Cycling the Western Front - Accommodation

[simonhill]

I'm thinking of cycling The Western Front in the last 2 weeks of June.

I will do a lot more research before I go, but I was wondering about where to stay as this is probably the make or break for the trip.

I don't particularly want to camp and also don't want to be tied to a fixed itinary. So my question is how easy will it be to find accommodation on the fly. Maybe book one day ahead, or better still, just turn up in a small town? Cheap to mid range budget.

I have travelled a lot in France and speak some French, but I have no experience of staying in hotels.

Finally, over the years, I have visited many of the WW1 sites by camping and campervan with bike so this is pretty much an end to end with a few homage sites.

[bohrsatom]

My style of touring is not to book any accommodation in advance as I like the flexibility of finding somewhere on the day. I recommend a smart phone to research places online so you can maximise time cycling and minimise time spent searching for rooms. We use booking.com mostly, but also regularly check IBIS.com as they are all over the country, not always on booking.com, and have a discount if you book direct.

If you have more time we've found that local tourist info centres are happy to ring around local chambres d'hotes which may not be advertised online. These tend to be cheaper and more memorable places to stay, often with a tasty breakfast, but you'll need to put in the time searching for them. You might find listings on the local council's website and as you speak some French could ring around at lunchtime?

In my experience it's easy to find a room on Sunday-Thursday nights but can be more tricky over the weekends due to higher demand. Check ahead and if you think you'll be stuck then book the day before. IBIS have a good cancellation policy (up to 6pm on the day of arrival) so sometimes we will book a room there as an insurance policy but hope to find somewhere more authentic on the day.

Also check out the Logis chain of independent hotels. I have read that one hotel will help you find your next night's accommodation, although you can probably do this online yourself too.

[ANTONISH]

If I'm doing a long tour I prefer to book a series of hotels in advance.
I don't want the hassle of searching for accommodation every night.
Obviously something unforeseen can happen, and has happened to me a couple of times but I've phoned the booked hotel and then found accommodation for that night - not always easily which is why I prefer to book in advance - after a day's ride you may not want to do the extra miles.
No system is perfect.
I presume you are riding the whole of the Western front from the Channel to the Rhine?

[simonhill]

Thanks for both replies. Some useful stuff, especially the hotel chains and using the tourist offices.

I usually only book first night as I don't want to be tied down. I tour a lot and this usually works well, but I wasn't sure what it would be like in France.

I also wondered if there were likely to be many places in small towns and villages along this route. Again, tourist office good for this.

I intend to fly into Basel which is near Km 0 as the Swiss call it and start from there. Then all the way to the Belgian coast. As I said, planning more in my head at the moment as I am on tour at the moment.

[Cunobelin]

My experience is that some days and some areas booking is essential and others not

For instance weekends can be impossible if you have weddings or similar taking up the accommodation, Sundays can be difficult as many places see this as a "quiet night" and can restrict or close.

Equally if there is only one hotel in a remote village, it may be full.

[simonhill]

Excellent, good point about weekends, weddings, etc. I usually do a search of local holidays, festivals, etc to avoid being caught out.

Maybe book a few definites for the difficult days that I can use as sort of waypoints.

I haven't completely ruled out camping, but will want a favourable long range forecast. Plus it's more gear to fly with.

[lvabd]

hi

french here, from the north east (but not as north east as the western front, and now living in the uk)
This region is not very touristy, so you should be mostly fine. All over france, for the last 10 years or so, small hotels tend to shut down, and more and more of those "logis de france" things, which are incredibly expensive. if you have an expandable budget you will be fine. It not, you may want to plan ahead a little bit.
Weddings can definitely happen in summer.
I would also recommend warmshowers and couchsurfing: at least you could have local advices about hotels, and a backup option from time to time. Especially on warmshowers, where people know what it's like to not plan much ahead. Bring wine and biscuits, you will be welcome everywhere.