Suggestions for places for overnight stay on drive to south of france

[Northernlassie1974]

We have booked a week at a holiday park in the south of France, Vias Plage, for the end of July/beginning of August. We plan to come across on the ferry to Calais then drive down. We already know we want to stop for a few nights in Paris on the way home, but am looking for ideas for a half way ish overnight stop off on the way there to break up the driving. Looking on the map I'm thinking about Lyon/Dijon/St Etienne/Bourge.....but I'm literally just looking on Google maps at where is near the route to south of france. We wouldn't be doing extensive sightseeing literally an hour or two in a village/town, somewhere nice but reasonable to eat and sleep with easy parking. I have heard of some of the places above but dont know much about them. Any suggestions??? 2 adults, 2 children 8 and 11 years.

Beaune is very nice and just off the autoroute.

I'll second Beaune. Stayed in an Ibis there a few years ago for same reason. Pretty town, nice restaurants etc. Enough to wander round for a few hours then straight back onto the route de soleil. Enjoy!

Avignon, uzes, Montpellier.

We always stay in beaune, though bourg is lovely too.

Beaune has tons of hotels, a lovely town centre and a municipal campsite 5mins walk from the restaurants. We've often pitched a small tent for the night, though this year we're going for a lovely hotel with a pool in the town centre.

I've done that trip lots of times. My favourite is the Novotel at Macon Nord, which is just off the A6. Pool, free breakfast for kids, family rooms. Enclosed parking. Normally has a decent kids menu but we were there in July and they just had a buffet laid on due to covid. Which was perfectly nice. The wine is good value. There is an Ibis on the same site. Avoid, avoid the Novotel at Dijon Sud - it is truly shite. The Novotel at Beaune is fine though. Coming back last year we stayed at the Ibis Styles at Chalons Sur Saone. Again just off the A6. Also has a pool - we had a family room with 2 connecting bedrooms, sharing one bathroom. Menu was limited but there's a shopping centre right next door that has McDonalds and some other options.

Are you going to La Carabasse? Vias is fab for a family holiday.

Yes we are! We have been there before but many moons ago and didnt drive!
Some great suggestions here! Will definitely have a look at Beaune and Macon Nordrhein-Westfalen....and good to know about avoiding the Novotel at Dijon.....we were looking at that one!!! Thanks everyone x

Ha - the Novotel at Dijon Sud - we stayed a couple of years ago and it was awful - and when I looked on Tripadvisor - it brought up MY previous review from years before - when it was also awful I'd obviously erased it from my memory.

We had dinner on the terrace by the pool at the Ibis Styles - and it was perfectly nice. My dd is a teenager now. She went and got herself a Maccy D's and watched TV in her room. It was a win win. :)

Huge thanks for all who posted....we go in 3 months now, Beaune booked thanks to recommendations, and Bourges on the way up to Paris! We've got 3 nights in Paris...my next request....recommendations for must do family trips in Paris...on a budget! I'm seeing bus tours, hop on hop off bus, louvre, Eiffel Tower, arc de Triomphe, notre dame, moulin rouge...so many places to visit and only two full days!
Child 11 and 8 with us.....what trips and tours are worth spending on? I'm thinking day we get there arc de triomphe (we're staying near there) evening bus tour, day 1, eiffel, seine tour (see the sights including notre dame day 2, louvre and some more sights......does this sound doable!?

@Northernlassie1974 there are some good evening boat and dinner deals along the Seine your kids might like and it's stunning.

I have seen a few of those! Thought might be good as you get to see a few sights at the same time!