I have to drive to just south of Toulouse on Monday with a trailer and 2 horses. We're heading out via Basel, I know through Geneva would be quicker but French customs do not have the same rules re temporary export of horses as Germany does, it's much easier and cheaper this way.

Ideally I'd like to avoid steep hills and twists and turns and heavy traffic black spots, map sites are giving me about 600 miles at the mo taking me down to Lyon then Nimes then down to the Med and across west to Toulouse. Averaging 90 - 100 kph with a trailer (French speed limit is 110 in dry weather)we're looking at about 10 hours of driving just from Basel. Non toll routes are showing about 3 hours extra driving so we'll just have to pay the tolls.

I could just follow my Tomtom but if anyone has any experience of this part of France some tips would be greatly appreciated.

Can't really offer advice on the route, as I've never gone south in France.
But wish you a save journey, and hope "le trek" is uneventful for you, and you don't end up going off course or getting lost.

In fact, it would be awful to(u) lo(u)se le trek.

A couple of years ago I drove to Carcassonne. In France I followed the Via Michelin recommended route:
A7 to Orange/Avignon
A9 to Narbonne via Nimes and Montpellier
A61 to Carcassonne (I remember Toulouse was also signposted)

I connected with the A7 near Valence because I came through Geneva/Annecy but you could pick the A7 up at Lyon.

It was all pretty painless driving. Monotonous but easy. I didn't stop.

I have a friend in Foix which isn't that far away and last did the journey last summer. The sat Navs will calculate the speed at 130 on the auto route, which you won't do, so that will skew things. Look at the distance rather than the drive time and work form that. If you will be doing ave 100 on the A roads, and the same speed on the auto route the extra distance on the peage would probably take longer... and you won't have to pay the toll or suffer the crappy greasy spoons or horrible aire toilet on the nice scenic A roads.

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How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your garden.... your rubbish is gone, your dog is pregnant.... but at least your cabbages are pest free

PG, I've only used online maps so far and they show 600 miles approx, I can set my Tomtom for a lorry profile which will give a more accurate speed for my journey on the route, my main problem is that it will keep trying to take me back into CH to get to Geneva.

Nev, the A7 route is what is suggested, thanks for letting me know that it's not too painful. I'd rather have a boring route than a twisty mountainous one whilst towing horses.

Wish me luck.

If your GPS cannot be told via which city you want to drive, then first set it to any nearer place so that doesn't insist on Geneva, and then set the final target later on.

Yup, I'll be heading towards Besancon in France first, but still some online maps suggested I headed back towards Basel from there to get down to Geneva. I haven't yet found a way to tell my Tomtom (actually it's Navicom on my phone) to just avoid one particular country.

You could get a rough idea using Michelin. You have settings for vehicle (Option: choose Wohnwagen) and you can set for example via Besançon. Or you can print the route out showing all the danger spots, (Lörrach, Besançon, Toulouse is 907 Km and takes 9h 41m without lunch or dinner)

http://www.viamichelin.de/web/Routenplaner

No problems on the trip, apart from a 90 minute wait at customs and my navicom taking me round the Lyon ring road in the rush hour, better to follow the motorway signs to Marseilles to bypass Lyon completely.

Toulouse by the way is nice (even though I only saw the town from a bus) and the countryside to the south towards the Pyrannees is stunning.

The Michelin route recommended keeping to the north of Lyon.