Help! Need hotel in France along Atlantic Coast for two day stay between Spain and Loire Valley
 

We will be driving from Spain ( west coast) to the Loire Valley and want to take a few day stop at a French coastal town in Aquitaine, Poitou or Pays de Loire. Our ideal place would be a reasonably priced charming hotel along the coast but we would consider staying in a town near a beach. any ideas or suggestions? also considering staying on the Ile de re or Ile d'oleron. <BR><BR>Thanks.

We love the Ile de Re and will be staying there for three days on our way up the coast from Bordeaux next September. Unfortunately the hotel we stay at is also a spa and on the pricey side so it won't fulfill your perameters but a quick search of Michelin should reveal some others that will. The small towns on the island are quite wonderful with small harbors and interesting oyster "fishing" apparatus and bike rides from place to place are very possible even for a nonathlete like myself. Try it, I think you might like it.

I'd recommend you stay in La Rochelle. There are a number of reasonably priced hotels there, including the H&ocirc;tel de la Tour de Nesle, which has some rooms with lovely port views for about $60 per night and the H&ocirc;tel de l'Oc&eacute;an, also very nicely situated facing the old port, for about the same price. The old quarter of La Rochelle is delightful and features a number of small museums having to to with marine life, the slave trade, and perfume. Take a tour of the two towers that dominate the port entrance. And from la Rochelle you can drive out to Ile de R&eacute;, where St-Martin-de-R&eacute; is the nicest of several very nice sun-soaked villages. The beaches on Ile de R&eacute; and in the vicinity of La Rochelle are fine when it's high tide, but astonishingly muddy at low tide.

Hi<BR><BR>I've used La Rochelle as a stopping off point for many years.<BR>You'll love it<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

Thanks for all the great ideas. The only place I've been able to reserve online is La Grand Large on Ile d'oberon, although I've also sent an email about the Hotel Primavera near Royan. <BR>Do you have any email info for the hotels in La Rochelle? Has anyone been to Ile d'oberon?

Hi<BR><BR>Second choice St Emillion.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

I don't know if they have websites (you could try a Google search), but here are phone numbers:<BR><BR>La Tour de Nesle (direct from USA): 011-33-5-46-41-05-86<BR><BR>l'Oc&eacute;an: 011-33-5-46-41-31-97

Has anyone heard of the Hotel La Monnaie, Mercure Yachtman, or Les Brises hotel? all in La Rochelle.

Anyone?