Aix Hotel Choice
 

I am looking for a nice hotel in Aix. The hotel does not have to be in the city center since I will be doing some driving around the countryside. I am trying to choose between the following: Quatre Dauphins, Hotel Pigonnet, and the Hotel Saint Cristophe. Any suggestions or comments on those hotels would be appreciated! If you have a different favorite, I'd love to hear about that, too! I did contact Villa Gallici but at $200 per night, it is too steep for my budget. Thanks in advance.

Quatre Dauphins is a nice quiet place in the center, just a very short walk from Cours Mirabeau. It has a very pretty little breakfast room on the ground floor and pleasant desk staff (or at least it did a year ago).

Cynthia, <BR> <BR>I don't have any direct experience with any of the hotels you just mentioned. Just returned from two weeks in Provence including 5 nights in Aix. Stayed at the Hotel Negre Coste on Cours Mirabeau. I think our room was around 700FF/night (US$90) but there were less expensive rooms. The hotel itself was perfectly nice but not especially noteworthy. Also, parking was available for 50FF/night but getting in and out was a challenge to say the least, what with the construction on Cours Mirabeau and the narrow, crowded streets of the old city. Also, at least two of the hotels you mention (Quatre Dauphins and Saint Cristophe) are essentially in the center city so if you will have a car you may want to see what arrangments there are for parking. There appeared to be a reasonble amount of public parking in and around the center city but I am not sure about cost for long term parking or your tolerance for driving around looking for an available space. Feel free to email me directly if you have other questions. <BR> <BR>Ron

I stayed in the Hotel Cardinale which is one of my favorite hotels in France--it's only a two-star, but very charming and comfortable for that, the best two-star hotel I've ever had in France. It is city center and very convenient (near the fine arts museum), close to the Quatre Dauphins hotel, I think. Well, okay, one small problme is it's in a renovated older townhouse and is right next to another one that is apartments so with the windows open you could hear people's radios or TVs if they were loud; not sure how you get around that in a city center, though, in a renovated older, small hotel. It was not a problem late at night, at least, and the rest of the hotel made up for it; it had very nice bathrooms, unusual in cheaper renovatied hotels. It was real cheap, probably only about $100 a night or less. Parking would be a problem but I think there is more public parking or something a few blocks away.

Hotel Pigonnet is about a 15 minute walk from the center. It is a large old estate with beautiful gardens and nicely furnished rooms. Plenty of free parking, easy to get in and out of. They also serve dinner outside in the garden. Unless things have changed, I would certainly recommend Le Pigonnet.