Stopovers on drive to south of france

[Eboblah]

We’re driving down to the Ardeche this summer (staying at Le Moulin Huttopia, should anyone have any tips) and I’m going crazy trying to figure out where to stop on the drive down.

We’ve got 2 nights between tunnel and arrival and my ideal spot would be rural, rustic, pool with good food. And cheap. I realise unlikely to get all of this but right now just struggling with sheer size of France and where to even start looking.

Has anyone done a similar trip and can suggest good places to stop so the driving hours make sense and, if possible, actual places to stay?

We come through the tunnel at 1 in the afternoon, then have 2 nights before arriving at campsite from 2 (need to set up tent so ideally don’t want to do too much driving on the final day).

Travelling with partner and 2 kids, 7 and 9 so need a family room.

All advice welcome on making trip more bearable. Thank you!

We use to travel to south of France.

We stayed at the formula 1 hotels. Cheap and cheerful but no pools etc.

Personally if your planning on staying hotels I'd look at the national parks on journey down.

(We had trailer tent so when we took that would just open the bedrooms bit!)

You can travel for 4-4.5 hours in day 1. Spend some time there and travel again the next day for same time.

Then on final day it'll leave just 2 hours (ish!) to travel.

When we went (I was a child so decades ago!) the motorways had fantastic shades wooded service stations on the way down so stopping to stretch legs and have some time in shade was really easy.

If you put Calais to your destination on your phone sat nav and then steps you can look at the route and work out suitable distances per day.
I noticed that the A5 goes close to Troyes, my friends said it's a very interesting town.
There will be plenty of cheap hotels on the way down.

I’ve done this, set Google maps to show your destination then look along the route at equal points, then check on airbnb or booking.com to the nearest town but set the radius wide. See what comes and go from there

France luckily has lots of beautiful places at affordable prices

Not sure about rustic, but Novotel at Macon Nord, has a pool as does the Ibis styles at Chalon Sur Saone. More rustic but no pool: www.lasourcedesfees.fr/chambres.htm
Or somewhere around Beaune - all.accor.com/ssr/app/accor/hotels/21200-beaune-france/index.fr.shtml?compositions=1&stayplus=false&snu=false&utm_term=gen&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4uaUBhC8ARIsANUuDjUYg5cdBfSLBRsfPTKE5dDs2LHYF5kNWSI_8z1-I1mOwSaVO-h_fcgaAuFsEALw_wcB&utm_campaign=ppc-ach-gen-goo-be-fr-seu-mix-sear-b&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_content=be-fr-FR-V0348 which is a pretty town to visit for a day.

If you wanted 2 different stops then Troyes is lovely, then somewhere near Valence.

Reims, Beaune, Annecy or Dijon - we usually do Dijon on the way down and a very long day with an overnight at Reims on the way back so we're only a shortish drive from the ferry. But we've also stayed at Beaune and Annecy when we've made more of the stop itself.

When I was young, my parents stopped off at the Campanile in Beaune on the way to the South of France several years running. It had a nice pool and on-site restaurant.
It still looks pretty similar on the website, but have no clue how much it might have changed in 20ish years!

https://www.campanile.com/en-us/our-hotels/france/burgundy-franche-comte/hotels-beaune/?sr=NBCAFR&gclsrc=aw.ds&kClkId=220603171023663253&kVsId=220603171023661136&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4uaUBhC8ARIsANUuDjUxibkmdfbJ7VEFSgoZDA1Ey3s7TPDnkz3ae3sfL1JvQMJJauvVh0aAgiNEALwwcB

Another vote for Novotel - family rooms are more than adequate for an overnight stop or 2, kids get free breakfast if adults are paying, hotels have pools/gardens: the stopover on our way to the south - we used to camp just south of the Ardeche - was a great way to start the holiday before we spent 2 weeks in a tent. We've used Dijon and Macon Nord in the past, and Reims Tinqueux on the way back: supermarket for wine shopping and Flunch opposite this last one, which our dc always thought was great, and only 3 hours from the tunnel/ferry.

We stayed at Novotel Dijon Sud when heading to the south of France. Outdoor pool and Dijon was lovely for a visit too. Have a good trip 🌞

Calais to Troyes is around 4 hours. Overnight in/around Troyes.

As something really different drive 2 hours from Troyes to Guedelon. This is a castle being built now(!) in the French countryside using the technology of the middle ages.

Then drive 2 hours to Beaune.

The drive from Beaune to the campsite the next day will take around 3.5 hours.

Have a look at the Logis De France website for somewhere to stay.

Would suggest, if possible, you try and avoid Lyon/A6/A7 on a Saturday. Traffic can be incredibly busy: travelling on a weekday makes for a much easier journey.

We always used the Novotel Dijon Sud as well on the way down...lovely pool, bar and restaurant (never ate our evening meal there as it was always the kids treat to get a McDonalds after a long day driving) but they did a great breakfast in the morning.