Traveling Without Hotel Reservations.

My Wife and I want to rent a car and tour part of France in September 2010. We are looking at traveling from Paris to Normandy then back to Paris through the Loire Valley.

Here in the U.S. when we take a trip , we always make hotel reservations. One time we had to drive all night because we didn%26#39;t have a hotel reservation and could not find a vacancy. This is why I make reservations.

What about in France? Should we make reservations?

Thanks for any help.

Mauser

|||

When travelling out of season we tend not to book in advance, unless there are specific places we know we want to stay at. I would suggest you pre-book your first stop, and then call ahead from there. That leaves you with somewhere you%26#39;ve actually chosen to lay your heads for your first night(s), and open to choose to go where you will. Hotels will very often ring ahead to book for you. As will B %26amp; Bs, which we also like to use.

Do bear in mind that sometimes you won%26#39;t get in at your first choice, so if there is anywhere you feel you must stay, get that booked.

September is a pleasant month to choose; depending where you are going, it will most likely be warm and not too crowded, as the schools restart in September, although pensioners come out to play again then!

GG

|||

September is out of the UK (and probably French - tho I%26#39;m not quite 100% sure there) school holidays. The weather can be pretty decent, daylength reasonable and %26#39;atmosphere%26#39; a bit more sophisticated with less kids around.

I%26#39;ve never worried about booking ahead on my %26#39;tours%26#39; in car or on motorbike. However, I hate knocking around at the end of a day to find a place to stay. I have used my mobile %26#39;phone to book a day ahead and save scurrying around athe the end of a long drive/ride. Once or twice, I can%26#39;t deny it, I%26#39;ve struggled to find a place to stay in the EXACT place I wanted, but found that %26#39;backtracking%26#39; or finding a place down the road has been OK.

I%26#39;m probably the %26#39;worst%26#39; kind of punter as a single female, so if I can do it, you can do it!!!

|||

Locate the %26quot;Offices de Tourisme%26quot; in probable towns. They find rooms for people. Get a Michelin Red Guide.

|||

Lots of great information offered by the previous posters.

You%26#39;ll never want to travel in France without making reservations from June through August. In Paris during September and October you%26#39;ll want to book well in advance. Otherwise you should have no difficulty finding hotels in September unless there is a specific location where you would like to stay.

I often do what Francophool suggest and use both the Michelin Red Guide as well as hotels found in the appropriate Office de Tourisme.