Driving through France in December

It's obviously impossible to say because no-one knows what the weather will be like in a month's time! All we can say is that northern Spain and the Pyrenees have suffered very heavy snow in the past two winters. 

If you approach Spain on the Mediterranean side of France, the motorway goes up into the mountains for the border crossing but it's up in the heughts for a relatively short period before it comes down to near sea level again in NE Spain.

If you approach on the Atlantic side, the motorway crosses the border at a low level at Irun, but at some point you have to cross the higher ground in central north Spain in order to get over to the Costas, and you will be higher for longer in that case. And don't even think about crossing the border on the smaller roads in the central Pyrenees!

It's all about the weather. If you can, make a late decision with an eye on the forecast.

I think the police can, and will, stop you if you if you don't carry snow chains when the weather is bad

https://n332.es/prepare-for-winter-driving/ 

As someone who has done quite a lot of driving in the winter in Norway my advice would be to leave your 4x4 at home and put some winter tyres on a normal car.  Something with front wheel drive that's not too big like a VW Golf is ideal.  There is a wide choice of tyres for any car available online at www.mytyres.co.uk and a local tyre workshop should be happy to fit them for you. They are no more expensive than normal tyres but give a lot more grip when driving on snow and ice.  There's no need to take them off when you are back in the UK, but if you want to do so it's best to get a set of spare wheels so they are easy to change.

Snow chains are useless for driving any distance on roads as you can only go very slowly and they'll damage your tyres.

Hi thank you for the advice the 4x4 we have is a Volvo XC70 a 4WD estate so should be ok as not to big and is only 4x4 when needed 

Thanks 

Thanks for the advice I do have snow chains but they are a faff to fit so I purchased these  seem easier to fit 

Hi I drove over the Pyrenees two years ago on the 22 December , there was lots of snow but the ploughs kept the roads open . But as you know weather changes like the wind. Two wheel drive I had .

Probably do it again next week or the week after .

Be lucky

Thanks we’re leaving Dover Dec 10 going to Brittany for a few days then will overnight in Tourtoriac in the perigord the decide which way to go Atlantic Mediterranean or Massif Central 

Let me know how you get on 

The Somport Tunnel is closed. FYI. Best go via Irun passing by Pamplona and Zaragoza. We go that way to get to Bordeaux. Depends where in France you're starting from. But the Almudejar motorway is great and you never feel totally alone, like driving up to the Somport Tunnel feels...