Budget Hotels in Poitiers: Station or South

ibis budget Gare de Poitiers is the better-rated of the two at 7.9 from about 1,600 reviews, and the right choice for travellers arriving by train. It stands 100 metres from Poitiers station, so you can step off a TGV from Paris or Bordeaux and be in your room within minutes. Rooms are air-conditioned with private bathrooms, there is a 24-hour reception for late arrivals, free WiFi and a guest area with vending machines, and a buffet breakfast is served daily. The old town sits on the plateau above the station, a steep but short walk up to Notre-Dame-la-Grande and the ducal palace.

ibis budget Poitiers Sud, rated 7.4 from almost 2,400 reviews, is the option for drivers. This two-star hotel is about 5 km from the city centre and 15 km from Futuroscope, with free public parking on site, which removes the headache of parking in the narrow streets of the old town. Rooms are air-conditioned with free WiFi, and a buffet breakfast is available. Its score is a little lower and its location less charming, but for a night's stop on a road trip along the A10 or a family heading to Futuroscope by car, it is a straightforward, practical base.

Neither hotel is designed for long stays, and it is fair to say that rooms at an ibis budget are compact and functional rather than spacious. What they offer is predictable comfort at a modest price, with air-conditioning in both, which matters in a Poitou summer. The real decision is how you travel. Without a car, the station hotel is the obvious pick, because buses and trains leave from its doorstep, including connections to Futuroscope. With a car, the southern hotel saves parking costs. If you plan to explore the old town in the evening, the station hotel keeps you within walking distance of restaurants.

Poitiers has more to see than its size suggests. The facade of Notre-Dame-la-Grande is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture, and on summer evenings it is lit in colour as it may once have been painted. The Palais, former seat of the counts of Poitou and dukes of Aquitaine, has a vast Gothic great hall. The Baptistère Saint-Jean is among the oldest Christian buildings in France, and the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre holds medieval stained glass. Futuroscope, about 10 km north of the centre, has its own TGV station and draws families from across the country.