18 Days Driving Across France from the UK (With a Dog)

We spent 18 days driving across France from the UK in spring: me, my partner Ellie (her first time in France), and our dog Dexter. I wanted to experience a proper long road trip across France, and with a dog and our own car, Le Shuttle made far more sense than flying or the ferry. This is the honest version: what surprised us, what we got right, what we’d change, and what it all cost. No stock photos, no estimates copied from other websites, just our actual trip.

Who we are and why we drove

Three of us made the trip: me, Ellie (her first time in France), and Dexter, our 11-year-old whippet-cross-collie. I wanted the experience of a long road trip across France rather than flying in and being stuck in one place, and driving our own car meant we could take Dexter and go wherever we liked. Flying would have been hardest of all with a dog, so Le Shuttle won easily.

The car is a 2018 petrol Kia Sportage. That detail matters in France because it sets your Crit’Air category: ours is Crit’Air 1, the cleanest band for a petrol car, which meant we could drive into every low-emission zone with no weekday or weekend restrictions.

The crossing: Le Shuttle with a dog

We crossed on Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) from Folkestone to Calais, arriving early morning. With a dog you go to the Pet Reception first: we waited about 15 minutes while an employee verified Dexter from his microchip and checked over his Animal Health Certificate. The whole pet check took around 25 minutes.

Then we boarded. The crossing itself was 35 minutes, surprisingly fast, and Dexter stayed in the car with us the whole way. Tip: let your dog have a good stretch in the terminal pet area before you board, because they are in the car from then until Calais.

A FlexiPlus return came to about £360. We chose the flexible ticket in case we ran late, and the whole thing was seamless.

Week 1: Calais to Lyon

From Calais we drove to Paris for two and a half days over the weekend. From there we headed to Reims for the champagne and wine country, then south to Strasbourg, with the mountains nearby, and on to Lyon.

Week 2: Provence and Nice

The second week was Provence for five days: Avignon, the lavender fields, the sea, the countryside, all of it. We finished in Nice for two and a half days, then drove back up to Reims for a one-night stop before the run to Calais and home.

In all we were away 18 days, covered around 3,000 miles, and spent roughly 70 hours behind the wheel.

The dog: Dexter

The biggest job before leaving was Dexter’s paperwork: an Animal Health Certificate, which meant getting his rabies, kennel cough and general vaccinations up to date first. Dexter is very good in the car, so he mostly slept on his dog bed. Every place we stayed, Airbnbs and B&B Hotels alike, was happily dog-friendly. We wrote the full version up in Driving to France with a Dog.

The Crit’Air sticker, and yes, it got checked

Because our route went into Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Nice, all of which run low-emission zones, we needed a Crit’Air sticker. With our Crit’Air 1 Sportage we could drive anywhere, no restrictions.

And then something happened that almost never gets written about: on the road near Reims, just after Paris, we were pulled into a routine police check. They looked over the car and our documents, including the Crit’Air sticker on the windscreen, and waved us on within seconds. The full story is in Using a Crit’Air Sticker in France.

Not sure which category your car is? Check it free:

Tolls and total cost

French motorway tolls (péages) are distance-based, so our longest single motorway stretch, on the long run south, brought the biggest toll. Over the whole trip the tolls came to just under €200. We used an Emovis tag to skip the queues, which we cover in French Toll Roads: What We Paid.

Here’s the rough shape of what we spent over the 18 days:

Item	What we paid
Le Shuttle (FlexiPlus return)	~£360
Fuel	7 to 8 fill-ups at about €100 each, roughly £600 to £700
Tolls (péages)	just under €200
Accommodation	~£1,500
Food and eating out	~£1,000
Crit’Air sticker	£7 (one-off, lasts the life of the car)

It was a costly trip, but we ate out every day and drove every day, and we covered the whole country.

What we’d do differently

• Explore the west side of France, which we didn’t reach this time.
• Take a more fuel-efficient car. The Sportage managed only about 30 mpg, so a reliable diesel, an EV or a hybrid would cost far less to run, or we’d rent and avoid the wear and tear on our own car.
• Eat in more: buying groceries and cooking at the accommodation would have saved a lot over eating out every day.

The gear that actually mattered

A few bits genuinely earned their place:

• Phone chargers, and short cables. Short cables stay tidy and reach the dashboard mount without trailing everywhere.
• The car’s Android Auto / Google setup, so Google Maps and our music ran straight through the car for the whole trip.
• Mobile data sorted before leaving. Check your plan includes EU roaming at no extra cost. We could also hotspot from one phone so the other always had a connection.
• A France driving kit: warning triangle, headlamp beam deflectors, a UK sticker, and hi-vis yellow vests, all of which are legally required.

For the full pre-trip list, see our France driving checklist.

Would we do it again?

Absolutely, especially to explore the west side we missed. We’d happily do the same cities for the same length of time: there was so much to take in, from Avignon and the lavender fields to the sea, the countryside and the mountains near Strasbourg.

If you’re planning your own trip, the one piece of admin worth doing early is the Crit’Air sticker: it’s £7, valid for the life of the car, and covers every future trip. Apply here or check your category first.