Tour de France accomodations
Jan 30, 2004, 11:17 am
#1
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Tour de France accomodations
Hi Fters,
Someone I know is taking a three week holiday in France with her husband and 12 yo daughter and hoping to catch one or two stages of the 2004 TdF. Is there a plan, website or way of figuring out what accomodations are available in some of the stages.
I think they are planning to fly into LHR from Seattle and training to Paris and the south of France and then picking up a car. I suggested finding accomodations for the two or three stages they want to be near asap.
Any hints?
lala
Someone I know is taking a three week holiday in France with her husband and 12 yo daughter and hoping to catch one or two stages of the 2004 TdF. Is there a plan, website or way of figuring out what accomodations are available in some of the stages.
I think they are planning to fly into LHR from Seattle and training to Paris and the south of France and then picking up a car. I suggested finding accomodations for the two or three stages they want to be near asap.
Any hints?
lala
Jan 30, 2004, 11:48 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,673
I am not aware of any organized, Olympic-style centralized organisation providing accomodation to Tour followers.
Most spectators are locals, except at the major mountain stages. The balance is mostly cycling fans vacationing in the area, with only a few hardcore fans following the Tour over more than a few stages.
Here is a list
of the 2004 villes-étapes, with links for their respective tourist offices.
It is actually difficult to physically follow the Tour, as the (oftentime only) roads are blocked for a long time before and after the riders go by. Watching a morning departure and the arrival on the same day is usually impractical, especially in the mountains.
The usual tactics for maximizing contact are:
- stay near a ville-étape, and watch the arrival plus the departure next day (be warned that these days the Tour often arrives in one town and leaves from another the next day).
- load the car/camping car with folding chairs, portable TV, drinks, food, and spend the day at the roadside, all this for a few minutes of action
As for finding accomodations, the usual methods apply, with http://www.viamichelin.com being a reliable source for the smaller towns not covered by most booking engines.
I would suggest not staying in a ville-étape, as most hotels are preblocked by the caravane and the remaining rooms may be expensive. However, given the sport's limited budget, the upper-end accomodations should not be overly affected (most teams appear to stay at 2-3* hotels, the caravane wherever they can).
I do remember an ill-planned outing to l'Alpe-d'Huez, where we arrived too late to drive up, had to jog up the mountain, get passed by the riders, go back down the switchbacks, drive an hour to find a bed in a cheap motel, back the next morning, and not being able to walk for the next 3 days!
A detailed map and a small portable radio are key for those trying to follow the Tour
Most spectators are locals, except at the major mountain stages. The balance is mostly cycling fans vacationing in the area, with only a few hardcore fans following the Tour over more than a few stages.
Here is a list
of the 2004 villes-étapes, with links for their respective tourist offices.
It is actually difficult to physically follow the Tour, as the (oftentime only) roads are blocked for a long time before and after the riders go by. Watching a morning departure and the arrival on the same day is usually impractical, especially in the mountains.
The usual tactics for maximizing contact are:
- stay near a ville-étape, and watch the arrival plus the departure next day (be warned that these days the Tour often arrives in one town and leaves from another the next day).
- load the car/camping car with folding chairs, portable TV, drinks, food, and spend the day at the roadside, all this for a few minutes of action
As for finding accomodations, the usual methods apply, with http://www.viamichelin.com being a reliable source for the smaller towns not covered by most booking engines.
I would suggest not staying in a ville-étape, as most hotels are preblocked by the caravane and the remaining rooms may be expensive. However, given the sport's limited budget, the upper-end accomodations should not be overly affected (most teams appear to stay at 2-3* hotels, the caravane wherever they can).
I do remember an ill-planned outing to l'Alpe-d'Huez, where we arrived too late to drive up, had to jog up the mountain, get passed by the riders, go back down the switchbacks, drive an hour to find a bed in a cheap motel, back the next morning, and not being able to walk for the next 3 days!
A detailed map and a small portable radio are key for those trying to follow the Tour
Jan 30, 2004, 4:34 pm
#4
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by lalala:
Hi Fters,
Someone I know is taking a three week holiday in France with her husband and 12 yo daughter and hoping to catch one or two stages of the 2004 TdF. Is there a plan, website or way of figuring out what accomodations are available in some of the stages.
I think they are planning to fly into LHR from Seattle and training to Paris and the south of France and then picking up a car. I suggested finding accomodations for the two or three stages they want to be near asap.
Any hints?
lala</font>
Hi Fters,
Someone I know is taking a three week holiday in France with her husband and 12 yo daughter and hoping to catch one or two stages of the 2004 TdF. Is there a plan, website or way of figuring out what accomodations are available in some of the stages.
I think they are planning to fly into LHR from Seattle and training to Paris and the south of France and then picking up a car. I suggested finding accomodations for the two or three stages they want to be near asap.
Any hints?
lala</font>
There is an official site of the Tour de France. On the right handside at the bottom you have the English version:
www.letour.fr/
For spectators and especially foreigners I would advise The Champs Elysees arrival (last day of the race) The show is fantastic and you get to see the contestants a few times because they follow a loop in the city. Accommodations are going to be a problem, maybe, but definitely not as bad as on the route of the tour where usually every room is booked months in advance. The sheer number of rooms in Paris makes the search easier.