Any experience of not booking hotels in advance

[Ectopic]

Thank you for all the replies, a solid consensus for winging it, so that is what we shall do; except the first and maybe last nights in Europe. I will ride down to somewhere near Cochem on the first night, perhaps not Cochem itself as we stayed there a couple of years ago.

Haven't stayed in Cochem (there seems to be a price premium to stay in the town itself) but have stayed just upstream (Ernst) and downstream (Klotten). A pleasant hour's walk along the river from Ernst to Cochem, or catch the bus free (never really got to the bottom of the reason but seemes to be something to encourage tourists onto public transport). But every town along the way has lots of hotels at all sorts of prices.

Trier is indeed a nice city. We stayed a few years ago right opposite the Porta Negra. Most of the restaurants stop taking orders by 8pm though!

 

[Udders]

Look at where the weather is going to be best, head that way and see what accommodation is around. Simples.
If you have a “ set “ route then you could be stuck with shitty weather every day.
If there are certain places you want to see then you can still see them but alter the order in which you do it.
Nothing worse than having your trip ruined by the cold, rain, low cloud etc….

 

[JJH]

Myself and Mrs were around the Nashville area. We were touring around with my sister in law. I prefer to book direct. Sil likes the booking sites. We are outside a place. She wants us to wait as she knows she’s going to get a deal. While she is faffing about on line I go into hotel and enquire about a room. We’re full tonight. In walks wife and sil saying they have got us a room. It took quite a while to get the money back. JJH

 

[Rusty]

Have done it by default sometimes when a campsite for example has closed a bit early as we are end of season and it was like "Ok straight onto Booking.Com" found a little B&B a few miles away and get there before the chap on the desk knows your'e coming ! I think if I did that more you would need to book earlier in the day but it certainly adds to the adventure. Enjoy.

 

[Doc]

Going to try it next year. Booked the first few nights then book as we go.

 

[Wicker]

Not booking your accomodation ahead is far easier these days with websites like Booking.com etc than it was 15/20 years ago. When I first started Euro touring it was very much wing it when you got somewhere near the end of the day. Always found a bed and food albeit sometimes well into the evening or paying a bit more than you wanted (hobsons choice, that'll may be why they had rooms available).

These days I tend to prebook the first night off the ferry. From then i generally use a website to book the next night or 2 ahead during the holiday. That gives a bit more control over how much you spend and puts you in a place you've chosen.

 

[Wicker]

If you are going to attend the BMW event in Garmisch (early July) or the European Bike Week at Faaker See in Austria ( early Sept) you definitely need to prebook your accommodation particularly if you want to be near the event itself. To stay in Garmisch itself you probably want to book accommodation 6 months in advance so you get a good choice/price.

 

[Rasher]

When me an dMrs were doing longer tours I would book the first / last night and any places we wanted to stop for more than one night, but the one-night stops between the longer stops we would just find somewhere roughly half way along our route, this was mainly in the Alps in the summer and always plenty of options.

Do shorter solo trips now we have a kid, and in a small group I pre-book as I think finding 4,5 or 6 rooms in single Hotel where we want to be is likely to be tricky, but if I am travelling solo or with just one mate I am happy booking as we go, I prefer booking the evening before, so after landing at Hotel A, look at weather and decide where we wanna be at the end of the day and book Hotel B.

 

[CC Mac]

Me and my brother in law did Spain and Portugal the year before last. Booked first night and then the last two coming back through the Picos. I understand the flexibility booking each day on the move but I found I was spending too much time in evenings trying to book something for the next day. It spoilt the evenings a bit staring at a phone. We ended up extending our Picos trip by another two days and using it as a base. No more staring at the phone every evening. Much more relaxing. This year, fuel permitting we will book one night each way in order to reach the tunnel, then in a ten day trip book two places to use as a base for exploring parts of Germany.

 

[wessie]

This year, fuel permitting we will book one night each way in order to reach the tunnel, then in a ten day trip book two places to use as a base for exploring parts of Germany.

been doing the base thing for years. At 63 I am the youngest in my touring group, with some others closer to 80 than 70. We will get a tunnel on 30 April and stay in St Omer. 2 nights in Sedan, 3 in Troyes and 3 in Chartres so we have a combination of a city break and riding opportunities. I might have some days where I am the only one going out for a ride whilst the others mooch about the base. I will take one day in Troyes and Chartres to explore the cities on foot.
My advice is to pick a base where there are things to do on foot. You can either take a rest day or decide not to ride if you get a bad weather day but have stuff of interest to occupy you.