Second weekend of school holidays in France: these roads will be very busy

Traffic is expected throughout France today (October 25), as the second weekend of the Toussaint half-term school holidays begin. 

The entire country is placed on orange level warning for traffic – the third-highest possible – for travel in both directions (both towards and away from cities) by official watchdog Bison Futé. 

In Paris, this rises to a red level warning for driving out of the city, as flocks of people depart for their holidays.

They will join roads already saturated from normal Friday commuter traffic. 

Traffic will peak in the afternoon, lasting until the late evening.

The major A10 and A6 motorways will be particularly busy near the capital, as will the A86 and A6B roads. Going towards Paris, the A1 will also experience high levels of traffic. 

Further south, traffic is expected between Lyon and Marseille going south on the A7, and in the south-west both the A64 and A61 roads will be busy in the afternoon. 

Official advice from Bison Futé includes: 

• Leave or cross the Île-de-France region before 10am

• Avoid the A25 motorway, between Lille and Socx, from 16:00 to 21:00

• Avoid the A31 motorway, between Nancy and Luxembourg, from 16:00 to 20:00

• Avoid the A35 motorway, between Strasbourg and Switzerland, from 16:00 to 19:00

• Avoid the A10 motorway, near Bordeaux, from 15:00 to 17:00

• Avoid the A7 motorway near Lyon from 17:00 to 20:00 and between Orange and Marseille from 17:00 to 20:00

• Avoid the A1 motorway between Lille and Paris from 16:00 to 20:00

• Avoid the A61 motorway between Narbonne and Carcassonne from 17:00 to 19:00

• Avoid the A64 motorway between Tarbes and Toulouse from 16:00 to 19:00

• Avoid the A41 motorway between Switzerland and Grenoble from 19:00 to 21:00

• Avoid the route nationale 346 and the A46 motorway for the eastern Lyon bypass from 15:00 to 19:00

• Avoid the A7 motorway between Salon-de-Provence and Marseille from 16:00 to 18:00 

Tomorrow (October 26) should see traffic drop significantly, as most people will have already left to maximise their time spent away. However, high levels of traffic are still expected on the A10 and A6 motorways leaving Paris, particularly around midday. 

Read more: Recap: the French motorways which have barrier-free tolls, or soon will