Staying in inexpensive motels/hotels?

No stories, just ideas.

Accor Hotels (accorhotels.com) has a couple of budget chains (Etap and Formule1). Premiereclasse (Premiereclasse.com) is another budget chain, B&B Hotels (hotel-bb.com) is still another. Most are located on the periphery of cities and larger towns, but they are so prevalent that they make spending all day in the villages and small towns very easy.

Tons of bed and breakfast type places are listed at chambresdhotesfrance.com. They are located in all-sized places. Gitesdefrance.com has a similar expansive list, but these are largely rented for a week at a time and are self-catering.

Many homes rent out rooms for the night, but are not members of any organization. Look for a "chambre" sign in the window, at the gate, or on the road.

These are the only places we stay except sometimes in the major cities and have never been disappointed.

We stayed in a couple of Ibis hotels in France in 2009 - one in Port en Bessin on the Normandy coast and one near CDG the night before our flight home. Low-frills, but new and clean. Buffet breakfast is around 8 Euros extra but convenient and better quality than the microwaveable stuff you'd get at a Fairfield Inn in the US, for example.

Gary,

I doubt that you'll find many "Motels" in Europe, but the types of lodgings you specified are exactly the type of "back door accommodations" that Rick features in his Guidebooks (places where "the locals" would tend to stay).

If you have a local Library or Bookstore that carries ETBD books, have a look at the France or Italy 2010 Guidebooks, as they will have listings for accommodations in various price ranges. Where available, web sites and E-mail addresses are also listed.

Happy travels!

Check out the Logis de France website. These are small family-run and family-owned hotels all over France. We have stayed at many of them and when you are doing a road trip it is nice to stay at a place where parking is almost always included in the price.

I second the Logis de France suggestion. When we three traveled through western Europe, we rarely made advance reservations and took budget rooms as we found them along the way. In only one instance (Switzerland) were we disappointed with the accommodation. It's a fun way to travel, but can consume a little time if hotels are scarce/occupied in a given area. FWIW, we tried to avoid the large chains, preferring chambres d'hotes, small family hotels, and zimmer frei which were always very reasonably priced. Your question seems to imply an equivalence between small towns and high priced accommodation. It's not necessarily so.

I prefer old and funky cheap to new and sterile cheap. As a bonus the former can often be found in or near the heart of the town I want to see. But to each his or her own.

Our best sleep in Italy was in a monastery.

France has another chain called Fast Hotels - usually on the outskirts of town. They're nicer than Formule 1 and have bathrooms in the room. They're around 35 - 40 Euro a night.

Rick Steve's books aren't as budget oriented as they once were - reflecting a more affluent readership. Lets Go and Lonely Planet can be better resources for traveling on a shoestring.

The best places I have found to find accommodations are on the town's own website, although admittedly I have only done this in Germany and Austria. Most will be www.town name.fr for France or .it for Italy.

You won't find many budget chain hotels in the small towns and booking websites will not have a good selections, usually just the most expensive ones. Intimate Mom and Pop B&Bs, which give the culturally richest experience, can't afford the booking websites commissions.

Lee's idea works fine in France, I just don't bother to look ahead; but then I drive and have a little more flexibility watching as I come into town. For public transportation I'd do exactly what he says. You can also google 'chambre de hote (townname)'. Just make sure you locate the place on a map so you don't have a long hike from the train/bus station.

Thanks so much for all your help. Looking forward to our first trip to Europe.