Toll roads

Since starting to use the tags for France and Spain last October, I've now realised how much I spend on tolls. 550 euros in 9 months seems expensive and could certainly be used for other enjoyable pursuits. I have read , with interest , where Craicrs have not only survived the trauma, but actually enjoy the experience of not using these tolls. How do you guys plan your trips, Is it simply a case of changing the settings on the satnav , or are there hours or days of poring over maps?

Tolls have definitely become much more expensive in recent years. This year will be our first with a toll tag so we are going to seethe total much easier now.

We use toll roads if we want to get somewhere faster. If the weather is poor and we are heading for the sun there is no point in driving through the loads of towns and villages.

I must agree that driving on the N roads has much more pleasant scenery and we do that quite often.

We use the sat back in conjunction with a map either setting the satnav to avoid rolls or not depending on what we want.

We insert “no tolls” on SatNav. Generally been ok.
Though we just crossed on D roads the other day,!!, they can be ok, straight but not great road surface but we could just as easily have selected better non “peage” motorways, perhaps bit longer but faster.
I still like to follow on atlas, but you only realise you aren’t going to like Sat Navs choice when too late.
I got lost on our atlas as it covered several pages, couldn’t see town names as we passed through.

We spent a month in France last year and avoided tolls by setting the Garmin sat-nav to avoid tolls. It was simple and no hassle but one does have to contend with more roundabouts and slows for towns. But then you see so much more. We did use a toll near Grenoble and were stunned at the cost: €9 for less than fifteen K !
This weekend we are off again to France and again we will avoid tolls. We like to go easy and stop often so it suits us. If however, you are going down to the costas and need to get there fast, I can see how tolls might be worthwhile.