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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. |
#2
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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. |
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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 |
#4
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Quick question on accommodations in France
"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. |
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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 |
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Quick question on accommodations in France
"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. |
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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 |
#8
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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. |
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Quick question on accommodations in France
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 |
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