Few hours sleep near calais arriving at 2am?

Kaz2904

We're going on holiday and have booked our crossings for 23:59 from Dover to Calais.
The whole point of this was so that we could drive all night and get there in the morning.
We are going with BIL and SIL and their 2 so there will be 2 families of 4.
Sil has now decided that she wants to stop overnight somewhere near calais as we would have a whole day to kill before we could get into our accomodation (I was going to go to Mont St Michel and drive back up as it's an hour away).
DH has said we will do the same (There goes our breakfast looking out at the sunrise and early morning visit to Mont St Michel!)

So, the question is, where can we stay that we can check into in the middle of the night. The children are 2,3,5&6 so need to sleep with their parents.
Can I get cashback on these rooms through quidco or can I use deals vouchers?
Or would the best bet be to try and change the ferry crossing?
I appreciate any suggestions you guys can come up with thanks, Kaz.

weejenny

Try this
http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.html
Once you have booked you can access anytime using your credit card. There is one near calais as we've stayed there in similar circumstances

Kaz2904

So would I be able to sneak in an extra person to each room at that time of night? Or would it cause problems in the morning for checking out?

BernadetteN

You could try the Bonsai Hotel in the centre of Calais, opposite the train station. It has simlar rooms to a Formule 1, except that they have en-suite toilets and showers (actually more like Premiere Classe or Etap chains). You'll get a room for 3 for around £25 a night (I booked through Expedia as they offered a slightly cheaper price than anywere else at the time) and if the kids are small enough width wise, they could just about share the single bed above (or an adult could go on top with one adult and 2 kids in the double bed). The same would be true for Formule 1 as the room layout is almost identical.

You can easily sneak an extra child into the Bonsai as most if not all of the rooms have entrances away from the Reception area.

Another good thing about Bonsai is that each room shares an entrance with another room so you could perhaps get 2 rooms together. Or if you did decide to get 3 rooms, you can leave 2 or 3 kids together in one room and adults in another room and have a door shut behind both doors whilst keeping the individual doors to each room wedged open, then 8 of you would share space for 9 people. If you go onto the Bonsai hotel website, you can see what I mean by looking at their "suite familiale" rooms where they have taken out the inner individual doors which would have originally divided the 2 rooms (but all the rooms are like this I believe, not just the suite rooms).

If you go with the Formule 1 or Bonsai option, be prepared to feel a bit squashed for room, especially if you go for the 2 room option.

http://www.bonsai-hotel.tm.fr/

budgetflyer

The formule one beds are double,normally with a bunk suitable for small child (ie U 10) above. You should be able to squeeze a little one in beside you. Cant see a problem really.

inmypocketnottheirs

Do not forget F1 do not have ensuite. Better to use https://www.bb-hotel.com. I use them regularly and never disappointed. Plus if you take a laptop, free wifi in reception so you can check MSE!

HTH

Happychappy

Not much use going out, but a good idea for your return when you get back to Calais, is you could always sneak into the back of an Eddie Stobart wagon like everyone else in Calais does before coming into Britain Then when you arrive in the UK we will give you a house, car, washing machine, free health care and a mobile phone, you can sell these on ebay and pay for your next holiday :rolleyes: and so on.

I have used the F1 which is clean and comfortable andI wouldnt think the extra children in a room would be a problem or be noticed

Louisa_Jane_2

We always stay in an Etap Hotel - one step up from the formula ones and premier lodges - they have an ensuite and booking in with credit card.
Heres a list of all budget hotels-
http://www.eurapart.com/budget.html