There is an extensive motorway system linking the major cities. The highways are new and very well-maintained. The speed limit is 130 kph, or about 80 mph. Most of the roads are toll roads; by American standards the tolls are a bit expensive (4 to 6 euros, or $5.50 to $7.50, for an hour's drive), but worth it for the quality of the road.
Gas is between $5.50 and $6 a gallon, but the gas stations aren't American-style fortresses; you pump your gas and then go in and pay, without (usually) having to insert a credit card or make a deposit first.
The French love traffic circles, which appear at just about every intersection outside the central cities. This isn't just a weird attempt to ape the British; it turns out that they're safer and cause less air pollution than intersections with traffic lights. It seems we will be seeing more of them in the United States for those reasons.
It's when you get into the cities that things become a bit difficult. French cities, of course, were built long before the invention of the automobile. Many city streets are too narrow for two-way traffic and, except for the major Parisian boulevards, they seldom go in a straight line for long.
The French have tried to solve this problem by copiously signing city streets with signs pointing in the direction of major destinations. And by and large, the system works. But see if you can spot the flaw in this system from this picture:
As long as your destination is on one of these signs, you can get there. But what if you're looking for a specific address on a specific street? Do you see the street sign at this intersection, and even if you see it can you read it from your car?
Look again.
See that little blue thing to the right of the "Clamart/Versailles" sign? That's the street name. And that's about what it looks like from a car. You need a zoom lens to really read it:
So if you're driving in France, prepare for a lot of frustration, circling and extra effort to cover that last mile.
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