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I used to use that route and once stayed at the Hermes Motel at Fixin () on the wine route a couple of kilometres south of Dijon. It was fine, simple, but a reasonable price and is a proper hotel, rather than these soulless, virtually unstaffed places that abound. It has a popular restaurant with steaks from the wood-fired grill if you like that sort of thing, and Fixin wine is wonderful, though priced to suit, as is all good Burgundy. You will of course find all the motel chains at the motorway junction at Dijon so you can take your pick from Etap, Formule 1, Campanile etc etc. I don't go that way any longer as I prefer to go through Switzerland. You speak of the often mentioned "hours of hassle at swiss borders" - I go directly through Basel at least 6 times a year in each direction and have never, ever, seen any hassle at all. Avoid Switzerland if you are in a 32 tonner by all means, but otherwise its a great route. Terry

You will find that most hotels belonging to the "Stars" and "Campanile" chains accept pets.

Hi   Cheeky question along with an answer for you.  We've often made the drive from Cambridgeshire to Umbria via the tunnel and sometimes via South of France, sometimes via Switzerland (God Bless the carnet!!) and have always used the Accor group of hotels either Ibis or sometimes Etap (I think they're cat-friendly).  Next year in August we will be making the final big push journey from Cambs to our Home in Umbria (for ever and ever) and wonder if you are sedating your Mog and what you needed to do prior to taking him/her?  My poor Florence gets freaked out just going 10 miles down the road, we did consider airfreighting her as I thought it would be quicker and less "painful" for her but my lovely cattery owner says that it is quite frightening for cats and they get very cold.  She will have a lovely life in Italy (she will be 5 then) and I would hate to leave her behind.  How are you (or anyone else) going to manage with your Mog?  Very best of luck with your move - hope it goes really well x

When I left my last home in Scotland and moved to Abruzzo along with my two cats, they made the trip in a plywood "house" which I'd made. It fit in the back of the car (hatchback with rear seats down) and had three little compartments: one for a litter tray, one for food and water and one for sleeping. The last was lined with carpet tiles to cut down on noise and to give them something to cling on to when going around curves. I did that drive in more or less one "sitting"; stopping in rest areas to doze whenever I got sleepy, rather than staying in a hotel. The only problem I encountered was that the dimmer one of the two cats turned out to be a real yowler who complained constantly and loudly all the way. That got rather tedious after ten hours or so. When my partner decided to bring her cats to Italy from Holland, the box got reused, but this time it went in the back of the pickup I'd bought after moving here. We broke that journey with a stay in a hotel in Germany, but the cats remained in the box overnight. In both cases, the cats coped perfectly well with the trip. It seems to me that the key point is that cats are territorial animals, so removing them from their patch and dumping them in unfamiliar territory will always be stressful. That means I really do question whether it's kind to take a cat into a hotel room. Putting cats in a travel box, putting box in a car, bouncing them around with a lot of strange noises for a few hours, then taking them out and turning them loose in a hotel room (with God only knows what scents due to prior animal residents), then putting them back in box and putting box back in car before driving on and eventually turning them loose in yet another unfamiliar environment never seemed to me a sensible way of dealing with the moggie move. Far better, I thought, to provide them with their own little darkened cave where they could hide for the duration of the drive. Al

Hi if you are looking for a very cheap and cheerful bed for the night try Formula 1 hotels. Which we tried once. We try and always stop in Relais du Silence hotels and have a favorite called La Bergerie in Lieu-dit Rugy which is near the motorway network between Metz and Thionville.

Just to say we made it here on Monday night and have got connected today so back in touch with the world. Yay. Cat made it too, stayed in hotel room with us in Dijon - stayed at a place called  'Hotel l'Escargotière Dijon Sud - Chenove' in the end - nice private bathroom, free net access, secure garage (we had bikes on the back of the car), arrived too late for dinner just after 10pm, shame had snails on my mind but prob best for not having evil garlicy breath the next day, good buffet breakfast included for 65€, v pleasant staff, rock hard huge pillows but otherwise fine if in quite a weird swimming pool pump type part of town as I gather most cheap and cheerful hotels tend to be. Made it to the house in southern Marche with an 11 hr drive from Dijon. Milan ring rd quite interesting - glad I'm used to v busy motorways but wow - how agressive are those big mercs and audis? Re cat if you are sure your cat is never going to return to UK I would also consider saving yourself a few hundred quid and not doing the pet passport thing - I thought it was obligitary but seems not, we were never asked for any docs for puss. He's settling in fine, not let him discover the big outdoors yet but he is now master of the sofas at least. Ta for all advice, hope feedback useful. Am