Hotel or camping during a cycling tour?

[cyclingovereurope]

I like just to ride a bike to discover new places.
Normally I'm not looking for an adventure so, when i'm doing a tour, I like to ride hard during the day, but when is time to sleep I prefer to rest in a comfortable bed in a hotel, maybe with a wirlpool. And you?

 

[growingvegetables]

Camping for me. I like sleeping on the ground.

 

[raleighnut]

Camping for me too but I've got one of these.

This is at 'Off The Tracks' festival with 'Old Faithful ' my Ridgeback Adventure (Tange Crmo Frame)

 

[rb58]

Hotel. Always.

 

[Polite]

You sleep so well after a day's riding anyway so it doesn't really matter - I would say camping but I'm fare weather and usually a maximum of three weeks.

 

[mcshroom]

Either. Both have advantages. Hotels are dry and have electricity, and allow you to travel further/lighter. However camping allows you to go exactly where you want, and don't need to be booked in advance. On my hotel tours I have to stick to a schedule, but with the tent I can travel around remote parts of Scotland (for example) with nothing fixed but the train home.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Hotels for me. Power. Wifi. Towel rails for drying clothing after washing it.

No need to plan any further ahead than that day: I logon to hotels.com, laterooms.com and bedandbreakfast.com each morning to find and book a hotel for that night.

 

[xilios]

Mostly camping, most have electricity, wife and dryers, here in mainland Europe anyway, never been to the British Isles.
We're mostly on a budget and credit card touring is just too expensive.

 

[psmiffy]

it has to be a tent -

1. I love being and sleeping outdoor
2. Indoor accommodation requires a level of pre-planning that to me kills much of the spontaneity of my style of touring
3. I hate Hotels
4. I am too mean to pay hotel prices
5. My stove sets off the smoke detectors in hotel rooms

 

[cyclingovereurope]

Last year we had most part of our tour underneath the rain, the thought to set the tent with the rain, after 145 moist kilometres, would have been like hit the big toe with a hammer.


For me is hard to do this inside a tent

 

[briantrumpet]

Hotels for me. Power. Wifi. Towel rails for drying clothing after washing it.

No need to plan any further ahead than that day: I logon to hotels.com, laterooms.com and bedandbreakfast.com each morning to find and book a hotel for that night.

Hotels for me too, so I can do 100 miles a day, travelling with just two or three kilos of stuff. When I went across France a friend told me not to bother booking hotels, and though I had target places in mind for where I'd end up at the end of each day (big enough to have a choice of establishments), I enjoyed the not knowing where I'd stay each night. In fact the first hotel I called in on each night had a room (this was in late July): the most expensive was 55 euros, and the cheapest £25, for a single room.

 

[andym]

It depends a lot on your budget and where you are going. If you're going on a long tour and/or your budget is limited then camping will save a chunk of change: I tour on a budget of £50 a day - also camping means I can afford a decent restaurant dinner.

Booking.com does make finding places to stay pretty straightforward.

There are parts of Europe (southern Spain for example) where campsites are few and far between and you can get a decent room for say 25€ - so hauling camping gear around doesn't make a lot of space.

 

[palinurus]

Either for me, I more often do B&Bs but I'm not much of a planner so there's sometimes a bit of stress involved in finding one at the end of a long day of cycling. Not so with a tent. I also walk, I tend to mix camping with walking more than cycling.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I just got in the habit of tenting, because sometimes I would travel by bike with a girlfriend, and hotels/motels in the States didn't care for that, at least in the Southern Midwest. I had all the gear, as I did a lot of hiking and biking as I was growing up. If I'm going to be in the outdoors, I like the freedom of camping. Wild camping is fun also. Often unnecessary, though , because in many little municipalities, it seems the police would rather have you camp near their station, or at the library, or in the park. The way most motels are built in the States, I think I'd rather take my chances in a tent in severe weather.

 

[raleighnut]

This is worth a read if the linky works
http://www.phred.org/~alex/kenkifer/www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/humor/howtocam.htm
Should be good for you @Gravity Aided