L'Oustal Del Mar

I liked that the rooms are spread across smaller houses instead of all being in one building, and there’s a gate straight to the beach. The location is fantastic. The conciergerie can arrange tickets for activities, and breakfast and dinner were decent. There were no “do not disturb” signs, and it was full of (very) old people. It calls itself a four star hotel, which is simply wrong: no minibar, no daily room service, no bathtub, and no proper gym, just a few cardio machines.

The beach is easy to reach, and it’s sandy, which I’d heard was rare in southern France, though there are pebbles near the water. There’s also a bar/restaurant across the road on the beach, separate from the hotel, where you can rent sun beds and parasols for half a day or a full day. The pool is nice, but the kids’ section is a little too small. Staff were friendly, though most speak only French. One person at reception speaks Italian and two others speak English, so you can get by, but it may be difficult if you don’t speak French. The rooms were nice but a little worn compared with the website photos, so I thought they were overpriced. Breakfast and the all-you-can-eat dinner buffet were disappointing. I expected better French cuisine from the hotel, though the food was still good value for money. What really put me off was how badly the restaurant glasses and cutlery were cleaned. This was one of the few beachfront hotels I could find available in the south of France. Le Lavandou itself felt a bit off the beaten path. Most of the city was closed over the weekend, and everything seemed a bit “dead”, even though it was high season. It was hard to find good restaurants near the hotel. Without a car, we relied on one bus line back to Toulon to catch a train to our next destination. The bus was late and then full, so we had to wait for the next one. That was a bit of a bottleneck, though it shouldn’t be a problem if you’re driving.

I almost never leave reviews, but after arriving in Lavandou we checked out within two hours and got a refund. The rest of the day went on finding another hotel, which was stressful. The place looked nothing like the pictures. The rooms smelled of drainage, the hotel seemed to be falling apart and looked like Alcatraz. For what it costs, I’d at least expect it to be clean, but it was far from that and genuinely seemed to pose health risks. The staff, though, were impeccable and absolutely lovely. They handled our refund request really well. It’s a shame, because it seems this keeps happening to these employees. I’d advise checking the reviews properly before spending your money.

Our vacation here was horrible. The place was awful and dirty, nothing like what they show online, and not even worth one star. We checked out two days early because we couldn’t cope with the moldy room with our child, and we didn’t get our money back. Breakfast was poor quality, and all the plates and glasses were so dirty. The hotel needs a total renovation, and in its current condition I can’t recommend it to anyone. Our car was scratched in the hotel’s private parking. The lady at reception’s first reaction was that they weren’t responsible. But whose parking is it if not yours? After we threatened to call the police, the manager came, and hopefully the insurance details they gave us are real.