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

[wessie]

France is dearer than Germany or Austria and much dearer than Spain. Although the costs in Germany have ramped up a bit in the last few years. I noticed more German hotels charging for garage parking and breakfast now. Part of that will be due to the booking websites to a) lower their room cost so they appear higher in the search list and b) separate it out from the element of the booking they have to pay commission on.

The biggest difference to France is the cost of dining out in Germany & Austria, especially drinks prices. A half litre of basic lager in France is at least 7 euros and Leffe can be 9 euros. It's half that in Germany. A brasserie main course costing 25 euros in France might be 15 in Germany.

 

[grantmac]

Agree. Germany is still the cheapest but we have also noticed since Covid prices have gone up quite a bit. Our old haunt in the Eiffel pre covid was €42 per night including breakfast. But now it’s € 68 which is still pretty good….

 

[J biker]

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.

I dont compare to the UK, as I live in France now. Spain, half the price, Germany, for the same money as France…better quality. Just imo.

 

[Ectopic]

Thanks for all the replies, especially Wessie and Grantmac.

We went for a four day, three night trip with a group of 9 last year, around the Ardennes, staying in three different hotels (Charleville-Mezieres, Trier and Aachen). We were underwhelmed with two of the hotels and while they were cheaper than equivalent in UK they weren't the value I'd come to expect from continental Europe. We were not blessed with great weather, although I managed to avoid all the rain while everyone else got soaked at least once. The sun shines on the righteous...

This year there will be slightly fewer, so we're looking at getting an Airbnb for maybe four nights and doing circular trips from there. It will also allow different people on the trip to do different things every day if they want, and mean we don't have to do that tedious packing and unpacking every night. I've scoped out a few potential circular routes and there's certainly plenty of options, including the Black Forest and the southern end of the Vosges, both of which I've spent time riding (and driving) around over the years. Throw in some vineyards and what's not to like? Airbnb prices for somewhere big enough look eye-watering to start with, but it works out quite a lot cheaper than hotel rooms. We can arm wrestle for who has to get breakfast in the mornings...

A limiting factor for the destination is the amount of time some of the group - well, one of the group - well, me - can spend comfortably in the saddle. Five hours a day riding is about my limit before my aching bones get the better of me. So the Bitche area seems to fit the bill. Wissembourg looks like a nice place (good old Google Street View) so we'll take a look at that.

(Wapping - check your Whatsapp...)