Our criteria was having a room to ourselves. We had both done the dormitory/hostel thing in the past, so didn't feel it a necessary part of the experience to do so this time.
We also wanted variety, so we stayed in gites, bed and breakfast, apartments, hotels, and alternative accommodation. An apartment is a nice way to be able to cook in and have leftovers the next day.
Hôtels, Auberges, and B & Bs
 |
| Ibis Budget (Le Puy-en-Velay) |
 |
| Auberge de la Halle (Cordes-sur-Ciel) |
Apartments
 |
| Rando-Aubrac (Aumont-Aubrac) |
Gîte d'Etapes
 |
| Lo d'Ici (Nasbinals) |
 |
| L'Orée du Chemin (Massip) |
 |
| Les chambres de la Croze (Gramat) |
 |
| Gariottes de l'Ermitage (Lalbenque) |
To book, or not to book, that is the question.
The answer to this question depends on:
- your tolerance for risk (do you want to arrive in a town only to find out you need to walk back to the previous town ? This happened to some walkers)
- The season in which you're travelling (by mid-October, the vast majority of gîtes have closed)
- your desire to have a certain room or accommodation type (a room for two; a stay in a yurt, etc)
- the time you want to spend while you're walking phoning ahead for the night
We wanted our day to be focussed on walking, not on worrying where we might stay that night. The downside, of course is that you can't really cut short your walk if you're tired. We booked our accommodation starting almost a year in advance, though only one or two places thought that that was too early.
Incoveniences
The biggest inconvenience we had is that several places requested a deposit for reservation, and these places don't yet accept PayPal (or obviously credit cards). Unless you want to send cash, or have a bank to write Euro cheques (which I had access to), then you may have to send a money order, which gets expensive.
No comments:
Post a Comment