OK so you are about to spend some time driving in France and you've suddenly had the thought “What are the fuel prices in France?”
Well, there is no need to worry as compared to the UK, prices are currently very good. They are a little bit cheaper than the UK currently and the bonus is for diesel drivers is that diesel is cheaper than petrol in France.
I don’t see the value of actually putting the price of fuel in a blog post that could be out of date by the time I've posted it but I will share with you at the bottom of this page a link to a very good French Government website that allows you to click on the map of France and it will give you the best France fuel prices in that area. (That’s both Petrol and Diesel)
Petrol/Diesel the Basics
Well first things first the green petrol pumps are, as you’d expect, for unleaded petrol and the French words for it are “essence sans plomb”.
Diesel in French is called “Gazole” although they do call it diesel in a lot of garages.
Blue pumps are for full leaded petrol. Super unleaded if you are lucky enough to own a high-performance car has an octane rating of 95 or 98.
LPG is called GPL in France (Gaz de pétrole liquéfié).
Best price of petrol in France
Well common sense in France regarding petrol is no different to the UK. We all know that UK petrol stations on motorways are legalised Dick Turpins and they have been getting away with highway robbery for years.
Well France is no different, so you should avoid filling up on the main autoroutes whenever possible.
If you can fill up at one of the really big supermarkets, you will save at least 15 centimes on every litre.
Beware of High Days and Holidays
In France a lot of the big hypermarkets will be shut over holiday periods, though some offer the ability to self-serve at the pump if you have a chip and pin card that will be accepted in France. It might be worth checking with your bank.
Also, it’s not a bad idea to let your card company know you are going as they have blocked my card when I’ve been abroad before as they are worried that someone has cloned it.
A lot of the garages you see in France you will recognise, such as Shell, Jet, Esso, Q8 and Total.
Up to date Fuel Prices
OK so as promised here is a link to a really good petrol price website based in France. If you use an up-to-date internet browser, it will probably translate the site for you automatically though to be honest its fairly intuitive even if you don’ speak French.
Up to Date Fuel Prices click here
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