FRANCE TRAVEL GUIDE

Sleeping

Accommodations in France are a good value and easy to find.
Choose from hotels, bed-and breakfast (chambers d’bote), rental homes (gites), hostels, and campgrounds. I like the places that are clean, small, central, traditional, inexpensive, friendly, and not listed in other guidebooks. Most places I list have at least five of these seven virtues. 

Hotels

The price for a double room will range from 40 Euro (very simple, toilet and shower down the hall) to 320 Euro (maximum plumbing and more), with most clustering around Euro 70.

The French have a simple hotel rating system based on amenities (0-4 stars). One star is simple, two has most of the comforts, and three is generally a two-star with a mini-bar and fancier lobby. Four stars offer more luxury than you have time to appreciate. One –and two-star hotels (and even a few four star hotels) can justify the extra cost. The star system is not perfectly reliable, but helps gauge the level of comfort.

Unclassified hotels (no stars) can be bargains or depressing dumps. Look before you leap, and lay before you pay (upon departure).
Most hotels have lots of doubles and a few single rooms (except for the rare closet- type rooms that fit only one twin bed) are simply doubles used by one person- so they cost about the same as a double. Room prices vary within each hotel, depending on size and whether the room has a bath or shower and twin beds or a double bed (tubs and twins cost more than showers and double beds). A triple is often a double room with a small double bed plus a sliver sized single, and quad rooms usually have two double beds. Hotels cannot legally allow more in the room than what’s shown on their price list.

You can save as much as 20 Euros by finding the rare room without a private shower or toilet. A room with a bathtub costs about 10 Euros more than a room with a shower and is generally larger. Hotels often have more rooms with tubs than showers and are inclined to give you a room with a tub (which the French prefer).

A double bed is Euro10 cheaper than twins, though rooms with twin beds tend to be larger, and French double beds are smaller than American double beds. Hotels occasionally offer queen –size beds, which are 160 centimeters wide (over five feet wide) most doubles are 140 centimeters (about 4.5 feet). To see if a hotel has queen-size beds, ask,”Avez-vous un lit de cent-soixante?” (Ah-vay-voo uh lee duh sahn- sahnt). Some hotels push two twins together under king- size sheets and blankets.

If you prefer a double bed (instead of twins) and a shower (instead of a tub), you need to ask for it- and you will save up to 20 Euro.
If you’re willing to take either twins or a double, ask generically for une chamber pour deux (room for two) to avoid being needlessly turned away.

Hotels in France must charge a daily tax (tax du sejour) that is normally added to the bill. It varies from Euro o.55 to 1.10 per day per person depending on the hotel’s number of stars. While some hotels include it in the price list, most add it to your bill. You’ll almost always have the option of breakfast at your hotel, which is pleasant and convenient, but it’s more than the price of breakfast at the corner café, and with fewer ambiences (though you get more coffee at your hotel). Some hotels offer only the classic continental breakfast for about euro 6-8, but others offer buffet breakfast for about euro 10-15 (cereal, yogurt, fruit, cheese, croissants, juice, and sometimes hard-boiled eggs) While Hotels hope you’ll buy their breakfast; it’s optional unless otherwise noted.

Some hotels strongly encourage their peak season guests to take “half pension” that is, breakfast and either lunch or dinner.
By law, they can’t require you to take half pension unless you are staying three or more nights, but, in effect, many do during summer. While the food is usually good, it limits your ability to shop around. I’ve indicated where I think demi-pension is a good value.
If you’re planning to visit France in the summer, the extra expense of an air conditioned room can be money well spent. Most hotel rooms with air conditioners come with a control stick ( like a TV remote) that generally has the same symbols and features: fan icon (click to toggle through wind power, from light to gale); louver icon ( choose steady airflow or waves) snowflake and sunshine icons (cold air or heat, depending on season); clock (“O” setting: run x hours before turning off; “I” setting wait x hours to start); and the temperature control, 20 or 21 Celsius is comfortable.