Hôtel Présent - 200m des Arènes de Arles - Encore Mieux

The location worked perfectly for getting around. The station is only a five-minute walk away, so Arles makes a handy base for exploring Provence by train and local bus. The best restaurants are close by, and the whole city is within a ten-minute walk. It’s a gorgeous retro-style hotel with lovely attention to detail. They serve a simple French breakfast each day in the very cool bar.

The hotel sits about halfway between the train station and the centre of Arles, which was handy. Our room was clean and stylish, and the emailed instructions for entering got us inside. But when I booked, nobody mentioned that there’d be no staffed reception in the off-season, even on a weekend. We didn’t book breakfast, so we saw no staff during our one-night stay and couldn’t ask to leave our bags until our much later train. I messaged the hotel but got no reply.

The lift is probably the most interesting thing in the hotel 😀. It’s an amazing design hotel, and the owner’s passion shows everywhere. Everything feels considered, from the idea of being present and the vertical hotel logo and typeface to the publishing house’s curated books in each room, the minibar wine, room decor, and each floor’s color. The entire staff deserves applause 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The room was fun and colorful, the fridge was a nice touch, and we made good use of the spacious balcony. But the basics were sparse for a three-night stay: just two tea bags, coffee pods, and one sliver of soap. The shower needs work too. Even a short shower left water all over the bathroom floor, right up to the sink. Check-in was chaotic. I hadn’t been told when booking that it would be self check-in. The email arrived the day before, saying the October to March off-season used self check-in and that instructions would follow, but we arrived without them. Luckily, a staff member was leaving the building and helped us reach the property manager to get a digital key. Without that person, we wouldn’t have known how to use the elevator.