thomo7

We've made it to Troyes and spent a lovely evening walking through the old town, admiring the seriously crooked timbered buildings (I'll find out the correct word for them soon!).
The chill of the night didn't dim our enthusiasm. We ate hot 'chichis' (as they're called here) and had fun pointing out the most interesting and pretty lights to each other. The beautiful old merry-go-round was wonderful too.

Tomorrow we're off in the Paris direct for the obligatory trip to Euro Disney on Friday and we would like to stay somewhere within an hour or so of Disney tomorrow night, so it's a fairly quick trip to get there in the morning.
We'd prefer somewhere in a small town or big village...or on the outer edges of town (as I've mentioned before, DH isn't fond of traffic so we avoid it where possible)
Any suggestions? Oh, about 3 stars or less would be great, thanks.

StCirq

Provins.

Can't remember the name of the hotel but we loved it. Will see if I can dig it up.

PalenQ

Provins is everything Troyes is and more IMO - smaller, dreamier, walled town - think smack on way you are going - could be a few hour stop. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site which says a lot

http://www.provins.net/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/873

StCirq

I'm pretty sure it was the Hôtel des Remparts, way up at the top of the town.

thomo7

StCirq & PalenQ, Thanks once again for the quick & useful responses! Will check out the Hotel des Remparts and that doesn't work I'll check out others options there.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Provins is an excellent suggestion and may be exactly what you are looking for but if you want a lovely small village that's only about 10-15km from Disneyland then you might be interested in Crécy-la-Chapelle. It's known as the Venice of the Brie region due to the canals that cut through town and it's charming. I wrote a trip report about biking from Crécy to nearby Coulommiers that is full of photos and descriptions if you want to have a look:

http://tinyurl.com/dx8kr39

Here's the website for Crécy. Look under the "Tourisme" tab for info about lodging:

http://www.crecylachapelle.eu/Main.a...99&transfert=1

If you have time for exploring tomorrow on your way to whatever destination you choose tomorrow night you would do well to pick up the Michelin map of the Île-de-France region of the scale 1:200,000 (map number 514).

If you have time for countryside exploration tomorrow you could explore the landscapes and villages between Crécy and Coulommiers that I cover in my report. Coulommiers itself is worth a visit. On the map you'll notice several designated scenic roads between these two towns that make for a pretty countryside drive broken up with small villages to pass through along the way.

If you want to explore near Provins I've written a trip report it and exploring the countryside nearby:

http://tinyurl.com/7xa5eok

Here is the link to the Provins tourist office website:

http://www.provins.net/

Whether you choose Crécy or Provins I highly recommend visiting the tourist offices in these towns first before you go out exploring them. The tourist offices for both places are full of maps, pamphlets and brochures that will give you guided walks around the towns with explanations of the sites along the way.

P.S. - An appropriate term for those crooked timbered buildings would be half-timbered buildings, though there may be others.

thomo7

FrenchMystiqueTours, Thankyou, I haven't booked yet so I'll check that out too. Since it's low season we're taking risks with accommodation, sometimes just waiting til we get there to make a decision. got a bit of reading to do before we hit the road, Thanks again!

FrenchMystiqueTours

thomo7 - In my report you might have noticed there is an old mill in Crécy that is now a Chambres et Tables d'Hôtes. It is called Le Moulin de Saint-Martin and it looked charming. If interested their phone number is 01 64 63 69 90.