Driving to France and Switzerland - advice needed

[Leejmoff]

I jsut quickly went thro’ your last year trip. I am planning to go to Italy via France and Swiss. Wondering about stopping at Troyes - looks like the place youve stayed overnight looked fantastic. Do you have an address or name for that B&B? Also are there any other good places after Troyes or before Dijon where a one night stay with or without charging you know of? Also remember someone mentioned about staying outside Reims - any thoughts?

Also can you update me regarding getting the Criti’c air permit for Reims? Do you need that even if you are not visiting Reims but just going thro’ it to other part of France?

Troyes - we stayed here (Google

La Maison T&M )​

. We stopped in Reims "Hotel Mecure" near the Cathedral and they had three destination chargers. Lovely place to go, lots of restaurants and things to do and see. We especially loved the park they had in town.

 

[spdpsba]

Maybe you read another post? I didn't stay in Troyes (I don't think anyway). We stopped in Reims "Hotel Mecure" near the Cathedral and they had three destination chargers. Lovely place to go, lots of restaurants and things to do and see. We especially loved the park they had in town.




The next day we drove back to France and stayed in Troyes, it was a long journey, with rain here and there. The wipers worked for most part but struggled in the really heavy storms we hit. We stayed at a beautiful B&B just outside Troyes, stunning garden for the kids to play in. The house had a dual charging station too, so we charged up there for €5, it was a 70% charge so worth it.

View attachment 849463

I understand we all forget. Don’t know whether you can remember the above picture and you mentioning about Troyes (the return trip) No worries, if you don’t remember the B&B.

 

[Mrklaw]

we stayed in the Holiday Inn Hotel Toison D'or in Dijon close to the motorway through to Switzerland and had destination chargers we managed to top up overnight. But there are rapids there too in case you can't get on the destinations you can top up the following morning over breakfast.

Also stayed at Hotel Mercure Reims Parc des Expositions (2 rue gabriel voisin 51100 reims) on the way back. again we looked for somewhere close to the motorway.

​

Those were short days as it was our first trip abroad with the car - it may be they're swapped around for some - eg stay at Reims on the way out and Dijon on the way back.

 

[WannabeOwner]

we can reach there just around 8

We have found (taking the Chunnel) that unless we can leave in the morning (Suffolk) we can't get far enough down France to make much of a dent.

We are 2 hours to Chunnel, an hour to queue-and-cross, then we lose an hour's time-change (which is the kicker), then Troyes is a further 4 hours ...

... all excluding charging time - excepting the Chunnel which can be done while-you-wait anyway ... except on UK side it is ground-side of customs, so have to factor in the time to clear Passports and still catch the desired train.

On the return, in Calais, the supercharger is the same, but there is also a Supercharger "air-side" at the Flexi-lounge, which means can charge until shortly before train departure having already had any Passports delay. (I have found that 1st UK charger, at Maidstone has been crowded with everyone else that came off the same train (old-school 150kW with A/B pair sharing, so slow-ish anyway, and nothing to do nearby)... so we choose to miss our train, if necessary, and charge for longer at Calais Flexi-lounge to then be able to get all the way home UK-side

A mid-day departure only gets us to Laon - no idea about charging there, haven't done that since ICE, but the view from the top of the sticky-up-bit-of-rock, which is Laon, is impressive as is the cathedral that someone, way-back-when, decided needed to be build on the top of the sticky-up-bit-of-rock!

 

[spdpsba]

If you can't get that far we've loved staying in Épernay - just driving down the Avenue de Champagne is an experience in opulence!

We have considered staying at Logis Auberge des Moissons (just South of Reims) - it looks like the Superchargers are inside a gated car park; over the decades we have had good experiences at Logis Auberges - a stone's throw from Épernay if you wanted to do the Avenue de Champagne

Logis Auberge des Moissons and Logis Auberges - a stone’s throw away from Epernay - Are these two the same? Looks like the des Moissons is the one near the super charger. Epernay is bit further away from the supercharger.

- from your description sounds like the Avenue de Champagne is on the must list -so don’t want to miss this. So how do we go to this avenue? Is it on the way to Epernay from E17/A26??

 

[spdpsba]

A mid-day departure only gets us to Laon - no idea about charging there, haven't done that since ICE, but the view from the top of the

Did you mean mid-day departure from your place or the Chunnel?? Because I was hoping to catch the 12-1 time frame Chunnel and reach possibly Epernay or bit of a stretch reach Troyes?

 

[WannabeOwner]

Did you mean mid-day departure from your place or the Chunnel??

My place. Leaving home in morning would get me to Chunnel around mid day

Actually midday at Chunnel looks OK (on ABRP). I assumed arriving at Chunnel at 20% (i.e. plan to charge before boarding)

The ABRP time allowed for Passports / "Next train" wait is inadequate, but it does include France time-change. Showing Troyes arrival at 18:00 - which even allowing an hour ... or two ... of delays would still be fine. But that is arrival at 10% which I would be uncomfortable about if only destination charger on offer (might be broken / in use) unless there was a Supercharger nearby ... so needs a bit longer at the last Supercharger, or an additional splash-and-dash stop.

 

[spdpsba]

My place. Leaving home in morning would get me to Chunnel around mid day

Actually midday at Chunnel looks OK (on ABRP). I assumed arriving at Chunnel at 20% (i.e. plan to charge before boarding)

The ABRP time allowed for Passports / "Next train" wait is inadequate, but it does include France time-change. Showing Troyes arrival at 18:00 - which even allowing an hour ... or two ... of delays would still be fine. But that is arrival at 10% which I would be uncomfortable about if only destination charger on offer (might be broken / in use) unless there was a Supercharger nearby ... so needs a bit longer at the last Supercharger, or an additional splash-and-dash stop.

View attachment 952857

Very helpful @WannabeOwner

 

[WannabeOwner]

Logis Auberge des Moissons and Logis Auberges

Just to clarify (if I've got the right end of the stick)

Logis Auberge des Moissons has a Supercharger in the hotel car park. I've never stayed there, but over the decades have stayed in lots of Logis Auberges (it a chain, or an "accreditation") and always been happy with them

how do we go to this Avenue de Champagne

Its just a road in the middle of Epernay, so as long as you route through Epernay (and then get SatNav to find that road ) you'll drive it. I doubt there will be much traffic on it, there is a roundabout at each end, we've done a 360 to drive it a second time! All the posh Champagne brands have a pad there ...

It may well be well lit up and look amazing at night, but might be best to plan to do it in daylight. Street view if you want to see whether it would be worthwhile Although I didn't see as much "intriguing detail" on Streetview as I remember from driving down it.

 

[finnster]

I'm off to France next month (first time in the Tesla) do you think its worth getting the Schuko adapter for the granny charger, or will it just sit in its little bag till i get home, the campsite we are staying at has CCS chargers and planning to Supercharge on the way down, just wondered if its worth it as a back-up?

 

[WannabeOwner]

do you think its worth getting the Schuko adapter for the granny charger

I've used mine when staying in a chalet skiing. Biggest problem was getting the car into the tiny French garage !!

 

[Leejmoff]

I'm off to France next month (first time in the Tesla) do you think its worth getting the Schuko adapter for the granny charger, or will it just sit in its little bag till i get home, the campsite we are staying at has CCS chargers and planning to Supercharge on the way down, just wondered if its worth it as a back-up?

I took ours but honestly you wont need it. Superchargers everywhere and lots of alternatives at campsites and more. We didn't use ours once, on our trip to Switzerland and back.

 

[WllXM]

I'm off to France next month (first time in the Tesla) do you think its worth getting the Schuko adapter for the granny charger, or will it just sit in its little bag till i get home, the campsite we are staying at has CCS chargers and planning to Supercharge on the way down, just wondered if its worth it as a back-up?

Depends if you are going to stay for an extended period at the same place and will have access to a (free) domestic plug. Might be worth the $$$ savings rather than supercharging every time.

 

[gangzoom]

Depends if you are going to stay for an extended period at the same place and will have access to a (free) domestic plug. Might be worth the $$$ savings rather than supercharging every time.

You guys have time pay for SC .

Last few times in Europe have just used SCs. So many of them now everywhere, no real need for destination charging.

Shame the same cannot be said for the UK .

 

[WannabeOwner]

So many of them now everywhere

I've had to be very careful with the distance between them on more than one occasion.

Shame the same cannot be said for the UK

Wishful thinking I reckon ...

France is 2.25x the area of UK, and Autoroutes are 3x the length ... but only 30% more Supercharger sites

117 Supercharger locations in UK
151 in France