Lodging report: Paris, Rhone, Burgundy

Old May 28th, 2005, 06:41 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Lodging report: Paris, Rhone, Burgundy

My wife and I just returned from a two week trip to France. After I catch up with the 100's of accumulated e-mails, I hope to post a more complete trip report. But for now, I'll just post mainly notes on lodging.

Stays were 1 night, unless otherwise noted. All were booked in advance from the states using e-mail. We had no problems at all with booking or getting the room we expected.

All rooms had a large bed (large double or king) and private bath and/or shower. We found all the rooms clean and well kept. Unless noted, the beds were in good condition and comfortable. The size ranged from comfortably roomy to very large. None were cramped. We had good service at all of them, no problems were encountered and in many cases the staff or hosts were especially gracious and helpful.

Our itinerary was:
Leave home Day 1 fly to Paris overnight.
Arrive morning of Day 2 in Paris.
5 nights at apartment in 7th Arrnd.
-- Non-stop TGV train Paris to Avignon.
-- Rent car from Drive Europe ( www.driveeurope.com/ )
Car Group D w/ A/C, Manual -- 1 week $385, all-inclusive. We got a great Volvo and had no problems at all.
-- Pont du Gard
1 night Uzes
-- Gorges de L'Ardeche
-- Orange
2 nights outside Vaison-la-Romaine
-- Drive over Mont Ventoux peak -- Exceptional view of Alps
-- Beaucastel -- Exceptional wine tour, by appt.
-- Drive through Drome and Vercours region
1 night NW of Macon
-- remainder of trip was lots of exploring backcountry roads, vineyards, and wineries
3 nights Meursault
1 night Dijon
-- early morning TGV to CDG
Fly home on Day 15

---

Lodging

Paris (5 nights)
Cosmopolitan Apartment
$1,327 total (reflects 10% discount for full prepayment by "special offer" date)
6 rue Malar
75007 Paris
http://chezvous.com/paris/apartments/337.html

* Highly recommended. Great location near rue Cler. Great agency. Beautiful apartment.

Uzes
Hôtel du Général d'Entraigues
90 euro + 10 euro for garage parking. Breakfast was 11 euro pp.
Place de l'Evêché
30700 Uzès
Phone: 011 33 4 66 22 32 68
http://www.hoteldentraigues.com/

* Highly recommended. Exceptional room. Get room 32 or 33. Balcony facing cathedral. Quiet room after evening traffic dies down. Best breakfast anywhere served on private balcony. Exceptionally friendly staff. Our favorite of all hotels.

Vaison-la-Romaine (Crestet) (2 nights)
L'Ermitage
75 euro, modest breakfast on shared patio included. Free parking in compound.
Route de Sainte Anne
84110 Crestet
Phone: 011 33 4 90 28 88 29
http://www.lermitage.net

* Recommended. Pleasant room. Exceptionally quiet location. Very enjoyable couple (Nick and Nicole). In the country, but convenient. Be sure to go to the "Panoramique" in the village of Crestet for a drink (or simple dinner) on the patio at sunset. The property is for sale, so may change owners.

Berzé la ville (NW of Macon)
Le Relais du Maconnais
67 euro. Free parking in on-property lot. Modest breakfast 9 euro, served in restaurant.
La Croix Blanche
71960 Berze le Ville
Phone: 011 33 3 85 36 60 72
http://www.lannuel.com/

* Recommended. Out in the country between Macon and Cluny. Room # 8 had beautiful view across hillsides. Exceptionally quiet location (unless you don't like birds singing). Some intrusive noise from the steam pipes about 3:00 am, which lasted off and on for about 30 minutes. Briefly annoying, but tolerable.

We had our best tasting dinner and best value dinner of the whole trip at the restaurant here. Very creative and delicious. Moderately priced. Restaurant staff were a bit stiff, but handled the job adequately.

Mersault May (3 nights)
Hotel Les Magnolias
97 euro per night (reflects 25% discount for stay of 3 nights or more) 9 euro for basic breakfast served in room.
8 rue Pierre Joigneaux
21190 Meursault
Phone: 011 33 3 80 21 23 23
http://www.les-magnolias.com/english/index.htm?4&1

* Recommended. HUGE room (room nbr 4) with two sets of windows overlooking interior courtyard with blooming roses and flowers. (Fragrance was wonderful.) Bed was a bit saggy and lumpy, but surprisingly we slept comfortably. Very quiet location. Some rooms face the street over a little garden, but traffic dies down early. We loved being in Meursault, minutes from Cote de Beaune villages and Beaune itself, but without the traffic, tourists, and noise of Beaune. We would either stay her again or in Nuits St. Georges (to be closer to the Cote de Nuits wine villages). Breakfast is very basic. Better to walk 5 minutes to the village square and get coffee and pastries and sit at tables in the square.

Dijon May 25-26
Quality Hotel du Nord
98 euro. Don't know about breakfast because we left at 6:00 am.
Place Darcy
[email protected]
Phone: 011 33 3 80 50 80 51
http://www.hotel-nord.fr [This is the Hotel du Nord's actual Web site, but at times it's pretty unreliable.]

We made our reservation through:
http://www.activehotels.com/servlet/...anguage=&mode=

* Recommended if you need to be convenient to train station (which was an essential criteria in our search). 10-15 minute walk to Dijon train station. Nice, modest-sized room (Nbr 18). Large tub and very nice bathroom. We had window overlooking street which was fun for our short stay. Amazingly soundproof with windows closed. Slight intrusion of smoke either from ventilation system or restaurant below. Be sure to ask and check this element if you're exceptionally sensitive to smoke or staying for awhile.

Public underground car parking is 5 minutes away. Location is easy walk to many sights (e.g., Les Halles) and shops. Restaurant was spendy (we got a basic meal at a bar across the street).

Note that we booked through a (free) Web service. The hotel's site and most other booking services showed no availability, but we got in fine through this service.

Hope this is of use to fellow travellers!

-- Paul
pconte is offline  
Old May 28th, 2005, 07:25 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,508
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
exceptionally useful and fact-filled report -- thanks for this!
tedgale is offline  
Old May 28th, 2005, 07:39 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks for the helpful hotel reports. If you don't mind my saying this, but the Chez Vous apartment is a bit expensive.
francophile03 is offline  
Old May 28th, 2005, 09:11 AM
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
francophile03 --

I'm very glad to learn of better values. This particular apartment is very large and perfectly situated. It's also quiet and the Chez Vous service has been excellent.

So far in our research and comparing notes, we haven't found any place preferable on all counts, and this is our second visit.

But, of course, I'm sure there are such places and will look forward to learning of them.

-- Paul
pconte is offline  
Old May 28th, 2005, 10:26 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,117
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Great! This kind of report provides a factual balance to the ones that have great length describing $300 duck dinners, etc. While I enjoy the detailed, funny reports too, one can for instance hit Dijon in the search key and quickly pick out your hotel info.
hopingtotravel is offline  
Old May 28th, 2005, 02:53 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,327
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

Very helpful report. We've stayed in some of the same towns (Vaison, Uzes, Beaune), but different hotels, so I'm grateful to hear of these other options report (especially since our "place" in Uzes, Hotel D'Albiousse, has been sold)

elle is offline  
Old May 29th, 2005, 07:04 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hello everyone,
Paul I'm a bit disapointed you spent only one night in Dijon! What did you see there? I could have met you to show you my town!
Did you have a nice weather? there have been so many changes since last sunday, it is 31°C today, too hot for me!
I'm glad to have read "Dijon" in a trip report ;-)
cocofromdijon is offline  
Old May 29th, 2005, 07:27 AM
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Bonjour cocofromdijon!

So much to see, so little time!

We concentrated the second part of our trip on wine country and small villages, having spent the first part in Paris.

So, please don't feel Dijon was slighted. We skipped by a number of cities that would also have been interesting: We picked up the car at Avignon, but zoomed right out to Pont du Gard and Uzes. And we bypassed Lyon altogether, spending our day moving from the southern Rhone to Burgundy by driving winding (and cliff-hanging) "yellow" roads through the Drome.

In our short afternoon in Dijon, we walked around by Les Halles (closed), Notre Dame, Palais des Ducs, all over Jardin de L'Arquebuse, and lots of little side streets.

Hopefully someday, we can join you. We'll buy the fantastic wines and cheeses, and you can give us an "insider's" view!

-- Paul
pconte is offline  
Old May 29th, 2005, 08:53 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
with pleasure!
cocofromdijon is offline  
Old May 29th, 2005, 08:59 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
BTW you can see what you saw and what you missed on my website and even a video on a personal wine tasting with my last guests.
www.myhomeindijon.com if you don't know yet ;-)
see you someday!
cocofromdijon is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
neddag
Europe
16
Feb 9th, 2007 08:20 PM
Robbietravels
Europe
4
Jun 3rd, 2006 07:01 PM
Robbietravels
Europe
5
Jun 3rd, 2006 09:42 AM
seafox
Europe
21
Apr 8th, 2004 03:48 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -