En route hotels in france?

mrtg0525

Not all UK card work at the French pumps - most of the recent ones do (my Nationwide Flexaccount debit card certainly did, as did the Nationwide CC) but some still don't. Something to do with the fact that Chip & PIN was introduced in France quite a while before we got it here in the UK and the two systems initially weren't compatible.

As to overnight stops, another hotel chain I found quite useful is Campagnile. According to a mate of mine these are among the few hotels where the restaurant is open Sunday night so that's something to keep in mind if you're travelling on the weekends. They also have restaurants in (I think) all branches. With Formule 1 you may have the problem that you're on some industrial estate at the back end of nowhere and the nearest restaurant is miles away...

Squashy_2

mrtg0525 wrote: »

With Formule 1 you may have the problem that you're on some industrial estate at the back end of nowhere and the nearest restaurant is miles away...

Same with that B&B Hotels chain.

Also, regarding petrol - getting fuel on a Sunday I remember being quite difficult as none of the stations seemed to be manned.

mrtg0525

Good point - apart from the stations on the Autoroute, pretty much all other petrol stations are closed. You can still fill up at supermarkets but you'l have to pay by card at the pumps. Several of my biking mates managed to get the coveted "Petrol Muppet" award that way when they found out too late that their cards didn't work .

Squashy_2

mrtg0525 wrote: »

Good point - apart from the stations on the Autoroute, pretty much all other petrol stations are closed. You can still fill up at supermarkets but you'l have to pay by card at the pumps. Several of my biking mates managed to get the coveted "Petrol Muppet" award that way when they found out too late that their cards didn't work .

Yes, that's what I was trying to say. Not that my biking mates couldn't get fuel - I don't have any biking mates (more's the pity) - but that the stations were unmanned AND our cards didn't work at the pumps.

Muppets

jaymac_2

If you use a filling station look out for the "Caisse" sign by the pumps, this means you'll pay at the kiosk on the way out and your card will work there. our nationwide cards didn't work in the pumps but were accepted in supermarkets and kiosks. And don't run out of fuel on a Sunday.

Look at www.mappy.com to plan your route; it gives toll charges if you choose to use motorways and gives quite accurate timings for the journey. It also tells you where the fixed speed cameras are. It's worth checking out a toll and a toll free route so you can compare the time saved with the toll cost. On a recent journey it would have cost us about 72€ to save an hour and a half...not worth it when we were planning the journey over two days anyway.
Look at Balladins hotels, some of the cheaper french ones don't have ensuite bathrooms but I think these do.

cazziebo

deedums wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replies

This is typical of me, I post in a hurry and don't think it through - why would I assume you all know which crossing etc we're taking

We're arriving in Caen at about 11.00 am and thought we might stop overnight around about Le Mans / Tours and then make our way south the following day. We'll have time so it would be nice to have a look around wherever we stay.

One other question if anyone could answer this - we've been told by someone who was recently in France that he couldn't use any of his cards to pay for petrol, is this right please?

Thanks for your help

We stayed at the Campanile in Le Mans just last week. Really good meal and breakfast. booked it through Quidco/hotels.com so worked out a good deal. Le Mans is a nice city, possibly Tours is more so. We did go out to the 24 hour circuit and that was fab.

On the way back up we stayed at the Campanile Futuroscope in Poitiers and spent the day there. The campanile wasn't so good - much bigger and had several coach parties in so meals were frenetic, but Futuroscope was brill.

Never had any problem getting fuel on a Nationwide Debit card - bought from supermarkets (intermarche and super u) where it was much cheaper. As for the toll roads/small roads debate - if you want to cover long distances then the toll roads are usually good. However, they were reporting 500km tail backs on Saturday and as we drove north from Charente the other carriageway was like a car park from Poitiers to Paris.

Have a great time!

Mado

There are heaps on B&Bs in France now and these provide friendly accomodations alternatives to hotel. Personnaly, I am not a big fan of Formula1 or the others basic chains if you have a bit of time and want to enjoy your stopover.
Check out this website for example (plenty more around!).

you won't have problem paying for petrol with CC on motorways, but petrol is noticeably expensive there. Always check before filling up at smaller petrol stations. Most will take CC.

deedums

Thanks to everyone for all your help & advice. We've now booked a hotel just outside Tours using one of the links mentioned.

The other sites you've been kind enough to post about have been really helpful - some really useful tips/suggestions. :T