The Christmas weekend will be difficult on the roads – this route should absolutely be avoided

The Christmas weekend will be particularly busy. on the roads. And the bad weather shouldn't help anything.

Who says Christmas, says gifts but also traffic jams. Like every year, millions of French people will take their car to get together with family or friends and share a good holiday meal. As December 25, 2023 falls on a Monday this year, the weekend of December 23-24 may be particularly busy. reloaded on the roads, starting on Friday since many families will anticipate their departure, sometimes even before the start of the school holidays scheduled for the 22nd. nbsp;December evening.

If you are planning to travel by car, be aware that Friday and Saturday are classified orange by Bison Futé nationally, but red in Ile-de-France as well as in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region on Friday. To make matters worse, the weather forecast does not predict anything good this weekend in a large part of the north and northwest of France, with a softening in the temperatures. ;rature but lots of rain. Heavy traffic, precipitation and darkness before 5 p.m., everything comes together to make travel times longer.

To prevent the holiday journey from turning into a nightmare, a few little tips are recommended. This will especially be the case if you are preparing for a new adventure. leave Paris and its region (or cross it) to head towards Lyon. It's the busiest route in the world. according to the agency. Friday, like Saturday, the first kilometers of the A6, up to the toll barriers, will be done slowly. Bison Futé therefore recommends leaving the Paris region before 10 a.m. on Friday. If you only have to hit the road this Saturday, don't do it after 6 a.m. and until 6 p.m. 7 p.m. in the evening.

Lower, the Rhône valley will be stormed by numerous holidaymakers heading for the ski resorts. Traffic on the A7, between Lyon and Orange, will be very complicated between 12 p.m. and midnight on Friday 22 and between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday 23. Please note: also that the portion of the A6 between Beaune, in Burgundy, and Lyon is strongly discouraged all day Saturday.

Travel on major routes nationally will normally be much less numerous on December 24 and 25. However, be wary if you have a long journey. carried out around large cities – such as Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille or Strasbourg – on New Year's Eve and late in the morning on Christmas Day. Two days which traditionally experience strong peaks in traffic when guests go to their day guests to share long and copious holiday meals. A trip of usually 10 minutes can very quickly turn into a journey of half an hour, or even more. If you don't want to miss the start of the meal, a little anticipation is essential…