Hôtel Le Lac

Breakfast was enormous, and I highly recommend it. We also had an outstanding meal at their Restaurant du Fromage after a couple of beers downstairs. We were three blokes on a cheese and wine trip, and parking right outside was easy. The welcome from the English speaking front desk was warm. The rooms were good, if maybe due for a refresh, but after all that cheese it hardly mattered. Cheers.

The location works well for visiting the area, with lots to do nearby, and for the price it’s a nice place for two or three nights. We paid just 147€ for two nights in a double room, so don’t expect anything fabulous. The room was older but clean and quite good. It really needs a light in the corridor by the wardrobe, though. We had to use the bathroom light, and it wasn’t enough to see what we were taking. The swimming pool is really small for the number of hotel guests. Most of the staff were nice, especially at reception, and the girls working here were lovely too. The two guys working the hotel bar in the afternoon and evening were really poor as waiters and really unfriendly. Some people even left because of them. If we weren’t staying at the hotel, we’d have gone somewhere else to drink too.

The hotel and its staff were okay, and it was quiet, not crowded. But after checkout I was stuck outside with my luggage for two and a half hours before my 13h30 bus, with no internet and no other services in the tiny village. When I asked at check-in what I could do while waiting, they suggested I could go swimming. I’d decided instead to have lunch at the restaurant, but the hotel insisted I check out by 11, with no exception. At checkout, they seemed very condescending about my wanting to eat there without a reservation, even for a quick lunch at noon. No one showed any understanding or sympathy, and nobody had advised me to reserve, despite the huge restaurant having so few people in the hotel. I’d taken the auto car attached to the Lyria to avoid gas guzzling, carbon emitting cars, and after that wait, I felt like getting back into one. I wouldn’t recommend it for a Michelin star, or even a google star. It was okay overall because it wasn’t crowded, and there was only a short line of people checking out. But I still had two and a half starving hours to wait for my bus.

The room could do with an update, so the price feels high for a 3star hotel. Breakfast at €17 per person is also too expensive compared with similar French hotels. There’s no space at all in the w.c.