Le Versailles

We had such a lovely time at this amazing hotel tucked high on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean coast. The website pictures are accurate. The pool is really nice, and you can get great food and drinks there. It’s a ten-minute walk through the beautiful old town to reach the coast, and the staff are very friendly. I highly recommend it, especially in summer, when having a pool is a must. There weren’t plastic water bottles in the room. France is big on conservation and minimalism, and you can get bottled water at the pool bar. We tried to use a reusable bottle as much as possible. There’s lots to do, so I’d suggest a trip by bike, boat, and train. Skip Nice, which is crowded with cruise ship tourists wearing lanyards. Head to Villafranche su mer instead. It has lots of restaurants, and the residents seem much happier.

The pool and pool-house area are great, with good food, and the Italian restaurant is amazing. We’ll be back. The hotel is family-owned, and everyone was incredibly nice. It sits high above the town, and the view over the Bay is the best ever. You might think staying outside the town centre would be a drawback, but the vantage point makes it fantastic.

We had a lovely holiday and enjoyed our stay. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the bedroom windows looked out on spectacular views. The pool was warm, with a shallow end for little ones, a deep end for swimmers, divers, and kids who like playing underwater, and loungers all around. Most hotels nearby don’t have a pool. There’s a formal restaurant at the entrance level, though many dishes have legs or shells, so the choices were limited for me. At pool level, a more relaxed restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with more options without shells or legs, including several pizzas. The beaches are mostly grit rather than pebbles or sand, but they’re fine to use; there’s also a sandy beach not far away. The water was clear and warm when we visited in late August. Buses and trains nearby make it easy to visit Eze, Nice, Monaco, and Monte Carlo. There are more central, pricier, higher-star hotels around, but they cost more and don’t have a pool. We plan to return to this lovely area and stay at Hôtel Le Versailles. A few small drawbacks kept this from being a five-star rating. There weren’t obvious outlets for guests to charge devices. In our room, the toilet-roll holder and cleaning brush were cheap, flimsy plastic, and having the brush right next to the toilet paper could be a hygiene issue if they touch. The mattress was very firm, perhaps better for heavier people; smaller guests may wake up stiff. If you pay for breakfast when booking, you only get the continental option, which is the most expensive on the menu. It may be cheaper to book the room alone and choose breakfast later.

The hotel’s setting is amazing, and the pool service and sea views are excellent. The location and surroundings could make a stay worthwhile if the room itself isn’t a priority. We visited in early August, during peak season, and found the hotel quite expensive for what it offers. Service wasn’t great. We had an electric car, but couldn’t charge it at the available plugin because it belonged to the owner. The rooms were decent and the beds comfortable, but the rooms felt old and had poor sound insulation. There were no in-room amenities like a fridge, iron, coffee machine, or kettle. We asked for a fridge and were given one, but it was old and noisy. I wouldn’t recommend it for value for money.