Quick question on accommodations in France

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.

Just take with you the lists of chain motels (and a credit card for the
automatic teller) : Formule1, Etap hotel, Hôtel Première Classe, Fast Hôtel
and the like.
They all have a website.


"JEP" a écrit dans le message de
.74...
In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main
roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.

Terry wrote on Aug 30, 2009:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:25:58 +1000, JEP wrote
(in article ):

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.


Yes. But to find the most acceptable, buy a Michelin Guide, or visit the
Michelin website before you leave home, and make a list.



I have never found the Michelin Guide particularly useful when driving
through France. It seems to concentrate on up-market hotels in large towns
which is not very practical for one-night stops on a journey. Much more
useful is the Logis de France guide which is free at tourist bureaux in
France. You can also get by post for 7 euros he

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/ldf/guide.htm

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

"Mike Lane" wrote in message
dia.com...
Terry wrote on Aug 30, 2009:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:25:58 +1000, JEP wrote
(in article ):

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from
Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main
roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.


Before you go copy some pages out of some guide books, e.g. Let's Go,
Fodor's, Rick Steves, or what ever pleases you and carry them for advice or
backup. My wife and I have driven a lot in Europe, including England with no
itinerary and usually found a place with no problems. We got stuck in
England one time and it took us a while to locate a motel but we did. Many
times we rely on the local tourist office for advice, or just ask someone at
a local business. We were stuck in Florence once and kept driving looking
for a place and a desk clerk casually asked if we would like to stay at a
200 year old farmhouse. We jumped at the chance and had a wonderful time. It
was called Il Moro. Nowadays with computers one can look ahead for a few
days and use email to make arrangements. That makes it so much easier. Also
if you are in one location and can't find a place just keep driving,
something will turn up eventually. Have a nice trip.

Runge17 wrote:
Just take with you the lists of chain motels (and a credit card for the
automatic teller)

But make sure that your credit card is of a Chip and Pin type compatible
with the system used in France, and avoid arriving too late at night.

We arrived at a French "Campanile" hotel towards midnight a few years
ago to find that even with an advance booking, we needed a Chip-and-Pin
Credit Card to get the automatic system to hand over our room key. At
that time UK cards were not compatible (they are now) and we would have
been stuck had I not managed to find a French guest still awake who paid
using his French card in return for cash from me.

One might have hoped that a hotel chain would only accept advance
bookings using cards that they knew would work with their systems, but
Campanile had no such checks in place.

Automated systems are fine when they work, but there was no trace of any
system to accommodate failure once the staff went off duty - not even a
phone number for a 24/7 call centre.

Things may have changed, but I would still be wary of late-night arrival
that depends upon technology alone.

John Geddes
England

"Mike Lane" kirjoitti
ginmedia.com...
Terry wrote on Aug 30, 2009:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:25:58 +1000, JEP wrote
(in article ):

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from
Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main
roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.


Yes. But to find the most acceptable, buy a Michelin Guide, or visit the
Michelin website before you leave home, and make a list.



I have never found the Michelin Guide particularly useful when driving
through France. It seems to concentrate on up-market hotels in large towns
which is not very practical for one-night stops on a journey. Much more
useful is the Logis de France guide which is free at tourist bureaux in
France. You can also get by post for 7 euros he

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/ldf/guide.htm

Listings in guide books are referential at best. Modern tools beat them
hands down. For instance Google Maps lists almost all the accommodation for
any given region in Europe. Cheap and expensive. When one is visiting Pau
town in southern France, he can find B&B
"The Coin des Loups " at Avenue Pasteur F-64110 Gelos. A room costs from 33
euros to 50 euros a night.

Markku Grönroos wrote on Aug 30, 2009:


"Mike Lane" kirjoitti
ginmedia.com...
Terry wrote on Aug 30, 2009:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:25:58 +1000, JEP wrote
(in article ):

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from
Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main
roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.


Yes. But to find the most acceptable, buy a Michelin Guide, or visit the
Michelin website before you leave home, and make a list.



I have never found the Michelin Guide particularly useful when driving
through France. It seems to concentrate on up-market hotels in large towns
which is not very practical for one-night stops on a journey. Much more
useful is the Logis de France guide which is free at tourist bureaux in
France. You can also get by post for 7 euros he

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/ldf/guide.htm

Listings in guide books are referential at best. Modern tools beat them
hands down. For instance Google Maps lists almost all the accommodation for
any given region in Europe...

Modern tools are all very well but I'm old-fashioned and don't carry a laptop
with me when travelling on holiday, so while I'm driving through France I
still like to refer to a guide book.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

On Aug 30, 8:30*am, Terry wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:52:11 +1000, Runge17 wrote
(in article ):

Just take with you the lists of chain motels (and a credit card for the
automatic teller) : Formule1, Etap hotel, Hôtel Première Classe, Fast Hôtel
and the like.
They all have a website.

...or cheaper still, stay at home. The chains are really only for desperates,
and usually have no local character whatsoever.
--
Cheers!

Terry
I don't spend much time in the hotel, so I count on the destination to
provide the local character. When I stayed at the Ibis in Paris 10,
one of the African restaurants just around the corner was called
Cannibal. That seemed a little too exotic for me, so I decided to eat
at Dakar.

wrote:

On Aug 30, 8:30 am, Terry wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:52:11 +1000, Runge17 wrote
(in article ):

Just take with you the lists of chain motels (and a credit card for
the automatic teller) : Formule1, Etap hotel, Hôtel Première Classe,
Fast Hôtel and the like. They all have a website.

...or cheaper still, stay at home. The chains are really only for
desperates, and usually have no local character whatsoever.
[]
I don't spend much time in the hotel, so I count on the destination to
provide the local character. When I stayed at the Ibis in Paris 10,
one of the African restaurants just around the corner was called
Cannibal. That seemed a little too exotic for me, so I decided to eat
at Dakar.

Same here. I tend to favour chains because I know what I'll get with
them. I've stayed at Ibis hotels in a dozen countries (as one example),
and it was hard to tell one room from another, and the service was very
similar. Things like breakfast would vary slightly in different
countries, but the basic offerings were the same. The lower cost Etap,
same story- albeit lower budget, less facilities etc.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

On Aug 30, 6:09*pm, Mike Lane wrote:
Markku Grönroos wrote on Aug 30, 2009:





"Mike Lane" kirjoitti
ginmedia.com...
Terry wrote on Aug 30, 2009:

On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:25:58 +1000, JEP wrote
(in article ):

In September, I will be driving - without any set itinerary - from
Geneva
to Grenoble and then down the Rhone into Provence. *Are there generally
places to stay (motels, hotels, pensions, etc) along or near the main
roads
between cities and towns?

Thanks.

Yes. But to find the most acceptable, buy a Michelin Guide, or visit the
Michelin website before you leave home, and make a list.

I have never found the Michelin Guide particularly useful when driving
through France. It seems to concentrate on up-market hotels in large towns
which is not very practical for one-night stops on a journey. Much more
useful is the Logis de France guide which is free at tourist bureaux in
France. You can also get by post for 7 euros he

http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/ldf/guide.htm

Listings in *guide books are referential at best. Modern tools beat them
hands down. For instance Google Maps lists almost all the accommodation for
any given region in Europe...

Modern tools are all very well but I'm old-fashioned and don't carry a laptop
with me when travelling on holiday, so while I'm driving through France I
still like to refer to a guide book.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

Mk.1 eyeballs are still the most useful tool