Help with stopovers

[Jo Jo]

Hi,

We are travelling for the first time from Calais Eurotunnel to Arles in Provence at the beginning of July with two young children. We will be stopping twice on the way down and twice on the way back up. 

 We arrive in Calais at about 1300hrs and didnt want to travel for too long as we will have driven a long way (6hrs ) to get to the Tunnel.  We thought prehaps and hour or two maximum for the first stop and then somewhere between Dijon and Lyon for the second stop.

Does anyone have any suggestions on good quality stop over accomodation

 

thanks Jo

[PeterG]

Hi Jo,

Try this site. They have numerous hotels of differing standards and prices, throughout France.

http://www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/index.html

We often use the Etap hotels on our travels to our property.

[Cassis]

Hi Jo

These hotel chains are fine if all you want is a bed but why not try somewhere with a bit more character?  Here's a website with some ideas:

http://www.ourinns.org/

That is not my website, by the way, and we are not on your route!

Phil

[Pip]

Like PeterG we often use Etaps for stop overs.  They are clean and cheap and have secure parking facilities.  They are usually on the outskirts of cities or towns, just off the autoroutes, so easy to find.  If we had more time and less miles to cover we would definitely take Cassis's advice and look for places with more character !  [:D]

ayez un bon voyage ![:D]

[Gardian]

Jo ............

Having 'holidayed' in Provence for many years on the trot (and now living down here), we know the run fairly well.

Suggestions

Night 1

There isn't much between Calais and Reims, so my suggestion would be to press on to there - say 3 hrs with a fuel / loo stop. It's a nice place, with plenty of accom & restaurants to choose from. I'll post the link later for a place we've used before, which is OK (but not brilliant) - the advantage of it is that it's v central, cheap and there's an adjacent underground guarded carpark (important when you're travelling with all your holiday kit) I believe that the Ibis next to the station (also central) is aircon'd, so that might be worth a look.

If you choose to go a bit further (+90 mins), I'd suggest Troyes. Excellent hotel there, but not especially cheap (€80+) - again, I'll post the link. Plenty of restaurants for all tastes in a pedestianised area.

Night 2

Perhaps Beaune?  Loads of the usual chain hotels on the edge of town and just off the main motorway exit. Novotels are good, because there are no nasty surprises and they do family rooms + the kids get free breakfast etc.

If you want to go a bit further, why not Lyon itself?  Lovely city and one which most of us simply hammer through in a pele-mele dash for the south. Again, pedestrianised restaurant area with loads of choice. Can't help much with hotel names I'm afraid - ages since we used one, but look for something central. Google it & get a city map for hotel location.

The advantage of getting as far as Lyon for nt2 would be to leave yourself a nice gentle trundle down to Arles. there are big roadworks south of Lyon just now and you'll inevitably get a bit delayed through that lot. It'll be better at 10.00 on a Saturday morning (which I bet it is) than 14.00. Reckon 3-4 hrs Lyon - Arles. 

Finally, if you've never been before, you'll love Arles.  Nice town & loads of other good places around. Hope that helps. 

[Gardian]

Reims hotel;

www.grandhotelcontinental.com

(Not as grand as the name sounds, but alright - ask for rooms on the Place, rather than on the main road (noisy))

 

Troyes hotel:

www.relais-st-jean.com

 

[Jo Jo]

Thanks Ian for the advice, we certainly will take it on board, especially the bit about the roadworks! although it cant possibly be as bad as Swansea.....can it.

We will probably take your suggestions for Reims night 1 and Lyon night 2, look out google hear I come.

thanks again

joanne

 

[Rob Roy]

I really don't understand this thread, why do people who post in the B&B/Chambre d'hote site then get told about chain hotels? Surely the point of posting is to find a nice B&B/CdH for the night(s)?

I am not on your route, but if I was I would be a bit miffed [:P]

[Cassis]

Very good point, Mary - I wish I'd thought of it!  Funnily enough, we had a note put in our guest book yesterday morning saying, among other things, that they would never do a stopover in a hotel chain again!  Are we good or what?[:P] [;-)]

[Gardian]

Mary & Cassis ..............

It's a fair point, but Joanne hadn't exactly been inundated with suggestions for en route Cdh in the 2+ weeks since she posted the thread.

Having been in what I think is her situation relatively recently (i.e. going on hol, long distance to travel, want the security / accessibility of accommodation), then 'chain' hotels or more to the point, 'town' hotels often fit the bill. Neither of my suggestions were 'chain' hotels (in fact, as an example, I generally avoid Logis de France places).

Finding somewhere that might be a bit 'off the beaten track' after a 12 hr journey, that might well be delightful, isn't always what you want. On a touring holiday, maybe.

p.s. I know that Logis' aren't really 'chain' hotels, but you know what |I mean.

[Cassis]

That's okay, Ian,  I know what you mean and you have a good point.

For anyone else reading,

just in case you get the wrong idea about where we are, please note that while we are in a

quiet location by the forest, we are not far off the beaten track here in Ancinnes - we are less than 10 mins (about 5 miles) from Junction 19 of the A28 and the same from Alençon town centre.

I believe Mary's place is just 5km off the A20.

Phil

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="Cassis"]That's okay, Ian,  I know what you mean and you have a good point.

For anyone else reading, just in case you get the wrong idea about where we are, please note that while we are in a quiet location by the forest, we are not far off the beaten track here in Ancinnes - we are less than 10 mins (about 5 miles) from Junction 19 of the A28 and the same from Alençon town centre.

I believe Mary's place is just 5km off the A20.

Phil[/quote]

You're right Phil, Junction 46 is our exit, not to be confused with 46i, which is a link to the new A89.