Toll rates on autoroutes in France vary by as much as 700% from the most expensive to the cheapest.

The newly constructed A65 autoroute between Langon (South of Bordeaux) to Pau in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is the most expensive road on which to travel in France. It will cost you nearly 14 cents a kilometre, and €20 over the full 150 kilometre distance.

That is probably a fact which has not escaped the notice of most motorists in the region, who have yet to convert to use of the motorway over the toll free D982, which runs parallel to the A65.

The cheapest autoroute is the 340 kilometre stretch of motorway between Clermont-Ferrand in the Puy-de-Dôme and Beziers in the department of Hérault. Free for the most part, only the viaduct of Millau is a toll section. The charge for a car is €6.40 outside of the summer season, and €8.20 over summer.

Tolls are payable on almost all of the 12,000 kilometres of the motorway system in France, except around the city centres and some motorways in the North. The motorways are run by private companies who collect the charges.

The most convenient way to use the motorways is by use of the automatic toll payment system, called Liber-t.