Hôtel Vacances Bleues Le Balmoral

The location is perfect, right by the beach, restaurants, and casino. It's a ten-minute walk to the train if you want to visit Monaco. Breakfast has a great selection, and the staff are friendly and excellent. Kudos to everyone, especially receptionist Sara, who speaks English, Spanish, French, and Italian. A remarkable stay!

The restaurant staff's English was very poor, and they were very racist toward people who don't speak French. Our city-facing room was really loud, and the bed was very small. I wouldn't recommend it.

I paid extra for a sea-view room, but the view I got was nothing like that. When I raised it with reception, they didn't even check whether another room was available, just told me there were no others. After ten minutes of discussion, they offered a lower room with a patio view, even though I'd paid for sea view. They said the property manager would get back to me in a day or two. Nobody ever did. The single room was so tiny that my luggage barely fit. The bed was very uncomfortable, with a thin, cheap mattress that gave no support, especially disappointing for the price. The place also wasn't clean enough for what I expected. The old, dirty carpets made me want to keep my shoes on indoors. Housekeeping was incredibly loud in the mornings. It sounded like shouting in the hallways by 8 AM, and the walls are thin. The staff seemed unaware or uninterested that guests might not want to be woken that early while on holiday. Breakfast was another problem: if you weren't there right at 7 AM, everything was gone by 9:30, and they didn't restock. On my last night I tried to eat at the hotel restaurant, but they rudely told me there were no tables for one person. I complained to the front desk, the same woman who had checked me in, and she just shrugged and said, "Yeah, you didn't have a good experience here." That was all the customer service I got. I was also charged $20 for a taxi I never asked for. Disgusting service, dirty hotel, uncomfortable rooms, and complete disrespect for guests. I'll never stay here again, and neither should you. Just gross.

We had a really pleasant, quiet stay, and the low-season price was very reasonable. The hotel is in a striking seafront building, alongside the neighbouring Westminster, and it belongs to the French VacancesBleues Group. Our room and bathroom were spotless, though on the small side; our bed was 160cm. We chose half-board and enjoyed a different menu each day. The food was tasty and healthy, and the staff serving us were very enthusiastic. If half-board isn't for you, there are plenty of nearby restaurants, most with set menus for 20 to 25 Euro. There was some early morning noise from street cleaning and garbage collection on the street side. The hotel itself was very quiet, perhaps because the average guest age is quite high, which suited us well. Warmly recommended.