Cheap Hotel in France

[Over The Hill]

A few friends are planning a little ride from London to Paris next spring so the planning will get us through the grim winter.

We are looking at travellig fairly light over three days cycling and so are looking at ovenight stops around Calais and Amiens.

I have stayed in a few "Premiere Classe" hotels. They seem cheap and clean with a self serve breakfast to carb up on for the day ahead.

There is one in Amiens but not in Calais, so I was looking for alternatives. All I can remenber seeing was a chain called "Mister Bed" but their web site has been down for a week so I wonder if they have gone out of business. I was sure there were a few others around france that we could choose from but cannot remember any names.

Google searches seem to give endless agents and no info.

Does anyone out there know any we could try? Just really looking at a simple bed for the night and somewhere safe to put the bike (in the room).

 

[Leadlegs]

I’ve used the Campanille and Ibis motel chains many times in the past, when touring on a motorcycle, and found them to very serviceable.

F1 are another option, very cheap – room only.

 

[Dougster]

I agree that F1 (Formule 1) is good,cheap option. There is one at Coquelles, just outside Calais, near Cite Europe shopping centre. There is also one at Amiens.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

+1 for Ibis. As I recall, Campanile and F1 are the cheapest, then Ibis. With Ibis, there is normally an all you can eat buffet breakfast (charged extra) available. There's also Etap, which are cheaper again.

Accor are the uber-chain that have Ibis, F1 and Etap within them, plus others of varying prices. Their website lists them all.

Alternatively, we found on various car and motorcycle tours that most mid-sized towns and larger normally have a good selection of reasonably priced family run B&Bs / hotels .. one nice lady even moved her car out of the garage so we could get the motorbike in it!!

 

[jay clock]

a top tip... if you stay in one of the really cheap ones, go next door for a buffet brekkie at the more pricey ones - many of the hotels are on the same industrial estate. The brekkie price will be much the same, but a Campanile buffet brekkie offers a superb calorie per Euro ratio. Six or eight croissants with jam and butter must be enough calories.... also if canny you can make up some ham and cheese baguettes from the buffet for lunch!

 

[yello]

F1 is about as cheap and cheerful as it gets but they don't tend to be in bike friendly locations. They cater, imo, to the no-frills overnight stop for the long motorway haul so they'll never be too far from the motorways, etc., i.e. NOT the sort of places you want to be cycling!

I'm not knocking them by any means, I've used them and they serve a purpose.

Ibis is okay. Soulless lookalike places devoid of any character but you know what you're getting, and you can book them in advance and on-line pretty easily. That's a big plus when you don't want to spend time phoning around, or worse still, traipsing around looking for a bed for the night.

 

[andym]

Why would anyone stay in Calais voluntarily? It's full of places called Mister Bed". Get out while you can. Go to Dunkerque. Sail to Dunkerque or Boulogne. There are so many many options. Please....please ...please don't do it.

 

[Over The Hill]

Thanks chaps! Knew you would come up with the goods. I could picture the F1 places and had a bit of a racing car theme in my head but could not think of he name.
I will look into the other suggestions too but had in mind booking them before we left (on the day in case we postpone it if weather looks crap).

Our stay in Calais will be a brief as possible. Train to London (Photo call at key landmark) Cycle down from London to Dover (80 miles) and then ferry crossing will not get us there until well into the evening. So then early start the next day will mean it is only an hour or two to grab some food and off.

I know the ride down from Calais is fairly boring and not the best scienerey but it is fairly flat and should eat up some miles fairly well.

 

[freakhatz]

Yeah, Calais is the pits, really. Why go there at all when you can get a ferry to Boulogne?

 

[jay clock]

http://www.speedferries.com/bicycle-france-dover-boulogne.php now take bikes to Boulogne. A much nicer place than Calais, but I was there recently and it is a bit grotty now. But still a lot better than Calais

 

[Pongunagu]

A slight word of caution regarding F1 hotels - since they're mostly un-manned at night and you can check in with your credit card, it's not unusual for French kids to have crazy all-night parties in them on weekends. Doesn't stop me using them, but if you're easily offended buy that kind of stuff then it might be better to go very slightly upmarket.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Another option would be the BB chain http://www.hotel-bb.com/ Bit further upmarket than F1 but only a little pricier. Staffed at peak times, including brekkie which is an all you can eat buffet with bacon and scrambled egg if French bread'd not enough for you.

There's one at Calais Coquelles, near the A26 but easily accessible from ordinary roads as well. The Manager is a bit of a card - as English on bikes you'll get some jolly French banter!!

 

[andym]

The Manager is a bit of a card - as English on bikes you'll get some jolly French banter!!

I'm intrigued. Are we talking Basil Fawlty French-stylee?

 

[Bromptonaut]

I'm intrigued. Are we talking Basil Fawlty French-stylee?

Absolutely not - he's charming. Likes to have a little polite joke - usually in fractured English. Last time we were there it was the sight at 06:30 of four silver berlingo/partners all side by side on the car park - like a fleet of airliners waiting their first turn of the day

 

[billyous]

http://www.speedferries.com/bicycle-france-dover-boulogne.php now take bikes to Boulogne. A much nicer place than Calais, but I was there recently and it is a bit grotty now. But still a lot better than Calais

I don't think anyone will be using Speedferries anytime soon...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/32397a1c-ad35-11dd-971e-000077b07658.html