Car-Free France?

Is it possible to get by in France without a car? Ruth Wood investigates

- Ruth Wood

Space is one of the things we Brits love about that promised land across the Channel. Unspoilt countryside and quiet roads are particularly attractive to househunters from England where the population density is almost four times that of France.

The flipside is that many people are reliant on their cars. A recent report by France’s transport watchdog found that public transport journeys in rural France take five times as long as equivalent car trips on average. So when the government put up the price of petrol last year as part of its green agenda, it was people from the countryside in particular who donned yellow vests and protested.

But what if you can’t or don’t want to drive?

GETTING TO FRANCE

You certainly don’t need a car to get to France. The UK has flights to more than 30 French airports and Eurostar runs hourly trains out of London St-Pancras that get you to Paris in under 2.5 hours.

Foot passengers typically pay less than a quarter of what motorists pay to be ferried over the Channel, and St-Malo, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Dieppe and Calais are all on the rail network, while Roscoffand Caen ports have buses to the major train stations at Morlaix and Caen respectively.

For the budget traveller, Eurolines has regular coaches from London to Paris and beyond for as little as €28 oneway, though it takes almost 10 hours capital to capital.

Don’t live in the London area? No problem. On travel website raileurope.co.uk (formerly loco2.com) you can plan journeys from any station in the UK to any station in France. Just put your starting station and destination into the website, make sure the currency is set to British pounds and it will flag up both the cheapest and fastest routes.