Hi

When I travel in Europe accommodation is the biggest expense.

I have found camping solo eats into my time as often it takes me till 10/11 to pack a damp (more from condensation then rain) tent and load everything onto the bike.

So I thought I would start a thread on good, cheap alternatives to camping.

Has anyone tried Couchsurfing, airbnb or hostels as these look promising.

Also cheap "hidden gems" would be useful knowledge from forum members.

This thread has been prompted by me posting the following recommendation on advice for a trip to Scotland

" http://www.lochinvermission.org.uk/
It has been recently rebuilt with lottery money and has the best sea food in the town. The locals go there to eat. It is a BYOB restraunt.
In summer you may need to book in advance as some organisations have found it out."

Maybe contributors could give google map locations with their posts and a commentary 

I recommend tact in less then good reviews such as -
"opportunities for improvement" = not good
"Significant opportunities for improvement" = Bad
"---also good" = avoid at all costs
(I got these from an Italian diplomat) 

I've been with a group to Germany once a year for a few years now and twice we've stayed in the Schloss Hotel in a place called Neuerburg, just a bit east of Luxembourg. It's not glamorous but it's about £31 a night half board, serves great (wheat)beer and the schnitzels are quite famous locally for being so good. 100% recommended.

My wife and I have used airbnb a bit in recent Europe and London trips. They vary a bit, but we have found they are generally good value. Not as cheap as camping, but my wife's idea of camping under the stars is 5 stars! (Not really, she's usually OK with 2 stars.)

We've mostly had our own space, but a few have been sharing kitchen/bathroom etc. with owners. 

Our only glitch has been the one in Berlin where we were told that street parking was easy and safe. It was hard to find a place, and when we reported the theft of our son-in-law's old BMW to the police, we were told the area is car theft central for Berlin. They reckoned it would have been in Poland by the morning. The people were nice, and the area fine for walking around, but the parking situation was misrepresented. Had we not had a car, we would have been quite happy.

Both pre and post airbnb days, we have generally preferred to stay in a village outside the large cities and travel in by train for the 'old city' experience. Also, a lot of our stays have been in smaller places anyway. The main exceptions have been Berlin    and London (Lambeth) where we had no car and the accommodation was basic. It was cheap and provided a place to breakfast, shower and sleep which was all we needed as we were doing the tourist thing during the days.

Bill

If you are happy with fairly basic accommodation then I've always been really happy with the F1 hotel chain in France. They have a few hotels in other countries too:

http://www.hotelf1.com

They do a really useful little smartphone app which allows you to book a room and more.

Hot showers, clean towels and priced per room so you can share with a couple of friends to push the cost per person right down.

They are normally in industrial areas or slightly outside the main town / city so they aren't always the best from a sightseeing point of view, but as overnight stops on the way to your destination I find them hard to beat.

Excellent idea for a thread! At the recent BMWMOA rally I sat in on a seminar given by the owner of Knopt Tours Deutchland and have been inspired to plan a European ride for next year. Suggestions for economical accommodations are very welcome, if not essential,  if my dream is to be realized.

There are a lot of options from airbnb to cheap hotels and camping and all down to personal preferences.

My spend on camp site fees this year was a lowly total of €47 for almost 2 weeks of camping, all of it in French municipal camp sites and all by the water. But we were not moving every day and only two nights were one night stopovers.

We were on a low budget but had a great trip. My advice is go for the trip and check out what it works out at in terms of budget but go!! You won't regret it.

Try the booking.com app.
My mate and I did 2000 miles through France, over the Pyrenees and into Spain. And back again in a week.
Great time to go. Temperatures in the high twenties, not too busy and easy to get somewhere at short notice.
Know what I'm doing next September. Well, after my 40th wedding anniversary on the 3rd. 
Used the app, sometimes only a couple of hours before we were due in an area. Never had any problems.
Most take a booking without credit card details.
Type in the area, pick your hotel or b&b and you can make a reservation immediately. Even list hostels for the tight fisted.
We paid £28-£30 for a twin room for the night.

Excellent trip John and a wise move for next September.

Why do I love camping? We used 9 kg charcoal on our trip in August and we cant use a bbq in a hotel.

I did look at hotels in France and travelling with a mate they offer fantastic value. I have used the Formula1 and B2B and got rooms for that price that took 4 of us. Even some of the rural hotels are similarly priced.....including Brunos in Rouffignac!!

And for fun at the moment I just looked at the map on the Portal....the one that shows where members are logged in from.

Comberjohn is showing as being in Edinburgh. Does the forum pick up his comment about the tight fisted and associate it with a certain country...?

Shows me as being in Dublin...I left there over 40 years ago......

Didn't know you had Scottish blood, Olaf? 

Tackler picked up a magazine in France that had pages of Adverts for European Moto friendly hotels, most with secure bike parking and some even with workshop facilities including lift available. he might be along with the name of it.

88KE wrote:Tackler picked up a magazine in France that had pages of Adverts for European Moto friendly hotels, most with secure bike parking and some even with workshop facilities including lift available. he might be along with the name of it.

There is a monthly French motorcycle mag called "Le Journal des Motards" and there is usually half a dozen pages in the centre advertising motorcycle friendly hotels throughout France.  They are grouped by Department.  The mag costs 4.90 Euros.  relais-motards.com  In French of course! 

There is usually garage parking available at no cost.  A lot of the hotels are off the beaten track and are family run and more often than not have the owner's motard parked downstairs.  Never had a problem with them in the last couple of years and only one where the owners did not speak any English.  The food is always superb.  Price wise they are normal prices and a couple in particular have been absolute crackers. 

I also used the German language moho.info which covers the Alps region mainly centre around Austria with a few in Switzerland and northern Italy.  Some are seasonal and in summer are packed with German motorcyclists most of whom are mounted on the latest GS.  As most Germans speak better English than I speak German, I never had a language problem.  A lot have motorbike garages which came in handy. 

Another German brochure from a bike mag is motorradonline.de/hotelguide 

Also this German website centres around the Alsace/Lorraine area - bikerbetten.de 

Then there is logishotels.com  I have the French version which covers surrounding areas as well. 

I know this thread is aimed at cheaper alternatives to hotels but these are some of the normal priced options.  Although I do try and organise my days travel to end up at one of the relais motard hotels when in France.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:And for fun at the moment I just looked at the map on the Portal....the one that shows where members are logged in from.

Comberjohn is showing as being in Edinburgh. Does the forum pick up his comment about the tight fisted and associate it with a certain country...?

Shows me as being in Dublin...I left there over 40 years ago......

well, you have to update it yourself.

I don't see a lot of Germans on this map, isn't there any K100 left in das Vaterland.

K100LT Notts wrote:Hi

When I travel in Europe accommodation is the biggest expense.

I have found camping solo eats into my time as often it takes me till 10/11 to pack a damp (more from condensation then rain) tent and load everything onto the bike.

So I thought I would start a thread on good, cheap alternatives to camping.

Has anyone tried Couchsurfing, airbnb or hostels as these look promising.

Also cheap "hidden gems" would be useful knowledge from forum members.

This thread has been prompted by me posting the following recommendation on advice for a trip to Scotland

" http://www.lochinvermission.org.uk/
It has been recently rebuilt with lottery money and has the best sea food in the town. The locals go there to eat. It is a BYOB restraunt.
In summer you may need to book in advance as some organisations have found it out."

Maybe contributors could give google map locations with their posts and a commentary 

I recommend tact in less then good reviews such as -
"opportunities for improvement" = not good
"Significant opportunities for improvement" = Bad
"---also good" = avoid at all costs
(I got these from an Italian diplomat) 

A good idea is to look at the web pages of several specialised biker hotels groups (most pages are in English too, just one only in german and Italian):

http://www.moho.info/en#

http://www.motorradhotels.info/index.php?id=2&L=2&cHash=5b7b3356f9857cb77d43e994504c7066

http://www.alpen-motorradhotels.com/motorradhotels.html

http://www.alpen-motorradhotels.com/motorradhotels.html

Booking.com is your only friend.... if you have a smart phone with GPS, download app, apply filters like, need Wifi, price under 60euro, etc then search.
~It will find a huge amount of places within 10miles of your current location, you can reserve without paying etc... That app is a pure god send..
I find it better than airBnB, cus sometimes they might be at work or not there, so you have to wait around for a responce, and haven just got back from a 3 week trip myself, sitting around in 35c is not an option.
Booking.com will get you to a shower, clean bed and a cold beer within 20min.

Enjoy the trip

Booking.com and also groupon.com.

It was groupon.com that got us those great deals in Kilkeel for the Norn Iron weekends!! Which reminds me I must look more.

But, I still love camping. As it stands my panniers are sitting inside packed up with enough stuff for a week and ready to head off later today. At least 3 good forecast days on the way.

Hey!

Enjoy the tripp.
I just put my sleeping bag out, somewhere nice and sleep.
Not even using the tent.
Then I stay with friend and enjoy there hospitality, meeting people is the best on a tripp, I don't care so much for landscape.

Then there are the motel chains, cheap and good.

www.motel-one.com

www.ajaresorts.de

www.hotelbb.de

www.ibis.com

www.easyhotel.com

www.moxyhotels.com

And on the road there are always B&Bs or just ask a farmer for a night.
Communication is everything on a tripp :-)

If somebody freandly ;-) passes the middle of Germany, just ask, there is space in my house.

Cheers

Easy going

Chocolate wrote:Hey!

Enjoy the tripp.
I just put my sleeping bag out, somewhere nice and sleep.
Not even using the tent.
Then I stay with friend and enjoy there hospitality, meeting people is the best on a tripp, I don't care so much for landscape.

Then there are the motel chains, cheap and good.

www.motel-one.com

www.ajaresorts.de

www.hotelbb.de

www.ibis.com

www.easyhotel.com

www.moxyhotels.com

And on the road there are always B&Bs or just ask a farmer for a night.
Communication is everything on a tripp :-)

If somebody freandly ;-) passes the middle of Germany, just ask, there is space in my house.

Cheers

Easy going

The motorcycle hotels I gave have also some special facilities, like workshops, places to dry your gear, and owners or staff are also bikers...