Routes
Crossing the Pyrenees: coast to coast on the mountain roads
Seven days from Hendaye to Cerbère over the Tourmalet, Aubisque and Envalira, dipping into Spain and Andorra - our route, the col heights, and the rules that changed in 2026.
France
5 stories
Country guides
Driving in France: tolls, Crit'Air and the good roads
What the autoroute actually costs, why a sticker you order by post decides whether you can enter Paris or Lyon, and the free roads we take instead when the day allows it.
Practical
What a month on the road actually costs
Thirty-one days, four countries, 4,300 km and one diesel van: our real spend, line by line, and the costs you can price before you leave.
Practical
Low-emission zones explained: can you drive into European cities?
Crit'Air, Umweltzone, ZTL, Area C: how the sticker and camera systems work, per city, and the one official database we check before every city run.
Routes
Up the Atlantic in a van: Portugal to Brittany in three unhurried weeks
Following the coast north from Lisbon to the granite headlands of Brittany - surf towns, pine forests and where we actually slept, in a route built for a slow van.