Driving to France - Places to stop over ??

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Any one got any advise or tips on hotels to stay in,

Need help :)

where?

Sorry that would help, staying in Les Arc and usually stay in Lyon on way down and Lille on way home, looking to change the way home stop over, wanting about 4 hours to Calais on the sunday ?? :)

I always do the Alps in one day. Otherwise you end up effectively travelling for two days.

If we go to the south of France, or northern Spain, (which are further) I tend to look at the map on my iPad, and work out approximately where I want to stop, and google the places, to see what they're like.

Reims would be in about the right place if you want to be 4 hours from Calais.

Thanks Sanity, we like adding on hotel either side makes a longer holiday :)!!

Will look at Reims x

I'd also recommend Reims as a good place for a stopover. We've stayed at Tinqueux by the A4 several times; there's a good choice of hotels (Ibis, Ibis Budget, Novotel) as well as various restaurants and a large Carrefour. It takes us about 2 hrs 45 to drive from there to Calais. If you want to be further away, then Troyes is about another hour down the A26. Although I've never stayed there, this hotel is right by the motorway and has had good reviews on Mumsnet, so might be worth a look.

Macon.

We stayed just outside Troyes in the Best Western hotel in Rouilly Sacey. It was great for us as it offered well priced family rooms.

B&B hotels (a chain) are perfect for stopovers. Cheap clean comfortable and they do family rooms.

We like to stay at Le Val Moret which is just off the autoroute south of Troyes and about a four hour drive. It has all sizes of rooms and a brilliant restaurant. No traffic noise but just a minute back to the junction to go south.

Thanks to everyone who has posted, will be researching this weekend and get things booked

:)

We've also stayed at the Novotel in Tinqueux Reims before and it's really handy, no city driving so long as you have an up to date sat nav that has the details for the autoroute new junction on; ours didn't so we ended up having to go to the end and back!

It's handy as you can wander over to the hypermarket and shopping centre for cheap and cheerful food to eat in or take back to the hotel for a picnic.

We've also stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Arras when we couldn't get into Reims. Price includes great free breakfast buffet which is something that often pushes the price up normally. We stayed in a fantastic airy family room with loads of space - an L shape so our bed was one end of the L while the dc were the other end - on a sofa bed. Much bigger than the places that often have 2 double beds next to each other (where one is sometimes a sofa too). Had to go into the town to eat - short stroll, loads of options.

We've also stayed in the Novotel in Ypres (aka Iepers) which was nice if it's in the right direction. It's just off the main town square, very close to the menin gate so easy to wander around the town and soak up the atmosphere. Breakfast was expensive but there was a delicious bakery opposite so we were able to pop out, buy amazing fresh patisserie and croissant etc for a few euro in total to feast in our rooms rather than 30 euro for standard continental breakfast in the hotel.

For both these chains I registered for their loyalty card which you can do online before you book. The accor card (group includes Novotel, ibis, mercure and more) you get 10% off as standard and they often have deals for half price rooms. The holiday inn express card also had good discounts and has regular offers.

On top of this I've also managed to combine the bookings with cash back sites and thus get even more of a good deal.

Any hotel you do consider - definitely worth thinking about checking out their loyalty program and cashback to help with the costs!

confuugled, wow very helpful post thank you very much, want about 3/half hours drive to Calais, so will defo be looking a Novotel in Tinqueux, great info :) Will be signing up to The accor card, hubby already has card for Holiday inn.

Thanks all :)

Love this thread. Booked Tinquex hotel

Been so busy with school holidays etc so have not booked yet, looking this weekend and will advise where we decide,

Thanks again for all your tips :)

Reims is a good place to stop but is 2.5 hours from Calais (not 4 hours as stated above).

Novotels work well for a family of four - Reims Tinqueux, Dijon Sud, Beaune and Macon are all ok.

We use Reims Tinqueux too - there is a Novotel and an Ibis. It is worth paying more for the Novotel, a much nicer experience with a much nicer breakfast!! (the Ibis is ok if you just want to get your head down).

Second whoever said that you need to make sure you get back on the right road because sat navs don't always have the new bypass on them and that saves hours. I just use my phone.

I particularly like it because on the way we leave in the evening for an early evening train, eating dinner in the terminal, and then get there to sleep - then wake up the next day and can get down to 3 valleys in one stint without getting to the mountains too late/tired!

Thanks so much for all the info, don't mind a 2.5 hour drive aswell.

Will be looking this weekend and hoping to book, will keep everybody updated :)

Bring on the winter !!! more skiing posts needed :)

This is really good advice.. We will be driving to Switzerland (relocating to live there - eek!) in early January and will break the drive up with an overnight stay...