Calais to the Vosges - A holiday in the making

GreyHairedWombat

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Good morning Richard,

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showt...es-St-Dié-des-Vosges-Gérardmer-Belfort-Colmar

Looking to travel to this region on the RT with the Mrs at Easter so article very appropriate. Weather research indicates an average temp of 15C. Do you concur? Will travel to region from Suffolk via Eurotunnel. As Mrs may not be up to travelling more than 4-5 hours from Calais would you recommend a good overnight stop? Also, considering a base of somewhere between Metz and the Strasbourg. Do you have any hotel recommendations? Will then tour in the area for 3-5 days before starting back for home via Calais

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

In the meantime I need to figure if I obtain the Tour you circulated if I could download into my BMW TFT App (I've a 2022 RT)

Thanks,

Richard
 
Four questions, so easy ones first:

1. Weather, should be OK but early April could mean just about anything except all day freezing and all day roasting. Prepare for cool'ish to mildly cold, possibly wet and you'll not be far out. In other wirds, much the same as SE England.

2. Yes, a GPX route / track will go into BMW's Connect app. Like anything, check it before you go.

3. Hotel between Metz and Strasbourg? I don't think I have ever stayed between the two.

4. Next....

Your wife / you do not want to go much beyond four to five hour after Calais. That will not get you to the Vosges, which are roughly six and a half hours direct (fastest route ie. motorway) away. That is also a non-stop time estimate. That time goes out to say seven and half hours if you use main'ish roads but avoid the motorway. It then goes out to over 11 hours of you take every small D road. This begs the obvious questions:

What time do YOU roll off the train in Calais and which roads do YOU intend to take?

Me, if I were you?

I would look at stopping somewhere between halfway and two thirds'ish between Calais and, say St Die. Where would definitely be dictated by the route / roads you take, how fast you might go and how often you stop en-route. For example, the last time I went to the Vosges, I stayed near Verdun on the way down from Calais. Other times at around Reims and / or Charleville-Mézières sort of area. I have also gone there in one hit but on my own, mostly (or completely) avoiding motorways but from an early'ish start at around 08:00.

Your turn now....

:beerjug:
 
What's your plan from Suffolk? I would advocate travelling down after the morning rush to get an afternoon train and then go 2 hours into France, which gets you to St Quentin and the Hotel Florence, popular around these parts. From St Q, you can be in Nord Vosges in 4.5 hrs the following day.

Hotel le Pins on the outskirts of Hageunau was okay. Garage for the bikes. Excellent restaurant. A mate, late booking couldn't get a room so stayed in the Campanile (now Kyriad it seems) across the road then dined with us in Les Pins. https://goo.gl/maps/PrJVDCWp5rJqd7Km8 - you can see the garages in the photo and my room was directly above. This was for a single overnight before onward travel to Bavaria so the out of town location was unimportant.

If I was staying a few days in the Nord Vosges I would probably pick a place in one of the more charming towns like Wissembourg or Obernai. We were supposed to be staying in the latter in 2020 but that got cancelled of course. We had booked Hotel la Diligence https://goo.gl/maps/eRF6xBqhKLWseGyv6 which looks nice, in a lovely location and has a garage.
 
Wissembourg. :okay
 
As Wessie and I have hinted, a lot hinges on the time you set off from Calais and, of course, the other variables, such as the roads you chose to ride along and the average speed you manage to sustain.

Your opening post suggests you are going Suffolk to Folkestone to Calais and then onwards for four or five hours. If you can manage a crossing in the mid-afternoon of the day before and go on to St Omer or St Quentin (as Wessie suggests) so much the better. You will save two hours the next day and, of course, the ride down from Suffolk. You could then make it to St Die that day, if you wanted to.
 
Thank you all for your responses and advice

Had not decided on route down although was considering via Ypres diagonal route in the direction of Metz however open to alternative more rewarding routes down. Would probably be happier to make route part of the holiday and enjoy roads other than motorways taking more time to travel down to the Vosoges region.

Agreed that will need a stop on the way down preferably somewhere nice or stick with plain but efficient Ibis with secure parking. The locations Richard suggested would work for us. Any hotel recommendations?

I've looked up the hotels recommended that look good. We normally like to base ourselves in a small town with several restaurants within walking distance to choose from

Regarding weather, was hoping for something a bit warmer than the UK, say around the 15 degrees C mark, and hoped this region would provide this

Thanks,

Richard
 
The route I took from Coquelles to Hageunau was motorway as far as Lille which is toll free then main roads, mostly non-motorway through Belgium and Luxembourg and onwards via Saarbruckenish and Bitche. We did this in one day after an overnight in Kent and it was a bit of a slog. After this in 2014 IIRC, I decided to always stay on the French side of the tunnel on the first day.

Once you have decided on your route and departure time from Coquelles then come back for suggestions on places to break the journey. Pointless us making suggestions until you have firmer plans on your route and schedule.
 
Yup, the departure time from Calais is the key. 08:00 AM is a lot different from 10:00, 12:00 or 14:00.

That and where you plan on stoping at for your first night on arrival in the Vosges, along with what time you would like to arrive at the hotel.

The Vosges area is huge, about 2,300 square miles *. Arriving and staying at the top for the first hotel in the area, is a lot different (time wise at least) than aiming for one in the middle or one at the bottom end.

* Suffolk by comparison is near enough 1,200 square miles or about half the area.



That being said, this might sort of work, but it all depends on all sorts of variables, which only YOU know:

Calais > Cambrai via motorway (that is one hour 30 minutes) > non-motorway to Ste Menehould; that is three hours (Cheval Rouge hotel, for one night) > non-motorway to (for example) St Die-des-Vosges; that is three hours 30 minutes.

From this you can see that you can, without stopping for a significant pause en-route, sort of do Calais to Ste Menehould in four and a half hours, using motorway for the first leg only. It sort of fits with your time frame but it hinges on variables:

A. What time you leave Calais

B. How many pauses / stops (and for how long each) you have between Calais and Ste Menehould

C. What time you reasonably might expect to arrive in Ste Menehould

D. Whether you even contemplate using a motorway at all

E. Whether you have your heart set on going via Ypres

It shows how difficult, as Wessie says, it is to plan other people’s holidays, when they themselves are not too sure what they want. It’s hard enough, even when they do.

:beerjug:
 
Thank you both for taking the time to provide options and advice. I will do some more accurate planning before asking for more suggestions
 
Between Calais and the Vosges

Fire away when you are ready.

To get ideas for yourself, one thing Kurviger in its ‘Tourer’ subscription basis, is pretty good at is breaking journeys up into different types of roads between points.

For example, I asked it for: Motorway between Calais and Ypres, guessing that you’d want to be there quickly on day one. Then non-motorway but main’ish roads to Metz and then St Die-des-Vosges, simply as a place in the Vosges region.

582c20ef822fce5fa8fa7d38e7d28682.png


I then asked ViaMichelin for the same basic idea, using the same four towns:

8764b991dc89b4e2f3f76ff25c8b59e5.png


The great thing about ViaMichelin is that it is free and zoomable. Zoom in and you can see the fine detail of the roads it has recommended you take to go from A to B to C to D, based on its basic algorithms.


c9f7fbb8f4d5ba550cbf84906ca3fb8d.png




Zoom in and out, using ViaMichelin’s suggestion to then fine tune the route to suit YOUR holiday wishes.

Then just use the same ViaMichelin or Google or whatever to find ideas on hotels.

Usefully, the app’s will keep updating the mileage and the estimated non-stop times, which is useful, particularly if your wife (or you) are conscious of time in the saddle. In other words you CAN do it, if you make the effort. Play around, you can’t break it.

:beerjug:
 
Many thanks, very helpful.
Plan to be in France by 12:00 local time. Looking maybe at an overnight stop in Verdun

Wissembourg looks amazing. Looking to go over the Easter period. Not sure if this is a problem in France during this time?

Does anyone have any hotel recommendations for this town or something similar where you can walk to various places to eat or drink from the hotel?
If not Wissembourg also considering for example Hageunau or other towns with nice historical type market square centres

Cheers
 
From memory, Verdun, for all its links with French history, is not too awash with hotels.
 
In Wissembourg there are 3 hotels close to the train station, Hotels d'Alsace, Weiss & d'Europe. All have private parking and a short walk into the centre. The main hotel, Couronne, in the centre of town does not have parking. I parked outside the Couronne and had a mooch about the town centre last May and decided it would be a nice town to use as a base, but use one of those 3 hotels by the station as I would be in a small group. They all have decent reviews and are much of a muchness so I would choose on the availability of rooms to suit the group.
 
Wapping said:
From memory, Verdun, for all its links with French history, is not too awash with hotels.
Click to expand...

not stayed there myself, it's usually a place for a pitstop on the way somewhere. There's a B&B or Ibis Budget on the outskirts of town for a cheap overnight.

Bonwick uses this place in the centre https://goo.gl/maps/K1MA4P84WuL3qjn19 Hotel Le Saint Paul. Parking is on the street - 2 of these bikes belong to Mrs B ...
IMG_0767.JPG


photo nicked from the epic tale of a trip that was expensive for some http://eldaifo.blogspot.com/2012/01/the-alps-ukrm-style-part-1.html?m=0
 
I heard the tales of the epic trip; good to read about it all.

I have seen the St Paul hotel, riding into the town but never stayed there. A bit like Pisa with its tower, if it wasn’t for Verdun’s historical connections, you probably wouldn’t go there. On my four or five visits I usually stay in the villages and small towns around, finding a Logis or something similar.
 
Again, great advice. Checked hotels in Wissembourg including recommendations from Wessie however Easter booking very busy already so may delay one week.

Good advice re Logis. Back many years when first travelled to France used Logis. Had forgotten to include these. If anyone has used one they'd on the way from Calais to Wissembourg I'd be interested. I've begun to search using the Logis website but need to figure out how to simplify the search
 
Eventually, you have to make a decision for yourself, rather than have UKGSer create your entire holiday.

For a hotel between Wissembourg and Calais, it all depends on which way of several you plan on going. Here is a very basic screen shot of Google’s suggested three alternative non-motorway routes. I have plastered a line across the middle. Anywhere around there might well do you.

693096f5e6e85016d36e5fddb641e3d2.png



Now, in the same map, just ask Google for hotels. They will all pop-up. Tap around in them to find one which you think you and your wife might like to stay in for one night.

8b68ce5f4cc0277378eb087e9351b1c9.png



c7c474c2d84f387ed934294e91a9c626.png



It’s not hard and a lot easier than it was before the internet was even thought of. All you are doing otherwise is repeating what other people have done; people who might well want something very different to you.

For example, you want to stay in a small town, with a choice of restaurants, all within walking distance. OK, zoom in on some small or even large towns. Do a bit of Streetview surfing. Others hate even small towns and will only ever stay miles up a goat track. Others have eight or more bikes in tow. Others head straight for the nearest chain hotel, not caring if it is next to the main express line to Paris, the motorway or the scrap yard.

Find somewhere and reserve it. You now at least have somewhere to stay. Then refine your search. Find something better? Great, reserve that hotel and cancel the previous one.

PS Yes, Easter is busy in France, as it’s a God fearing Catholic country. It’s busy here too, and in Spain, Germany and Italy, not least as it’s a public holiday. Of course you can always follow the site’s oft heard advice to “Just wing it, mate” but they won’t be around when the hotel you wing it to is full.
 
One of my favourite hotels, sometimes used as a final treat on the way home as it has a fabulous restaurant is in a small village halfway between Cambrai and Charlie Mez. This would suit a "non-motorway route" after schlepping down the A26 to Cambrai.
https://goo.gl/maps/AsDGGqc19WsvA1pWA Logis Hôtel le Clos du Montvinage Rest. Auberge Val de l'Oise in Etraupont
The onward route to the Nord Vosges would be nice if you ran parallel to the Belgian, Lux and German borders.

Sadly, the other hotel we have used 3 times between Reims & Verdun in the lovely Hotel de l'Abbaye in the Argonne Forest closed not long after our last visit in 2019. The Dutch owners retired in the autumn and had hoped to sell it as a going concern over the winter but Covid came along and it has not found a new owner as a hotel.

I think I mentioned above, St Quentin is a nice stopover, especially if using the A26 to make progress. We use it as an assembly point when people are starting from different places. If you want cheap then the Ibis Budget across the canal from the big war memorial and train station is perfectly acceptable for a night. Set in it's own suburb with a choice of bars and eateries. In the centre is Hotel Florence. Both have safe parking.
 
I wouldn’t discount places like Ribeauville, Kaysersberg, and even Colmar if you want to stay on the French side of the Rhine. All have good hotels and are in easy reach of the Vosges.
 
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