Off to Vitrac in the summer. We will arrive in France about 4.00 in the afternoon and would like to get a couple of hours drive in before stopping. Van anyone recommend a good but cheap hotel along the way??
Thanks
------------- Camping season is here - bring it on!!!
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Any of the budget hotel chains are good - Formule 1 is the cheapest, but doesn't have en-suite facilities. All the others do - see this link for the list of chains, and then links to their own websites. You can then look where all of them are situated, and choose one in the area you're looking at. There are budget hotels in almost all French towns, usually on the link road to the autoroute.
I pre-booked with Premiere Class Hotels (part of the Campanile group) for next year. They have a good range of hotels close to major roads across france.
If you book early on their website, I think the rooms were around 35 euro mark.
We find Formule 1 a little too basic without the en-suite facilities. Have used Villages Hotels twice (Troyes and Rouen) and been very happy with them both times. Freindly, clean and great value. Easy to book online and cancel on the day if you don't need the room after all. Etap is also pretty good, but we have found them a little more variable in quality - we rejected one near Boulogne that was awful - would rather have spent the night in the car!
Critical point is 'How many of you are there?'
F1 is 3 max to a room but BB will take 5 if smallest is a babe. [ as in 'young' rather than 'a looker']
Assuming you are arriving in Calais consider Chartres which is nice, Orleans which is not or Dreux, Evereux or Rouen.
Rouen is not far enough for us - but we have only come from the Cotswolds. Chartres is a nice overnight stop as it has a super floodlight cathedral to stroll around and the BB is right next to a MuckDonalds [which suits us fine after a long journey - as it is very predictable, cheap and open late].
If you want a big room BOOK IT WELL IN ADVANCE or stand by to see HOTEL COMPLET