Has anyone stayed in or around the Northern Vosges area? Bitche area?

[Ectopic]

Has anyone stayed in or around the Northern Vosges area? Bitche area?

We're looking at a week-long trip to that area next summer. I've visited the southern |Vosges a fe times and really enjoyed it, but seem to have missed the northern bit entirely. Any views, recommendations, etc?

 

[wessie]

It's a great area.

Wissembourg is a nice town. Not stayed there but stopped a couple of times. Seems to have a small number of hotels with 3 that look okay near the station. Stopped for lunch in Bitche but not a lot there apart from the big fort. Some interesting Maginot Line stuff nearby https://maps.app.goo.gl/N476DSw75xstTa3L9 but loads more if you search

This year we stopped for a couple of nights in Obernai. Super little town. We used the Hotel Le Colombard. Sister Hotel La Diligence nearby. They share a garage.

I did a lot of miles in Nord Vosges doing loops from just across the Rhine, using a hotel in the Baden wine region. Lovely little village of Buhlertal. http://hotel-adler-buehlertal.de/ - I tried to use as many river crossings as possible including the three free ferries. Quite funny on one of them with a load of French kids on mopeds heading across the river to buy beer in Germany as you can do this at 16.
We stayed in http://hotel-adler-buehlertal.de/ which had a great restaurant. Good Greek one nearby as the Adler was closed one evening we were there.

 

[grantmac]

Yup. Been there a few times. Mostly heading then over the border to Germany and on to the Black Forest. Stayed overnight in a small hotel Hotel Metzger in Natswiller. Natswiller also site of the only Nazi concentration camp in France. Very moving and worth a visit. Vosges great area for riding. Will be heading there again in June next year heading just south of Hagenau and then over the border to the B500
Happy to share some routes. PM me for more details

 

[wessie]

Ah, forgot about Hageunau. Stayed in the Logis Hotel les Pins on the edge of town. Great food and they had small garages for the bikes.

We were there for one night so no idea what the town is like. Horrendous traffic.

It has the blue Savoureux restaurant label - is that posh enough for you @grantmac

You may have noticed I like the area! Such a great place for a day or two on the way somewhere as it is a convenient distance after a first night in St Omer, St Quentin or Reims.

 

[grantmac]

t has the blue Savoureux restaurant label - is that posh enough for you @grantmac

Indeed. Anything blue and above is always very good. I have arranged a few culinary trips through France mainly looking for the white label “ Table Distinguee” as I do enjoy a good dinner but the blue label is perfectly acceptable. We will be staying in a small place just south of Hagenau next year. Hotel aux Bouef Rouge

 

[Wapping]

Happy to share some routes.

Ping ‘em up here, please.

I’ll cut them into a separate GPX thread.

 

[grantmac]

They are GPX files in Basecamp and I can’t be arsed to convert them to MRA that’s why I suggested the OP PM and I can send to him via email……

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Edited.

Question about sharing GPX files with the forum, now in the GPS section.

Thread 'Would be good if someone could show me how to load up GPX files onto the forum'

Dec 12, 2024

Cut from a post in the Travel section.

Richard

=========

They are GPX files in Basecamp and I can’t be arsed to convert them to MRA that’s why I suggested the OP PM and I can send to him via email……

Would be good if someone could show me how to load up GPX files onto the forum

• grantmac
• Replies: 6
• Forum: General GPS News & Information

PS MyRoute will accept a GPX file with just a couple of clicks.

Richard

 

[grantmac]

Ping ‘em up here, please.

I’ll cut them into a separate GPX thread.

For the trip we did in 2022 / 2021 to the BlackForest passing through that area, routes are available on my website under the Germany section with GPX files and hotel details and trip report

Motorbike touring in Europe using Garmin Basecamp. The Hague Netherlands

Motorbike Tours. The site for Motorbike touring in Holland and Europe with Basecamp GPS Software. motorbiketours.net

www.motorbiketours.net

 

[johnnyboy]

Reading this with interest as it looks like a good 2nd stop after my trip to Docs Cochem do.

 

[Sneldog]

Some excellent routes and information on the area here:

RiDE -Alsace-Lorraine & France-Comté

Rolling scenery, hills, and mountains dominate this area

www.ride.co.uk

 

[grantmac]

You may have noticed I like the area! Such a great place for a day or two on the way somewhere as it is a convenient distance after a first night in St Omer, St Quentin or Reims.

Same here, Wessie. I like the eastern area of France more than the west. Seems to be altogether quieter. Champagne area from Verdun south, The Morvan, all the way south to L´Aubrac. The Alsace has great roads and is very pretty - cross between France and Germany.
If interested in setting up a ride to the area drop me a line - I´d be up for it!

 

[wessie]

Same here, Wessie. I like the eastern area of France more than the west. Seems to be altogether quieter. Champagne area from Verdun south, The Morvan, all the way south to L´Aubrac. The Alsace has great roads and is very pretty - cross between France and Germany.
If interested in setting up a ride to the area drop me a line - I´d be up for it!

some friends are asking me to organise one of my tours next year. They were hoping it would be the usual one in May/June but I'm doing a solo trip to Spain as I got the Santander ferry for under £500 return. Might do something in September after the schools are back but nothing in the diary at the moment.

 

[Khulu]

Reading this with interest as it looks like a good 2nd stop after my trip to Docs Cochem do.

I'll be visiting the Alsace region en route to Cochem.

 

[johnnyboy]

I'll be visiting the Alsace region en route to Cochem.

I thought you lived in Scotland

 

[Khulu]

I thought you lived in Scotland

I do!
It's a long way to the Chunnel from my house so I take lots of routes to my destination(s).

 

[wessie]

another family run Logis hotel with a good blue level restaurant, sitting near the top of the valley, looking across Munster to Le Petit Ballon.
https://www.hotel-panorama-alsace.com/en/

It is a short distance from the Linge Memorial where you can go inside WW1 trenches
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MDzCALP9kHMQFVKE9

Welcome

Au cœur d'un champ de bataille un lieu vivant, sensoriel, une marche dans l’Histoire grandeur nature. Au cœur d'un champ de bataille Explorez un site historique majeur de la Grande Guerre Mémorialdu Linge1915 Le 20 juillet 1915, commence au Linge une bataille sanglante qui va voir s'affronter...

linge1915.eu

 

[Orinoco]

I stayed at the Hotel Restaurant Schweigener Hof, in Schweigen-Rechtenbach, just on the German border, very close to Wissembourg which Wessie mentioned, lovely hotel. Staying with a group of European friends and organised by a couple of German's, Robert but the attached guide together, he runs motorcycle tours - as you'll be able to tell from the attached. I don't expect he'll mind me sharing this...PDF of EP28 2024 at Wissembourg

 

[J biker]

Motard hotel, https://www.coldebussang.com/. Was ok. Accommodation in France is, imo, expensive these days for what you get. I would rate the hotel (really?) as clean but basic. Good bar, very simple food.
Watch for the speed camera very close by….

Tbh I think the roads are superior North of the border, in to Germany and Eiffel National Park, more realistic speed limits too.

 

[Redboots]

I used to live 12kms from Bitche.
Don't have any routes to share as we just rode where the road took us.

Nice Cremant d'Alace to be had in the smaller towns & villages. I used to go to a few, south east of Wasselonne. Ergersheim/Dachstein area.
In Wasselonne is the "Restaurant La Petite Suisse". They used to do Flammkuchen (Tarte flambée) up about a metre diameter

Haguenau is OK but it gets a bit flat up there. Depends what sort of roads you want. My cock-doctor was there

 

[grantmac]

Accommodation in France is, imo, expensive these days for what you get

Interesting point there. I would say generally accommodation in France is reasonable but then it depends what you are looking for and what your means or budget are. Using the Logis website I find most places charge between €80 and €120 per night. I am sure there are cheaper options around as well.
Compared to UK I find it a lot cheaper. We came over on a tour in 2023 heading from Hull into the parks and to the borders. Rooms in decent country pubs were between £100 and £150 a night. Some of our old favourites had gone crazy. We used to stay at the Rose and Crown in Romaldkirk and they wanted over £200 for a night.