Roads you should avoid when driving this weekend in France
Traffic is set to peak on Sunday as people return from their long weekend
Returning holidaymakers are set to congest roads at the end of the weekend
Goran Jakus / Shutterstock
Holidaymakers benefitting from today鈥檚 public holiday and setting off for a long weekend should be careful of traffic on their return.
France鈥檚 traffic watchdog Bison Fut茅 is predicting that roads across the country will be busy on Sunday (May 11), particularly in the south and south-east.
However, no warnings are in place on Friday or Saturday for drivers.
Warnings are in place today (May 8) in the direction towards holiday hotspots, but traffic will mostly subside by the early afternoon. Traffic was also busy on Wednesday (May 7).
The regions of Auvergne-Rh么ne-Alpes, Occitanie, and Provence-Alpes-C么te-d鈥橝zur are all facing red-level warnings 鈥� the second-highest possible 鈥� for traffic conditions on Sunday, with other regions on a less-severe yellow warning.
These are in place for roads leading back to major population areas, or heading back north towards Paris. Certain roads around the capital are also set to be congested, as are those in Normandy, Brittany, and central France.
Traffic in the south will peak in the morning and around midday, as those returning from the south face a longer journey.
In the north, traffic will generally peak in the afternoon and evening, as drivers have less ground to cover to make it back to the capital.
This is with the exception of Paris and the roads feeding into the city, which are likely to see traffic for much of the day.
The watchdog has issued the following advice for those driving on Sunday:
Return to or drive through the 脦le-de-France region before 11:00
Avoid the A13 motorway in the direction of Caen-Paris from 16:00 to 22:00
Avoid the N165 in the direction of Quimper-Nantes, from 16:00 to 21:00
Avoid the A10 motorway in the direction of Tours-Orl茅ans, from 16:00 to 20:00
Avoid the A9 motorway in the direction Spain-Narbonne from 16:00 to 19:00, in the direction Narbonne-Montpellier from 17:00 to 19:00 and in the direction Montpellier-Orange from 15:00 to 19:00
Avoid the A8 motorway in the direction Le Luc-Aix-en-Provence from 11:00 to 13:00
Avoid the A7 motorway in the direction Marseille-Orange from 11:00 to 15:00 and in the direction Orange-Lyon from 12:00 to 22:00
Avoid the A61 motorway in the direction Narbonne-Toulouse from 18:00 to 21:00
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