🇫🇷 Same-country drive · France
Driving from Avignon to Annecy
Drive from the sunny Provence to the alpine peaks of Annecy. Expert advice on navigating the A7, A49, and A43 motorway network through Eastern France.
- Drive time
- 3h 34m
- Distance
- 338 km
- Same day?
- Yes, half day
- under 4 h
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €56
- petrol · diesel ≈ €48
- Tolls
- ≈ €34
- per-km
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 32 of 112 ≥50 kW
On this page
Route map
Route options
Other paths OSRM found between the two cities — handy when traffic, tolls, or scenery matter more than raw speed.
Avoids motorways
+2h 1m- Distance:
- 311 km (−27 km)
- Duration:
- 5h 35m
Via: D 1092 · N 7 · D 520A · D 86
How else can you make this trip?
Driving is the focus of this guide; here's how cycling, coach, and (soon) train and plane stack up for the same pair.
What the drive is like
Drafted from the route's computed data on September 24, 2026 and reviewed against the route summary card. Read our methodology.
You leave Avignon by joining the A7 autoroute, known locally as the Autoroute du Soleil, which tracks the Rhône river north through a landscape of vineyards and orchards. The first stretch remains largely flat until you veer off onto the A49 near Valence, trading the Mediterranean scrubland for the encroaching foothills of the Vercors Massif. Be prepared for the shift in pace as the traffic density lightens, though remain mindful of the 130 km/h speed limit—this drops automatically to 110 km/h in the frequent rain bands that roll off the mountains.
The climb toward Annecy involves a transition to the A48 and A43, where the elevation profile begins to bite, peaking around 550 meters. While this is not a high-alpine pass, the route climbs significantly from the valley floor; if you are driving between late autumn and early spring, prepare for rapid temperature shifts and the potential for slushy conditions near the higher interchanges. French motorway tolls are distance-based here, so keep your entry ticket handy for the final exit near the lake.
Once you merge onto the final stretches approaching Annecy, the motorway transitions into smaller regional roads where lane discipline and speed management become more crucial. Keep a watchful eye for local traffic and changing signage as you descend into the basin surrounding the city. While fuel is generally consistent in price across this corridor, service areas located directly on the autoroute are significantly more expensive than those found in the smaller towns just off the main junctions. Plan to exit the toll road to refill if you want to keep your travel costs sensible.
Route highlights
- The transition from the A7 motorway onto the scenic A49 through the Vercors foothills.
- The shift in landscape from the dry Provence olive groves to the verdant alpine valleys near Annecy.
- The well-maintained service areas along the Autoroute du Soleil for quick coffee stops.
- The final approach into the Annecy basin with views of the surrounding Haute-Savoie peaks.
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Easy one-day drive
Comfortable as a single day for one driver. Leave after breakfast, arrive with time to settle in.
- Distance:
- 338 km
- Duration:
- 3h 34m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Livron-sur-Drôme 🇫🇷 fr
≈113 km≈ 3.5 km detour from the main route
-
Rives 🇫🇷 fr
≈225 km≈ 7.9 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Tolls on motorways in FR
Budget for motorway tolls — France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal charge per-km, Croatia and Greece by section. Contactless cards work almost everywhere; have one loaded.
Long rural stretch on N 532
Plan for about 11 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Must-know before you go
The things a driver from another country wouldn't think to ask about — fines, stickers, payment cards, opening hours.
City access & emission zones
Order your Crit'Air sticker before the trip
Must knowParis, Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulouse and a growing list of cities require a Crit'Air air-quality sticker visible on your windscreen — even for a single drive-through. It's €4.51 from the official site and ships by post (allow 2–6 weeks abroad). Without it, expect on-the-spot fines from €68. Your registration document tells the issuer your emission class.
Tolls, vignettes & road payment
Contactless works at every autoroute booth
UsefulFrench autoroutes use a ticket system: take a card on entry, pay on exit. Every barrier accepts contactless tap-to-pay — pull into the "CB / bank card" lane (orange "t" logo means Liber-T transponder only, avoid those). For frequent EU travellers a Bip&Go transponder pays itself off in two trips by skipping the queue.
What your car must carry
Hi-vis vest in the cabin, triangle in the boot
Must knowA reflective vest must be reachable without leaving the vehicle (in the door pocket or under your seat — boot is too late). One warning triangle is also mandatory. The 2012 breathalyzer rule was scrapped in 2020 but is still nice to keep. No spare-bulb requirement.
Driving rules & habits
Priorité à droite still applies in towns
UsefulOn urban streets without signs, traffic from your right has priority — even from a side street that looks subordinate. Outside cities the rule is mostly retired, but in residential French villages it survives. Slow at every right-hand junction unless a yellow diamond on your road tells you you're on the priority road.
Fuel stations
Contactless cards work at virtually every motorway pump
TipMajor brand stations (Shell, Total, BP, Repsol, Cepsa, OMV, Eni, Esso) take Visa and Mastercard contactless without an issue. American Express and Diners are spotty south of the Alps. A €100 pre-authorisation hold is normal — it releases within 5 days. Carry €50 cash for the rare independent station.
Smaller stations close on Sundays
TipMotorway service areas (aires) run 24/7 with a fuel-price premium of about €0.15/L. Off-motorway stations in towns under 20k people often close Sunday afternoons and overnight Mon–Sat. If you're fuelling on a Sunday route, plan around motorway stops — supermarket pumps (Carrefour, E.Leclerc) are your cheapest option but typically 9:00–12:30 / 14:30–19:00 on a Sunday, where open at all.
Money & connectivity
EU roaming covers calls, texts and data at no extra cost
TipYour home EU SIM works at home rates across every EU member, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The "fair use" cap on data only applies if you're abroad more than four months. For a 2-week road trip, just use your phone normally — but switch off "data roaming" if you're leaving the EU into UK / CH for any segment.
Emergency & breakdown
112 works everywhere in the EU and continental neighbours
TipSingle number for police, ambulance, fire — works from any phone, any network, any country. On motorways, the orange SOS pillars every 2km connect direct to the regional traffic control centre and pinpoint your location. Use them over your phone if you can — it speeds the response.
Rules, fees, and thresholds change. Always verify against the official source the day before you drive — this page is a checklist, not a legal reference.
Main roads
The highways this route spends the most kilometres on.
-
A 7 Autoroute du Soleil114 km
-
A 49 —61 km
-
A 43 —46 km
-
A 48 Autoroute du Dauphiné41 km
-
A 41 —40 km
-
N 532 —11 km
-
N 7 —10 km
-
D 225 —5 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 89%
- Secondary
- 9%
- Other / rural
- 2%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Easy
Straightforward drive. One driver, one day, little to worry about beyond fuel and a toilet stop.
- No major complicating factors — motorway-heavy, single country, comfortable length.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- 30 m
- Highest point
- 550 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 1,149 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 727 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €56
25.3 L × €2.21 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €48
20.3 L × €2.37 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €33
59 kWh × €0.55 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €34
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 338 km in-country ≈ €34)
Prices last refreshed 2026-09-28.
Fuel and EV charging along the route
Stations within a few kilometres of the road, sampled at evenly-spaced waypoints.
EV charging
32 at 50 kW or above (fast / ultra-fast).
Fastest first
- Electra - A7 - Aire de Tricastin (direction Montélimar) — Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux 400 kW
- Allego - Aire de la Coucourde A7 — La Coucourde 400 kW
- Ionity Mornas les Adrets — Mornas 350 kW
- Mobilize - Renault Romans-sur-Isère — Romans-sur-Isère 320 kW
- Carrefour Energies - Avignon Courtine — Avignon 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais Charles de Gaulle Avignon — Avignon 300 kW
- Allego - Carrefour Avignon Cap Sud — Avignon 300 kW
- Electra - Les Tourrettes - Première Classe Montélimar — Les Tourettes 300 kW
- Fastned - Aire de Saulce — Saulce-sur-Rhône 300 kW
- Allego - Drôme Energie Bourg-de-Péage — Bourg-de-Péage 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais la Bayanne — Alixan 300 kW
- BP Pulse - Centre Commercial Chamnord — Chambéry 300 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇫🇷 Avignon
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
11°
4°
|
13°
5°
|
16°
7°
|
19°
9°
|
22°
13°
|
29°
18°
|
31°
20°
|
32°
20°
|
25°
15°
|
21°
13°
|
14°
7°
|
11°
4°
|
| 49mm | 56mm | 131mm | 65mm | 105mm | 57mm | 28mm | 36mm | 115mm | 134mm | 73mm | 67mm |
hot mild cold
🇫🇷 Annecy
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7°
1°
|
10°
2°
|
13°
4°
|
15°
6°
|
19°
10°
|
25°
15°
|
26°
16°
|
28°
17°
|
21°
13°
|
17°
9°
|
11°
4°
|
8°
2°
|
| 140mm | 45mm | 117mm | 113mm | 128mm | 98mm | 119mm | 76mm | 144mm | 183mm | 164mm | 112mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Annecy
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Sun 11
🌫️
9° / 9°
—
-
Mon 12
☀️
17° / 7°
—
-
Tue 13
⛅
19° / 9°
—
-
Wed 14
⛅
20° / 11°
—
-
Thu 15
☀️
20° / 11°
—
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 23 manoeuvres
- Rue Armand de Pontmartin 0.2 km
- Porte Saint-Joseph
- Boulevard du Quai Saint-Lazare 0.3 km
- (D 225) 2 km
- (D 907) 2 km
- (D 225) 2 km
- Entrées 1 et 2
- —
- — 0.8 km
- Autoroute du Soleil (A 7) 114 km
- — 0.1 km
- (N 7) 10 km
- (N 532) 11 km
- (A 49) 61 km
- Autoroute du Dauphiné (A 48) 41 km
- — 0.4 km
- (A 43) 46 km
- (A 41) 40 km
- —
- — 0.1 km
- — 0.3 km
- (D 3508) 0.4 km
- Avenue de Brogny (D 1201)
Cycling from Avignon to Annecy
Touring-pace bicycle route generated by BRouter, with elevation gain and matched against the EuroVelo cycle network.
- Distance
- 337 km
- vs 338 km driving
- Riding time
- 18h 23m
- Touring pace; experienced riders cut this 20–30%.
- Total climb
- ↑ 1.872 m
Routed on the BRouter trekking profile — balanced for paved leisure tourers; gravel and fast-bike profiles produce different lines.
On the EuroVelo network
Sections of this route follow signed EuroVelo cycle routes — well-maintained, signposted, and bike-friendly:
- EV17 Rhone Cycle Route · 90.5 km
Total: 90,5 km on EuroVelo (27% of the route).
Show route on map
By coach from Avignon to Annecy
Indicative duration of the fastest direct long-distance coach found in the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus EU schedules.
- Travel time
- 5h 10m
- Direct
- Operator
- FlixBus-eu
- Departures / day
- ~1
- Approximate based on the published schedule.
Show coach corridor on map
Schedules sourced from the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus GTFS feeds via transport.data.gouv.fr. Times are indicative; verify on the operator's site before booking.
Booking link coming soon.
By train from Avignon to Annecy
Fastest cross-border rail itinerary from the public Transitous planner. Times reflect a typical Monday-morning departure on the next available service-day.
- Fastest journey
- 4h 17m
- 3 changes
- Lead operator
- ZOU ! TER
- + 1 more
- Alternatives
- 5
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- TER 879694
- TGV INOUI 12566
- TER 17982
All operators across alternatives
- ZOU ! TER
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
Includes a high-speed rail leg (TGV, ICE, AVE, Frecciarossa-class).
Show route on map
Routing via the public Transitous OTP planner (community-run MOTIS instance). Cached 24 hours; verify on the operator's site before booking.
Frequently asked
Do I need a vignette for this drive in France?
No, France does not use a vignette system. Instead, you pay distance-based tolls on the A7, A49, and A43 motorways.
Is the route to Annecy difficult in winter?
The route reaches elevations up to 550 meters. While you are not crossing major mountain passes, you should have winter tires or chains if travelling during colder months, as the roads can catch snow and ice.
Are there speed limit changes I should know about?
The standard motorway limit is 130 km/h, but it automatically reduces to 110 km/h during rain or adverse weather, which is strictly enforced.
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, BRouter for the bicycle route, EuroVelo GPX (ODbL) by the European Cyclists' Federation for the cycle-network overlay, Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals, OpenTopoData SRTM 30m for elevation, Open Charge Map for EV charging stations, and Google Gemini drafts the narrative and FAQ from the computed route data. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.