I'll be flying from the UK into the Alsace region and spending 4-5 days to work my way to Paris to catch a flight back to the US. Normally when I travel I book everything out in advance. This time, I am planning to just show up with a copy of Lonely Planet and figure things as I go along.

Has anybody had good/bad experiences traveling like this in the Alsace region? I am hoping to slowly work my way towards Paris and see what I find in between. I'll be traveling alone, so no need to accommodate others.

My biggest concern is that a lack of advance planning may leave me staying in dingy hotels or ones that are out of my budget.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

I assume that you will be traveling by car. Have some general plan for your travels and know approximately where you will be staying every night. Before leaving, look up Gites de France (http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/bed_breakfasts ) and find 3 or 4 B&Bs within a 10 or 15 km. radius of where you think you will stay. Depending on the season, you might even not have to phone ahead of time, but telephoning around noon for a room should be OK. In many instance a knowledge of oral/aural French might be necessary, also though many B&Bs indicate that the host does speak English.

should be ok, Spent this time last year there and there was always room at the inn. Worse case |TInfo will find you a room

If you follow my name to a bike trip in alsace last year you will find some hotels

also i did a short visit report this year on champagne which is a possible route to paris. Alt if going up to luxembourg you might like Trier on the Mosel

Thank you!

Actually, I will not have a car (or a bike). I was hoping to rely on buses and trains to get around. Does this not work?

Gites de France will not work for you because most if not all the B&Bs are in countryside. But this site might work for you:

http://www.france-voyage.com/

Suggest you Google the area you are interested in under maps.

then search on B&B or Hotel. A whole load of dots will appear showing those with web presence. Note that many will be in villages and a few in towns.