We can recommend the following hotels as good places for a nights’ stay en route, as we have stayed in them all!! They are reasonably priced, clean and have private parking which keeps the car and the wine safe!

The RAC website www.rac.co.uk/routeplanner or the Michelin website www.viamichelin.com (which gives the locations of the speed cameras too) give detailed directions for planning your route. It obviously depends upon which way you decide to go… Either the Autoroute via Reims, and Lyons……The Route de Soleil (A6) following the Rhone Valley then the A9 or, via Paris through the Massif Central using the ‘new’ A75 Autoroute (and the wonder of the new bridge at Millau).

If you decide to take the central A75 route then it is best to make sure you time your journey to avoid the Paris rush hour, the Peripherique can be worse than the M25!!

We found Orleans to be a convenient stopover and can recommend the Hotel Escale Oceania www.oceaniahotels.com . It is a comfortable two star hotel situated on the banks of the Loire and only a short walk from the city centre. With 24 hour reception and private parking at the rear, although it doesn’t have a restaurant, there are many in the city centre nearby. Two we particularly like:

La Petite Folie, a family run restaurant with an interesting blackboard menu and serving excellent Loire wines from small producers (the proprietor, Estelle Toulin, speaks English with a Geordie accent, having attended university in Newcastle!)
223, rue de Bourgogne, Orleans, tel:02 38 53 39 87

La Fourchette, which specialises in raclette, fondue and grillades from the Savoie region. The food is sumptuous; 3, rue Jean Hupeau, Orleans, tel:02 38 54 39 39

If you decide to head South via the A6 then there are two stops we recommend…….both in wine villages! One in Burgundy near Beaune and the other in a Beaujolais wine village near Macon. They are only a short diversion off the Autoroute, are privately owned and belong to the ‘Logis de France’ organisation and have excellent restaurants. www.logis-de-france.fr

The first is the two star Hotel-Restaurant Les Terrasses de Corton on the Route National 74 at Ladoix-Serrigny, a village which produces a less well known Burgundy Cru but affordable and well worth drinking with your meal! www.terrasses-de-corton.com

The second is the two star Hotel-Restaurant Chez la Rose just south of Macon at Julienas one of the ten Cru villages of Beaujolais with wonderful wines to sample with your dinner. www.chez-la-rose.fr

The choice is all yours! We are very happy to book for you if you would like us to. We are certain which ever you choose it will be a wonderful start to your vacances en France or a fabulous end!