Sedan - the new Bouillon ?

[Arsey]

Like many on here I’ve been staying in Bouillon on various trips for many years, and always at the Hotel de la Poste.
Indeed, we were there only last month .

The hotel is still great ( apart from the €21 breakfast) BUT Bouillon seems to be on the slide.

My favourite restaurant, Chez Betty shut a while ago and the little cafe on the other side of the river no longer opens for breakfast .

Last month we arrived late due to tunnel delays and the only place still serving food at 2100 on a Friday night was a glorified kebab/burger place . Which was only adequate.
Walking back to the hotel at 2230, everything was shut, including all the bars . On a Friday in mid June FFS !!!

A mate was there last week and came to same conclusion.

But on his return they stayed in Sedan at this stunning place

It’s literally over the border from Bouillon so equidistant from / to the tunnel

He said the town was lovely and will definitely use it in future rather than Bouillon .

Prices are a tad higher than the Hotel DLP but reasonable if you don’t book last minute .

So I’ve not actually been myself ….yet….. but not seen it mentioned on this forum so thought I’d flag it up ….

But no #BMSBIFP for the hard of thinking that need a biker-friendly hostel

 

[EVskiy]

Excellent find!!! Thanks for posting and to your mate for finding it. Bookmarked on Booking dot com.



Stayed in Bouillon (at De La Poste) twice now within 4-5 weeks of each stay.
Wife and I imagined our arrival as “being sat by the river in the bar and enjoying a cold glass of wine ” no fecking chance!!!
She said same thing when we were there on a Friday night too. The place was dead no sooner as the clock tower struck 8:30pm.

Great roads lading up to and beyond Bouillon, but I’d just ride right through it in the future.
The saving grace at the hotel and rather eye waveringly expensive breakfast, was the fact that one other (no names) and I have managed to sort out our lunch for laters. Not something that I do (or think of ) on a regular basis, but at €21 per person I was ready to fill my boots (literally).

 

[Oldrat]

Do the rooms have fridges to keep the lb of butter in Martin?

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Been to Sedan a few times over the years and it's a cracking town
Love the D964 road after Sedan, along the Meuse to Vedun

 

[brut33]

It's sad hearing this about the Hotel de la Poste and town. I loved the front terrace quaffing a cold one or three after the day's ride. Also a great last stop before the slog to the Chunnel the day after.

Sedan looks nice.

 

[EVskiy]

Do the rooms have fridges to keep the lb of butter in Martin?

But no #BMSBIFP for the hard of thinking that need a biker-friendly hostel

 

[Arsey]

Do the rooms have fridges to keep the lb of butter in Martin?

Dunno

 

[Arsey]

It's sad hearing this about the Hotel de la Poste and town. I loved the front terrace quaffing a cold one or three after the day's ride. Also a great last stop before the slog to the Chunnel the day after.

Sedan looks nice.

The De La Poste is still fine but Bouillon seems to be on the decline for some reason . Will definitely try Sedan night time instead

 

[EVskiy]

I’d be mighty happy to ride another 20 minutes from Bouillon to Sedan, if I can have a better place to enjoy in the evening in a warm summers day, sat outside quaffing a drink or two.

 

[Arsey]

I’d be mighty happy to ride another 20 minutes from Bouillon to Sedan, if I can have a better place to enjoy in the evening in a warm summers day, sat outside quaffing a drink or two.

My point was Sedan is no further from Calais than Bouillon , just wing down a bit

There’s also an option for Wapping too

 

[wessie]

Very close to the hotel in the Chateau is the more modest Hotel Le St Michel that we used a couple of weeks ago as the last night before the tunnel. A former Logis that was quite run down. It has had a makeover and is now of a decent standard. It sits between the pleasant town centre and the Chateau in what is an obviously unloved part of the older town. It has secure parking behind the roller door into a courtyard. Free parking for cars in the public car park. The restaurant is very good with some decent fixed price menus and a half litre of drinkable red for 10 euros.


One of the main streets in the centre ville is at the far end of the Rue in the picture where you will find the very friendly Bar Le Gambetta serving local beers.

Sedan would be a great base whether you use the Hotel Chateau or the more modest one. The St Michel has the advantage of a very flat walk back to the hotel from the city centre bars!

 

[Wapping]

I stayed in the ‘Fort’ hotel years ago and had completely forgotten about it.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Sneldog]

Interesting read. I’m staying in Bouillon this week so will see if I can change hotels and locations to Sedan.

 

[EVskiy]

Interesting read. I’m staying in Bouillon this week so will see if I can change hotels and locations to Sedan.

You can still say in Bouillon, but the place (for a Friday night) is dead. Hotel de la Poste have own two restaurants. They do recommend that you pre book it when checking in. One is a traditional French/Belgian Cousine the other as was described to me a more international. However if their Brekfast is €21 each then restaurant no doubt will have a similarly excessive price tags attached to them.

There are two pizzerias in town, one across the road from the hotel closing at 22:30*, and the other by the next bridge on the south side, which closing at 21:30 on a Friday night. It was however visibly much busier compared to the one next to the hotels.

You can still ride the roads to, through and around Bouillon, but there is hardly the atmosphere that people on here once have enjoyed. I certainly have failed on two occasion just a month apart.

*we (6 guys) had walked in at just before 21:00 and were told that the kitchen was closed.

Good luck with changing the hotels.

 

[Simon_100]

Curious to see this. I had a brilliant article about Bouillon a few weeks ago in the LRB written by a 'native¡ - British father Belgian mother, who left the town at the end of childhood decades ago when the towns industries and 'life' was beginning to go into decline. All very poignant and interesting to speculate based on some of the comments here how ephemeral local economies based on tourism and gentrification can be ...

"Back in Bouillon, where all this began, we didn’t much notice the town’s beauty because it was our normality, though we certainly noticed the tourists who filled the town every weekend and throughout the summer. The old houses were bought as holiday homes, and people arrived from Brussels or Charleroi, Liège, Reims or even Paris, with cars pre-loaded with food and drink. After the two factories closed, the population went from about 8000 to 2500, and the place now depends mostly on tourism. The centre of gravity, and the power, now belonged to the petits commerces rather than the big employer. I watched the service industry take over from the industry, just as I watched my grandmother out-earn and then outlive my grandfather across the frontier in our house. The Usine Camion was once a proud industrial building beside the river, overlooked by the castle, and next door to an old convent and the Athénée Royal de Bouillon. It was shut down in 1970 and finally demolished in 1981 – not ‘for’ anything, but to create a decades long scrappy void of terrain vague. The various shops, cafés and restaurants that catered for a large working population either adapted to tourism or fell away."

 

[ShakeyGS]

I've stayed in the Chateau a couple of times. There's not much to do in Sedan and the Hotel Restaurant was closed on the nights we stayed.

 

[wessie]

I've stayed in the Chateau a couple of times. There's not much to do in Sedan and the Hotel Restaurant was closed on the nights we stayed.

if that happens you can always go to the restaurant in the hotel I recommended - it was quite busy on a Wednesday night so maybe the Chateau restaurant was shut?

There are a couple of other haute cuisine options in sight of the castle walls by the tourist office

Au Bon Rhum · 19 Pl. d'Armes, 08200 Sedan, France

âââââ · Bar

maps.app.goo.gl

O'Tacos for the gastronomic delight of a French Taco that must be experienced at least once and Subway for the unadventurous.

I did note that Le Bar Gambetta we drank in was closing as we left around 7pm to go back to the hotel restaurant. Those wanting a later drink should head for Place de la Halle https://maps.app.goo.gl/YtbnSQvF2Sq19PnHA where there are a couple of bars that open until late.

 

[Wapping]

I've stayed in the Chateau a couple of times. There's not much to do in Sedan and the Hotel Restaurant was closed on the nights we stayed.

Sometimes, life just dishes up disappointments, heaped on disappointments.

 

[JonnyBravo]

Just booked two nights in the Chateau/Fort Hotel in September - will report back and whether it met with the approval of the long haired general.

 

[wessie]

Just booked two nights in the Chateau/Fort Hotel in September - will report back and whether it met with the approval of the long haired general.

see my recommendation should you find the hotel restaurant closed, then enjoy the walk back up the steps...