Paris Périphérique Advice

[digga]

Put your hazards on, follow the nearest scooter and hang on for the ride of your life

ALL bikes filter on the Periphique, cars are generally with the programme and move over to create room.

I wouldn't miss it for anything and actually make a point of riding it when heading south

Andres

Plus 8 more here

we hit it on the way to the Café Racer Festival a few weeks ago:

rush hour - main beam,hazards and hook up behind a scoot' or a Goldwing They are crazzzyy man .. cars move over and make enough room even for 1 of our group that had the full ally panniers within a inch of vehicles ( he lives in London , so well versed) . Certainly an experience not to be missed IMO, but it was tiring ..... don't worry about the natives on bikes , if you block one alley they'll find another

 

[Wapping]

But not all of them.

 

[Tarka]

We can't be too careful on here nowadays.

 

[dxtans]

We ( the missus and I ) done this last Sunday coming back from Limoges. Hit the ring road about mid-day, not a problem. If you are used to the M25 in rush hour, then it is a breeze. We even jumped off the ring road into the suburbs to have lunch, very nice.
Thanks
dxtans

 

[wadham]

Reims

Troyes

Dijon

Lyon

St Etienne

Le Puy

Mende

Millau


Try it.

Avoid Paris at all costs.

 

[daj]

I lived in Paris for a couple of years and used to do the Périphérique on my Africa Twin when I got bored. It's a good road, have to be focused...but a great experience. Filtering on it is the norm...you can flick yer hazards on and just join in.

Good luck.

 

[sidestand]

Just set your TomTom for Millau, but via Evreux - and it will niceley miss Paris - takes you down through Rouen & on pretty decent roads down to just North of Orleans

Rouen not that bad - diversion in town only takes an extra 20 minutes in the car, so 10 minutes on a bike - just time it to avoid rush hour

Saves time & money on toll roads

 

[Hairnet600]

le mans tours poitiers limoges then squiggly to millau

paris go there just to sample - if yer in a hurry to be somewhere else - do another time innit

one capital city much like another

 

[Bucephalus]

We're travelling down to the Millau region on Saturday and Google maps and TomTom are both directing me along the Paris Périphérique.
What's your advice regarding the Périphérique on a Saturday mid-morning/lunchtime? Should I avoid and go via Rouen and pick up the E5 South of Paris, or is it generally ok and free moving?
Also, I know filtering is not strictly legal but is accepted in France, but what about around Paris? I've heard the Parisian Police can see it as a money spinner, is this true?
Thanks,
Mick

Rouen is pretty bad at the moment, and ended up (once on the right side of the river, and very frustrated) breaking free of the orbit, and yet another lap of the circuit created by the roadworkers; akin to a go cart track by riding up a dropped kerb, between bollards and completely through a wide pedestrianised area. With it's fountains, modern works of art etc, and bemused business types drinking coffee alfresco, as the GSAnglais rode by, Bonjour, Pardon lost, Merci!! Out the other side, pulled it off, not to be recommended, in a car one would have been probably arrested. The Paris Peri seems always busy during daylight hours, I have not worked out when their "rush hour" is btw, and filtering is derigeur no problem, I recently slotted into the slipstream of a motorcycle instructor being dutifully followed by his three highviz clad ducklings, presumably having "filtering instruction".
Probably too late for you, but I would take the Portsmouth St Malo route, a night in La Rochelle - Rocamadour towards Cahors - Albi picking up the 999 - 992 St Afrique to Millau and under the bridge.
Paris does get right in the way though, a bit like Birmingham!!!

Enjoy your trip whatever route you decide to take.

 

[alan29]

We have driven the Francilienne - another ring, but further out. It was fine.
This year we towed a caravan through Rouen. Just head for the road that runs along side the river. Used Google maps to plot it. Worked a treat. There is a diversion marked and signed for trucks too ...... but I have bad experiences of French diversions.

 

[Our Gee]

Just picked up on this thread and as we are off down through Rouen in a couple of weeks I was wondering what the latest is on the Rouen problem.
There is an alternative which we have used before which avoids the Pont Mathilde and that is to branch right just before the tunnel and follow Vernon
N15. This takes you along the east bank of the river and therefore missing out the bridge. You can join the N154 near Louviers for the route south.

 

[buellzebub]

Can't say about Rouen, but the Périphérique was fine

livin' the dream

 

[hank]

Done the Périphérique a few times now including during the Monday morning and Friday evening rush hour. Living in rural Scotland I seldom get to filter on such a scale. One of the highlights of our trips through France, love it. Hazzards, main beam and running lights on and go for it.

 

[Simon W]

You can dodge Paris more or less by getting the N330/N36 from Senlis to Melun, then heading south on the A77 to Cosne Cour sur Loire and nipping cross-country (good fast roads) to Bourges, to pick up the A71/A75 south to Millau.

I don't think it's much slower than going in and round the Peripherique - maybe half an hour/hour difference over the journey – but it is more scenic and definitely easier on the pillions' nerves.