We are travelling to stay at Soliel Plage in August will be crossing Dover to Calais on the Friday and plan to stop overnight before arriving n the Sat at SP. Any suggestions on where to stay overnight hotel wise?
Just want somewhere comfy and where we can get something to eat Friday night.
Thanks
Helen x
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Do you know what route you will take (eg via Paris or Rouen) and what sort of time you will arrive in Calais?
Not a specifc suggestion, buyt when we want a quick, cheap and easy hotel stopover we use the B & B Hotels chain. A Travelodge type setup, basic, impersonal no frills places, but the beds are comfortable which is what matters :-)
They don't have their own resturants (though they do breakfasts, but steer clear of the scrmabled egg which is wierd microvwed stuff). but they tend to be in edge of town, shopping and etertainment areas so there are normally a few chain type restaurants around
As Woodman says, Salbris is a good bet, if you’re on an early crossing - Sarlat is a long days drive from Calais, and makes sense to break the journey. If you’re leaving later, then Les Andelys near Rouen is good; the site at Chartres isn’t popular, though some on here recommend the municipal site at Courville sur Eure.
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Have a look on booking.com, find a chain hotel in the town you expect to reach after your journey from Calais, but make sure it offers 'cancellation up to 6.00 pm'. Then at 5.30 pm if you're not going to get there, or might get a lot further, cancel the booking on line and book another somewhere else. These chain hotels almost always have rooms available, and will soon find a new occupier for the room you were planning to have. ?
Standards vary, even between different 'branches' of a hotel chain - some have been modernised and are quite smart, others are becoming very tired. So it's difficult to recommend which chain is 'best' if you only want a bed for the night. Most of the chain hotels are in 'business parks' where there are usually plenty of choices of places to eat, and often hotel guests get a discount at these places.
Alternatively do the same thing, but for more charm and authenticity book a Chambre d'Hotes where you expect to reach, but again make sure that they are flexible on arrival time and then make sure you get there. You can find some nice personally run places on booking.com and many of them are similar prices to the budget chains, but include breakfast. One such, that we used one year, on arrival at 9.30 pm after struggling through floods around Orleans, asked us on arrival 'Would you like a meal - we thought it might be difficult for you because of the bloods, and have something ready for you just in case'. Even better, we had home made pate with home made toasted bread, pork with white wine and mushrooms, and the mushrooms were picked and dried by the owner's mother, and then we had a lovely home made pudding - but the details escape me - perhaps because we were so tired and stressed. We also had a couple of glasses of wine each, and were charged 10 euros each.
You might get that, grudgingly, in a hotel where the restaurant cooks for many many people, but it's nice to have such service in a tiny home where you will be the only guests in the only 'letting bedroom'.
We always used to break the Calais / Dordogne journey in the Loire.
Plenty chain hotels - we've used many including the Novotel and Campanile not far from the motorway in Orleans Sud / La Source - plus have used hotels in Amboise, Blois, Chaumont.
We always use the “Premiere Classe” hotels, choose one with a “Campanile Hotel” within the same grounds and you get 15% of the bill for eating in the “Campanile Restaurant”.
“Premiere Classe” are part of the “Louvre Hotels” group.
We have always had good experiences when using “Premiere Classe” and stay in them for five nights each time we go to France, using three hotels, three over nights on the outward journey, and two for the return journey.
Helen, it all depends on your budget. We found a very smart independent hotel last summer which was charging business travellers £200 a night from Monday to Thursday but £75 a night on Friday and Saturday when they weren't there- but Is £75 too much?
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Have a look at Hotel Restaurant La Mire on booking.com, we stayed there a couple of years ago en route to the Dordogne. It's a slightly odd place but the food was good and we ate in wooden cabin like structures in the garden which was really nice. There are plenty of photos on the booking.com website, loads of parking and it's off the beaten track so a bit different to the motel style places. Can't remember how much it was but it wouldn't have been expensive (or we wouldn't have stayed there!)
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Stop over to The Dordogne
