French routes to avoid on the last big travel weekend of the summer holidays

Roads watchdog Bison Futé has issued a red travel warning for the bulk of the country on Saturday - its second highest alert level - predicting ‘very difficult’ traffic conditions as hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers head home ahead of September’s return to work and school.

Disruptions are forecast to be even worse in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the Mediterranean arc, where Bison Futé has upped its alert to the highest ‘extremely difficult’ level.

Traffic is expected to be heavier than usual across most of the weekend, especially in the south-east of the country.

On Saturday - the busiest day of the weekend - Bison Futé advises avoiding:

Outbound

• Travel in Île-de-France before 8am or after 2pm;
  
  
• The A10 between Orleans and Bordeaux, from 10am to 12pm;
  
  
• The A10 near Bordeaux, from 10am to 5pm;
  
  
• The A71 between Orléans and Clermont-Ferrand, from 10am to 4pm;
  
  
• The A7 between Lyon and Orange, from 8am to 6pm; and between Salon-de-Provence and Marseille, from 11am to 6pm;
  
  
• The A9 between Orange and Narbonne, from 9am to 6pm;
  
  
• The A61 between Toulouse and Narbonne, from 10am to 4pm.

Returns

• Travel in Île-de-France before 2pm;
  
  
• The A84 between Rennes and Caen, from 11am to 3pm;
  
  
• The A10 between Bordeaux and Orléans, from 10am to 8pm;
  
  
• The A63 between Spain and Bordeaux, from 10am to 7pm;
  
  
• The A6 between Lyon and Beaune, from 10am to 6pm;
  
  
• The A7 between Orange and Lyon, from 8am to 8pm;
  
  
• The A8 between Nice and Aix-en-Provence, from 9am to 11am;
  
  
• The A9 between Montpellier and Orange, from 9am to 9pm, between Narbonne and Montpellier, from 9am to 7pm; and between Spain and Narbonne, from 10am to 12pm;
  
  
• The A20 between Brive-la-Gaillarde and Limoges, from 10am to 3pm;
  
  
• The A71 between Clermont-Ferrand and Orléans, from 10am to 4pm;
  
  
• The A62 between Toulouse and Bordeaux, from 11am to 4pm;
  
  
• The A61, from Narbonne to Toulouse, from 9am to 5pm;
  
  
• The A43, between Chambéry and Lyon, from 10am to 1pm;
  
  
• The Mont-Blanc tunnel (N205) from Italy into France will be busy from 11am to 10pm - and notably between 4pm and 9pm when waiting times greater than 1 hour are forecast.