Hotel du Pont Villeneuve Switzerland
 

I am having a second look at accommodation around the Vevey area and found the above hotel on www.rooms.ch

This is the direct link to the hotel www.rooms.ch/jc.cfm?u=www.duport.ch&ID=290
I was looking at the half board price.

Has anyone stayed there or have any knowledge of it? I cannot find any reviews on here or Trip Advisor. I have had some positive comments about the hotels listed on the rooms.ch site. I am also unsure of the position at Villeneuve, we are happy walking and it only takes 10 mins on the train to Vevey. We are spending 3 days there and would like to visit the usual sights.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi Maudie,

You've found my very favorite town on Lake Geneva, Villeneuve, where I stayed in Sep 05. I absolutely adore this litte town with its tiny old town & shopping street, harbor, and slow pace. The modern construction that has hit Montreux hasn't yet hit Villeneuve, and it's pretty well unknown to tourists.

But the big problem is that there isn't a decent hotel there. On my visit, I stayed at Les Marines, but it's no longer a hotel; it's being converted into apartments.

I've considered staying at the du Pont and visited one of their rooms when I was there. I'm afraid I wasn't impressed with the room or the hotel. They were both on the dark side and seemed a bit . . . I don't know . . . seedy (?).

Wherever you stay in the area, you'll get a Riviera Card that gives you free bus rides. Though the bus trip from Villeneuve to Vevey is longer than the train ride, it's infinitely more sweet -- you get to see a lot more of the towns and you are closer to the locals. Bus #1 goes all the way from Vevey to Villenueve, and it's just a fun trip -- and FREE with the Riviera Card. Be sure you do it at least once!

Have you looked at Hotel Negociants in Vevey?

Good luck!

s

Hi Swandav,
I was hoping you would see this post, I read your report on Trip Advisor and that was what made me start looking at Villeneuve.

What a pity about the hotel, it sounded ok on the website, but I get your drift, seedy - no thanks! I thought they would have some sort of standard to keep up to be invovled with rooms.ch

We were considering staying at the Riviera Lodge but I just wanted to see what else I could find.

I have Hotel Negociants bookmarked to check out as it seems to get fairly good reviews here so maybe that will be the way to go.

Would you mind giving me some help for somewhere to stay around Pontresina/Samedan/Celerina? So far on my list I have Chesa Mulin, Pontresina - walking distance from the train station?
Central, Samedan. Hotel Restaurant Zur Alten Brauerei, Celerina. We will also be staying there 3 nights. Any others?

Many thanks for taking the time.

Ah, sure wish I could help!

I stayed at the Posthotel Giardina in Zuoz for a week, though it's a four-star.

As you know, Ingo is our #1 Engadin expert, and I just spent a few minutes trying to find his hotel recommendations for this area. He did recommend the Central in Samedan, so that's a good choice. I also remember his recommending a small pension or something in Celerina (I think??), but I couldn't find it. If you have the time, you may want to comb through all of his posts for the last year to see if you can nail it down.

He consistently recommends a sweet pension in Guarda, but that may be too far north for your trip.

I visited Ingo's pages at Virtual Tourist (he's listed as "German_Eagle" there), but he only reviews the apartments he's stayed at and the 5-star Waldhaus in Sils and the pension in Guarda.

Good luck!

s

Hi again,

If you're interested, here's a link to my photo album of Villeneuve at yahoo.com: http://tinyurl.com/yxo7sc

The first 21 photos are at Villeneuve.

Have fun!

s

Hi again,
I will certainly check out your photo's and I will see if I can find some info from Ingo, that can be my homework for the weekend!

Cheers and thanks again.
Maudie

Hi again,

Apparently I can't let this go! I'm sorry, I forgot to post this earlier.

Here's another hotel in Villeneuve, called the Hotel de l'Aigle (www.delaigle.ch/html/aigle2.html). I've never considered it because it only has toilets & showers down the hall.

Finally, here's a b&b that's in Villeneuve: www.bnb.ch/index.php?p=page&id=495

Hope you find just the right place!

s

I hesitate to jump into this conversation but I really must recommend a hotel/inn in Montreux, Hotel Masson Montreux.
http://www.hotelmasson.ch/inhalte/frameset.htm

Husband and I stayed there last September. The inn keepers were the most accommodating in our entire trip to Switzerland. The inn is one of the Historic Inns of Switzerland. Clean, comfortable and within an easy walk of Castle Chillon, we wished that we had spent more nights there and not gone to Chateau d'Oex as the towns are about 1 hour apart.
And for Swandav2000, Hotel Masson is about a two block walk (uphill) from a train station. There is free parking at the hotel, though.

I'll toss in Hotel Helvetie in Montreux to the mix here. Since you mention the hostel in Vevey, I am guessing we are talking budget accommodations and this is a bit more than that, but a nice option imo.

Wow, thanks eveyone. That will give me plenty to choose from, I am sure I will find somewhere out of your suggestions.

Maudie