I wonder how many of us keep our very favourite places to ourselves in these days of social media?

Rather than stay at a cheaper hotel nearby where there's nowhere to go in the evening stay down the road at Jaca, a really nice little town with lots of accommodation to choose from, sights to see, e.g. the tiny cathedral and the Vauban fortress, and good bars and restaurants. Then in the morning leave your clobber at the hotel and take the train up to Canfranc and back. The historic train is as cheap as chips and the line has fantastic views. Timetables change but last year I had loads of time to explore the station area, too much in fact so if I did it again I'd take the conventional train back which is also much more comfortable - and the historic train going back was rammed with folk starting their trip at Canfranc. I bought my seat on line but saw people buying on the platform too.
Staying Jaca a couple of nights next year, so something added to the to do list. No early train trip as I'm there before the 17th June.
 
…. happen when people advertise "favourite places" on public forums….

I think it was UKGSer’s Engineer who first alerted the forum to the delights of the Hotel Del Oso and the other ‘must do’ location of the Marronnier in Rencurel, which now seem to feature in every trip report and recommended route. But hey, at least the Millau Bridge has dropped away…. Not literally, thankfully.

:beerjug:
 
An interesting thought though…. It’s as though by posting on here the world will change…. On my trip this year to Picos I came across more local riders in the 5 days in Spain than any other nationality. Now I have no idea where they were staying but up at CanFranc station as an example during our stay there were 6 bikes parked outside. 1 from NL(me), one from UK (my travel pal) and the others if I recall were all Spain plates.
Yes if you post chances that more of our readers will consider a trip to include a recommended hotel or route… Brilliant. That’s what the forum is for surely. But will we ruin a place because of this…. Probably not as most of the locals will already know about it…
Maybe I am being naïve…
 
I think it was UKGSer’s Engineer who first alerted the forum to the delights of the Hotel Del Oso and the other ‘must do’ location of the Marronnier in Rencurel, which now seem to feature in every trip report and recommended route. But hey, at least the Millau Bridge has dropped away…. Not literally, thankfully.

:beerjug:

I've no idea where I first discovered it. Arsey or by chance, but I do know it wasn't from here. However, if it was Arsey, then it's tantamount to having got it from here.

Whilst on the subject of the HDO, the one thing I really do not like is their booking policy. They request credit card details either by mail or on the phone (better, but so last century) in order to secure the reservation, but the last time I was there, some 3 or 4 years ago I was leaning on their reception desk and I could see a stack of papers with people's details and credit card info including number and expiry dates. :blast
 
An interesting thought though…. It’s as though by posting on here the world will change….

Yes if you post chances that more of our readers will consider a trip to include a recommended hotel or route… Brilliant. That’s what the forum is for surely. But will we ruin a place because of this…. Probably not as most of the locals will already know about it…

People have been giving advice on how to go from A to B and what to do between the two, since Ugg stepped out of his cave.

Has the internet sped the dissemination of ideas, advice, ‘This is a must do’ and the like? Yes, of course it has. But it certainly didn’t start it. The earliest known ‘Travel guide’ is dated 1486, but the explosion in published guides really occurred in the mid-1800’s with the opening up of America. Radio and then TV (dedicated travel programmes and now even game shows) fed the demand and it’s still growing.

Is it the worse thing since the invention of the sword? Of course it’s not.

:beerjug:
 
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I've no idea where I first discovered it. Arsey or by chance, but I do know it wasn't from here. However, if it was Arsey, then it's tantamount to having got it from here.

Whilst on the subject of the HDO, the one thing I really do not like is their booking policy. They request credit card details either by mail or on the phone (better, but so last century) in order to secure the reservation, but the last time I was there, some 3 or 4 years ago I was leaning on their reception desk and I could see a stack of papers with people's details and credit card info including number and expiry dates. :blast
Yet I love their booking policy .
Send them an email , book a room and they check it’s the same card as before and don’t need anything more than that .

Much better than Booking.com where you get numerous fake emails wanting credit card details etc
 
Whilst on the subject of the HDO, the one thing I really do not like is their booking policy. They request credit card details either by mail or on the phone (better, but so last century) in order to secure the reservation, but the last time I was there, some 3 or 4 years ago I was leaning on their reception desk and I could see a stack of papers with people's details and credit card info including number and expiry dates.

The hotel Enzian (another ‘Must do’ location) comes in for regular flack for debiting bods’ preloaded cash cards with amount X, well ahead of their visit. This sometimes leaves bods struggling to pay for fuel or wherever, as they hadn’t realised that the sometimes significant debit had been taken. Similar tales around the hotel’s tardiness at making return payments, which the owner then blames on the banks.

But we digress.

:beerjug:
 
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I've no idea where I first discovered it. Arsey or by chance, but I do know it wasn't from here. However, if it was Arsey, then it's tantamount to having got it from here.

Whilst on the subject of the HDO, the one thing I really do not like is their booking policy. They request credit card details either by mail or on the phone (better, but so last century) in order to secure the reservation, but the last time I was there, some 3 or 4 years ago I was leaning on their reception desk and I could see a stack of papers with people's details and credit card info including number and expiry dates. :blast
I first stayed at HDO in 2007/2008 I think

Could have been earlier
 
I first stayed at HDO in 2007/2008 I think

Could have been earlier

It was you then. How did you learn about it? Why did you make a wilful exposure of this intimate knowledge?

bomb_beriastalinpd.jpg__300x356_q85_crop_subsampling-2_upscale.jpg
 
It was you then. How did you learn about it? Why did you make a wilful exposure of this intimate knowledge?

it's been on the Brittany Ferries website for a while, as part of their package holiday deals, although no idea if it goes back to 2007. Some will have discovered it there.
 
it's been on the Brittany Ferries website for a while, as part of their package holiday deals, although no idea if it goes back to 2007. Some will have discovered it there.

It’s outrageous, this flagrant sharing of locations and discounted offers to a worldwide audience. No wonder it’s packed out with car owners. Irresponsible, does not even start to describe it. Something needs to be done and lessons learned.
 
People have been giving advice on how to go from A to B and what to do between the two, since Ugg stepped out of his cave.



:beerjug:

And don't you just love to give it. :rolleyes:

..... But it certainly didn’t start it.

No one has suggested any such thing. Comprehension in English class wasn't your forte, was it?

It’s outrageous, this flagrant sharing of locations and discounted offers to a worldwide audience. No wonder it’s packed out with car owners. Irresponsible, does not even start to describe it. Something needs to be done and lessons learned.

Perhaps you live in a shithole that no-one will ever want to visit, which is probably why you're always looking out rather than in. I dunno. Not surprising, then, if that's the case, that you find it hard to comprehend (there's that word again 🤔) that some people would like to look after what they have on their doorstep and stem the tide. Maybe certain elements of society aren't welcome (I can think of a few on here) in others' back yard as can be witnessed by "The Soaker gangs" in many parts of Europe.

It's not really possible to have an adult conversation with you. I'm sure you consider yourself quite the wit, ...... you're half right at least, so as far as you're concerned, I'm out.

Now, where did I leave that Supersoaker?
 
An interesting thought though…. It’s as though by posting on here the world will change…. On my trip this year to Picos I came across more local riders in the 5 days in Spain than any other nationality. Now I have no idea where they were staying but up at CanFranc station as an example during our stay there were 6 bikes parked outside. 1 from NL(me), one from UK (my travel pal) and the others if I recall were all Spain plates.
Yes if you post chances that more of our readers will consider a trip to include a recommended hotel or route… Brilliant. That’s what the forum is for surely. But will we ruin a place because of this…. Probably not as most of the locals will already know about it…
Maybe I am being naïve…

Canfranc is.... reassuringly expensive 😁, even for most nationals.

I am not suggesting the world will change because of a few recommendations on here, but actually it does eventually because it becomes an exponential thing. Tourism is a difficult dichotomy to deal with. Moreso when it becomes mass tourism. The measure of which can be subjective I grant, to be sure. On the one hand you have the local economy argument, and on the other you have the detrimental effects of it to the local area. Hence why you have the Soaker Gangs. Neither am I saying that this website is responsible. The OP posed a question, I thought it was in order to have a genuine conversation (such as the one I'm having with you), but no, it was in order to have a dig and ignore any other POV other than that of the "Dogmatic Man In The WIndow".

Locals tend to have different ideas. They also tend to space out over the whole year. You may see a few here and there, but considering there are 2.4 million motorbikes (not including scooters or 50cc bikes) and only 1.1 million in the UK which has 40% more people in it, then you can see that a handful of Spanish plates is not a great number. Also some of those might be hire bikes.
 
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it's been on the Brittany Ferries website for a while, as part of their package holiday deals, although no idea if it goes back to 2007. Some will have discovered it there.

Thanks @wessie . Indeed that is surely going to boost exposure if they have it as part of thier marketing campaign. However no doubt welcomed by the HDO owners and maybe even sponsored?
👍👍👍

It's not really possible to have an adult conversation with you. I'm sure you consider yourself quite the wit, ...... you're half right at least, so as far as you're concerned, I'm out.
…topped with the usual sarcasm….
I’ve been “out” for a long time now…
As someone else once on here said, stick to GPS and route advice which is normally very good….

:beerjug: :beerjug: :beerjug:
 
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