Stopovers Calais to Dordogne

[Shinyandnew2022]

Has anyone got any prior experience of making this trip and finding a really lovely stop off spot en route both on the way there
And on return.
I was thinking either somewhere with a
Pool and food on site or somewhere central in a town wher we can have a wander and find a decent restaurant?
Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Futuroscope and Puy du Fou would be my top recommendations. There are a number of hotels within 10 mins walk of Futuroscope, many of which have pools e.g. Ibis and Hotel Plaza. There are also several hotels at Puy du Fou but not sure about pools.
If neither of those are your kind of thing, we also like Saumur on the banks of the Loire.

I agree wihh the futoroscope suggestion, Poitiers is a lovely city too.

lac san pardoux a bit further south is lovely too and I know they have accommodation but know nothing about it. Limoges is lovely too

I would try to narrow down the area you want to stay, based on your route and the distance you think is realistic to drive south from Calais OP. Some of these suggestions are very far down France. Poitiers is a nice city, but you're almost in the Dordogne once you get there. Surely you'd rather stop somewhere north of here, more like Orléans? Who will you be travelling with and when? If it's two adults in June, it will be easier to find accommodation than if it's with two DC in August.

We stopped here la lune lake a couple of years ago after a recommendation on here. I'm not usually a b and b kind of person but gave it a try. It was fab. Reasonable, very clean, friendly, loads of great food. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. It's near Le Man's.

Thanks all for these replies this will help us get started !
@zafferana you are right I need to get DH to look at some of these and take a view on how far we want to do in a day. We are going in August with two DC - on one of the busiest weekends of the year so keen to not be over ambitious and if we aren't too late on accommodation to have a really nice stop off.
I do recall Le Mans and Poitier as places we had heard others mention .

Just on a general note, I find Hotel Mercure and Novotel are decent chains. The former often have pools and both are child-friendly. We've used them many times and they're all over France, both near motorways and in town/city centres.

We've stayed near Le Mans on that route.

The best route is Rouen, Évreux, Dreux, Chartres and then down the A20 which is free from Vierzon. Be prepared for service areas to be full. Novotel are good but not cheap - dearer than Ibis, B&B etc.
I'd think about booking now to be honest, nothing worse than getting increasingly frazzled, hot, tired and hungry searching for a hôtel after 6pm.

Thank you @newtb
My DH has now clicked into route planning mode thanks to your information so we are making progress .
I want to book something in the next couple of weeks we definitely aren't leaving it to chance !

Also it depends on now much travelling time you have after the ferry/eurotunnel.

We've stayed near Calais, Le Mans, Bourges, Confolens in the past, usually picked for where we will be at tea timev- so tired/late we just ate and crashed. Also, if you are travelling on Black Saturday, wise to not do too much as the further South you get the slower you go.

We've driven from Brussels to Dordogne a couple of times and stayed at the Novotel Rouen Sud or the Mercure in Orleans. Both have pools. We always avoid Paris.

No probs Shiny, I live in the Corrèze about 20 mins from the Dordogne, which is one of the biggest départements. Went via Paris once, it was a much longer route, expensive tolls and thé traffic was terrifying - been driving in France for 40 years.

We stayed in Amboise in the Loire. Not far off the route, and a beautiful town with chateau and well worth a day of anybody's time.