🇳🇱 Cross-border drive · Netherlands → France 🇫🇷
Driving from Mijdrecht to La Rochelle
- Drive time
- 10h 35m
- Distance
- 962 km
- Same day?
- Long day
- under 12 h
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €158
- petrol · diesel ≈ €139
- Tolls
- ≈ €57
- per-km
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 32 of 116 ≥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
+5h 29m- Distance:
- 1,024 km (+62 km)
- Duration:
- 16h 5m
Via: D 938 · N 11 · D 928 · N 12
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.
10h 35m
962 km · €158 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
962 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
No direct service
Our coach data (FlixBus + BlaBlaCar) doesn't list a direct service for this pair. National operators (e.g., National Express in the UK, Eurolines feeders) may still cover it — check their site directly.
8h 17m
NS · Eurostar
See details ↓
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Overnight recommended
Too long for a single-driver day. Plan on 1 overnight stop(s) to do this trip right.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines (fr).
- Distance:
- 962 km
- Duration:
- 10h 35m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Merksem 🇧🇪 be
≈138 km≈ 3 km detour from the main route
-
Ronchin 🇫🇷 fr
≈275 km≈ 1.2 km detour from the main route
-
Margny-lès-Compiègne 🇫🇷 fr
≈412 km≈ 13.6 km detour from the main route
-
Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines 🇫🇷 fr
≈550 km≈ 6 km detour from the main route
-
Vendôme 🇫🇷 fr
≈687 km≈ 21.6 km detour from the main route
-
Migné 🇫🇷 fr
≈825 km≈ 2.6 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · NL → BE → FR
You'll cross 3 countries on this drive — each with its own toll system, fuel pricing, and motorway rules. Skim the must-know section below before you set off, and have your registration plus insurance card in the door pocket for any roadside check.
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 11
Plan for about 36 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Long rural stretch on R1
Plan for about 15 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
Brussels Low Emission Zone covers all 19 communes
Must knowBrussels LEZ runs 24/7 across the entire city; foreign plates must register online before arrival. Diesel pre-Euro 4 and petrol pre-Euro 1 are banned outright. The fine for unregistered entry is €350. Antwerp and Ghent have their own LEZs with different sticker requirements.
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.
No motorway tolls, but Westerschelde tunnel charges
TipDutch motorways are free for cars, but a few specific crossings charge. The Westerscheldetunnel near Vlissingen is €5–7. Kil Tunnel (A29) and Liefkenshoektunnel (Antwerp side) are similarly priced. Pay contactless on entry — there's no booth 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.
Plan your stops, not just your finish time
UsefulOSRM gives you free-flow drive time. Realistic add: 10% on motorway-heavy routes, 25% if you're crossing two cities. Eat at off-peak hours (11:30 lunch, 18:00 dinner) — service-area queues at noon kill 20 minutes. EU fatigue research is consistent: 15-minute break every 2 hours, full 45-minute break before 6 hours. The drive between hours 7 and 9 is where avoidable accidents cluster.
Bicycles have right-of-way at unmarked junctions
UsefulIn the Netherlands, cyclists are treated as full traffic and often given priority you'd expect from a pedestrian crossing back home. Always check the bike lane before turning. At a roundabout in town, cyclists get the inside line and you yield. The rule that bites is unmarked junctions in residential streets — yield to the bike.
Town names switch language across the border
TipBelgium signs towns in the local language: Mons becomes Bergen in Flanders, Liège becomes Luik, Brussels becomes Bruxelles/Brussel. SatNav usually handles both, but printed maps and exit signs can throw you. If you're looking for "Mons" on a Flemish-side motorway, you'll see "Bergen" on the gantry.
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 10 L'Aquitaine391 km
-
A 1 Autoroute du Nord193 km
-
E17 —101 km
-
A27 —55 km
-
N 11 —46 km
-
E19 —34 km
-
A2 —29 km
-
A 86 —20 km
-
R1 —15 km
-
A 22 —12 km
-
A 3 —12 km
-
N 248 —9 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 90%
- Secondary
- 8%
- Other / rural
- 2%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Demanding
Tough drive — multiple complicating factors compound fatigue. Strongly recommend splitting across days.
- Long drive: 10h 35m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: nl → fr. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- -4 m
- Highest point
- 168 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 464 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 445 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €158
72.2 L × €2.19 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €139
57.7 L × €2.41 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €106
168 kWh × €0.63 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €57
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 572 km in-country ≈ €57)
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
- Tesla Supercharger Lagord — Lagord 500 kW
- BP Pulse - A10 Aire du Péage de Saint-Arnoult — Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines 400 kW
- BP Pulse - A10 Aire des Cent Septiers — Poitiers 400 kW
- Ionity Longvilliers — Longvilliers 350 kW
- Mobilize - Renault La Rochelle — La Rochelle 320 kW
- Atlante - Villeneuve d'Ascq - Kiabi — Villeneuve-d'Ascq 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais Prunay — Prunay-en-Yvelines 300 kW
- Atlante - Poitiers - La Mie Câline — Poitiers 300 kW
- Atlante - Puilboreau - Darty — Puilboreau 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais de Beaulieu — Puilboreau 300 kW
- Electra - Puilboreau - McDonald's — Puilboreau 300 kW
- PowerDot - Centre Commercial Carrefour - Venette — Venette 200 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇳🇱 Mijdrecht
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7°
2°
|
9°
3°
|
11°
4°
|
14°
6°
|
18°
10°
|
21°
13°
|
22°
15°
|
22°
15°
|
20°
13°
|
15°
10°
|
10°
6°
|
8°
4°
|
| 98mm | 63mm | 63mm | 80mm | 93mm | 45mm | 123mm | 60mm | 86mm | 124mm | 112mm | 75mm |
hot mild cold
🇫🇷 La Rochelle
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
10°
5°
|
11°
6°
|
13°
7°
|
16°
10°
|
19°
13°
|
23°
17°
|
23°
17°
|
25°
17°
|
22°
15°
|
19°
13°
|
14°
9°
|
11°
7°
|
| 130mm | 84mm | 103mm | 81mm | 81mm | 53mm | 56mm | 57mm | 95mm | 188mm | 130mm | 107mm |
hot mild cold
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 46 manoeuvres
- —
- Dukaton
- Hofland
- Provinciale weg (N201) 8 km
- (N201)
- (A2) 12 km
- (A2) 16 km
- Oude Rijksweg 2 km
- Lakerveld
- (A27) 26 km
- (A27) 22 km
- (A27) 6 km
- (A27; A58) 1 km
- (A16) 5 km
- (E19) 34 km
- (R1) 15 km
- (E17) 101 km
- (A 22) 12 km
- Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 7 km
- Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 19 km
- Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 174 km
- (A 3) 12 km
- (A 3) 0.2 km
- (A 86) 8 km
- Autoroute de l’Est (A 4) 2 km
- (A 86) 4 km
- (A 86) 8 km
- (N 186) 3 km
- — 0.7 km
- (A 6b) 2 km
- (A 10) 0.8 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 3 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 2 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 35 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 72 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 139 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 143 km
- (E 601) 2 km
- (N 248) 3 km
- (N 248) 0.3 km
- (N 248) 6 km
- (N 11) 10 km
- (N 11) 1 km
- (N 11) 36 km
- Avenue des Cordeliers
- Rue du Minage
By train from Mijdrecht to La Rochelle
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
- 8h 17m
- 5 changes
- Lead operator
- NS
- + 2 more
- Alternatives
- 4
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- Intercity
- EST 9352
- TGV INOUI 8365
All operators across alternatives
- NS
- Eurostar
- 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.
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals, OpenTopoData SRTM 30m for elevation, EU Weekly Oil Bulletin for cross-border fuel-price bands, and Open Charge Map for EV charging stations. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.