaper than what the AA were quoting me. I think it was a total of ~£300 for the year, whereas with the AA, I was already paying ~£30 per month, and they wanted an additional couple of hundred on top, to add the EU breakdown cover.
All Vanlifers Should Know About the Park4Night App
As you can see from our favourited places, we used Park4Night pretty much every time we wanted to explore a new region of France.
We’d decide what amenities we needed there, then filter the results based on that. We’d then start filtering through the reviews - if any suggested they felt unsafe, etc. we just wouldn’t bother taking the chance. There are literally thousands to choose from, so why risk it?
The different symbols have different meanings, so I’ve put together a key.
The ones we used most were:
Surrounded by Nature
Free Motorhome Area
Car Park Day/Night
Handy Things to Pack when Living and Working from your Campervan
If you don’t have a leisure battery, or you do but it doesn’t have much capacity, then a great backup option is to take a portable generator. We took one with us to Europe and it was so handy for days when we wanted to work from the van rather than going to a bar/café. With both of us working >8 hours per day on laptops, they both needed to be charged at least once, each, throughout the day. Having the generator gave us that extra freedom to stay places for longer. With this one, we got around three full laptop charges from 0% - 100% before it needed to be charged. Another great thing about this, is that it’s small enough for us to just put it in a backpack, stroll into a bar with plug sockets, and discreetly pop it on charge for the duration of our time in the establishment.
As well as having the generator, it’s always handy to have a couple of power banks knocking about for things like phone charging, or any other USB-powered device you might have. The ones we used last ages, and even have solar panels attached to them for those sunny days when you just want to go for a hike and not worry about your phone running out of power - especially if you’re taking your tent with you for a bit of wild camping on a multi-day hike.
Due to the nature of our jobs, we couldn’t afford to be without a stable Internet connection during the day. Thanks to Brexit, and mobile phone networks getting greedy, my unlimited data on my mobile phone didn’t stretch to the EU, and I was annoyingly limited to something like 5GB per month. To get around this, we bought a European SIM card, and put it in our Portable WiFi Hotspot. This worked a treat, as the Netgear Nighthawk M1 supports up to 1Gbps download speed, and it’s unlocked so any SIM card can be used in it. The battery life was great, too, and it even had a USB output so you could use it as a power bank if you were desperate to charge something. At times, we’d have both of our laptops, both our phones and a tablet connected to it and it didn’t falter. The only times it did, was when we were in areas with poor mobile network connection - but that wasn’t the hotspot’s fault - it was just the area we were in.
Working on the road does mean you’re limited on desk space. If you don’t need a super HD monitor for your job, and you simply just need to extend your laptop screen then I’d recommend using this WIMAXIT 10.5Inch Portable Monitor. It has an adjustable stand on the back, and can be powered using the USB C cable you plug into your laptop, so there’s no need for an extra power supply to plug it into.
For days you’re at a park-up with electric hook-up, and want to preserve your gas, then this Cusimax electric double hob is perfect. It’s so easy to clean, and can be stored away easily and neatly too. We installed four hooks on our ceiling, and put it up there using the handles on each side to hold it in place. If you don’t want to do that, then it’s nice and small anyway to tuck away in a drawer, or under-the-bed storage when you’re off-grid.
If there’s only one or two of you, then this portable BBQ is the perfect size to cook all your food, and be stored away easily. We used ours as both a BBQ and a fire pit, for evenings where we wanted to continue sitting outside, but just needed an extra little warmth to make us comfortable. And fires are just a vibe!
We didn’t have a shower in our campervan, and we didn’t want to be forking out all the time for campsites just so we could freshen up, so we bought this. We already had a portable shower, but it was hard to use and the pump was weak. With this one, the electric pressure pump actually pressurises the shower bag, so the water comes out quite powerful. The bag is very robust, and can stand itself on the four little feet it has, or can be hung up using its handle on the top. We used to just boil the kettle a couple of times and top it up with cold water, to create a warm shower, open the back doors and stand outside to have a wash. It was rustic, but that’s part of the fun!
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