Avignon Hotel
 

I can't seem to find a good hotel prospect in Avignon. There don't seem to be any good mid-range hotels. They seem to go from very expensive, La Mirande and Hôtel d'Europe, straight to budget places with nothing in between. The only place that looks slightly promising is Clarion Hotel Cloître Saint-Louis, but I've read several somewhat negative reviews. From what I gather, Villeneuve-Lez-Avignon is not walking distance, so the hotels there are out. Too bad because there are several good mid-range places there.

Is there any place that I am overlooking?

Villeneuve:
I spent my vacation there one year and walked across the bridge into Avignon, a pleasant walk. There is also a boat and a bus if you don't want to walk.
I mostly walked, enjoyed passing the pentanque court.

I recently stayed one night at the Bristol Hotel, 44, cours Jean Jaurès (www.bristol-hotel-avignon.com/). This is a comfortable, relatively inexpensive 3-star hotel that I had booked through Expedia for about $90 US. In the old city just a couple of blocks from Gare Avignon Centre Ville (center city train station).

I would have recommended the Bristol, also, but there are a couple others right around the Palais des Papes that are midrange and rated acceptably in various guides (Mercure, etc.).

The other 3* hotels in central Avignon are the Mercure Cite des Papes and the Hotel de l'Horloge. Both are rated midlevel on Tripadvisor (I mean by reviews--these are official 3* hotels whatever tripadvisor claims), with the Mercure a bit higher (most people give it 4-5 out of 5).

One of the worst comments on Hotel de l'Horloge complains mostly about a lot of things that are sort of a given (ie, noisy because it's right on the main place) or irrelevant to me (complaining about bad dining room when you have a zillion cafes right out the window on the place). Both of these hotels look decent to me from the outside. I might choose the Mercure myself.

A well travelled cyberbuddy of mine stayed at Le Cloître St-Louis last year and pronounced it excellent.

P.S. If you consider staying in Villeneuve, don't pick a hotel up in the hills!

I meant to add that the hills would not work well if you just want to walk over to Avignon. The bridge from the Villeneuve side brings you out fairly close to the walled city attractions. However, the Mercure Palais des Papes is about as close as you can get to the town center, and there's a huge underground parking lot with a connection to the hotel.

Thanks for the advice. How long a walk would it be to town from Le Prieuré, which looks like the best bet in Villeneuve-Lez-Avignon?

Looks like its a 1.5-2 miles to town from hotels across the river. That's 40+ minute walk. Way too much to be practical.

I stayed at Hotel de l'Horloge this past April and have no complaints at all.
Granted, maybe it's because it was quieter in Avignon that time of year, or maybe it's because we live in the city now, but we had a private balcony, we kept the windows open and the only thing I remember hearing were the bells waking us up in the morning.
It's in a great location, if/when we go back, I'd stay there again without question.

Le Prieuré is a lovely place to stay, but it would definitely not be a short stroll over to Avignon--especially on a hot summer's day.