Nice place to stay in Uzes?
 

We will be passing through western Provence on our way to Nice and need a nice place to stay in Uzes or somewhere close to Pont du Gard. Any recommendations?

We'll be staying one night at:

http://www.hoteldentraigues.com/frameuk.htm

I just came across Chateau D'Arpaillargues. Has anyone stayed here or heard anything about it?

I just stayed at the Hotel d'Entraigues a couple days last month. I really did not like that hotel at all. well, there was one girl at the front desk who was nice, and the location is excellent, I just didn't like the hotel. It wouldn't be so bad if you don't need air conditioning, though, that was one of the problems (I thought they advertised AC but my room definitely did not have it at all). This hotel had foam mattresses, I couldn't believe it for a hotel that is positioning itself that way. They were really uncomfortable; I don't expect that except in really cheap hotels, and I've rarely had them even in 2* hotels in France.

The problem is there aren't a lot of great hotels right in Uzes, and that's probably about the best one right in the town.

Christina, Did you dine there? You are the second one I've read who was disappointed.

One to avoid: the Bégude St-Pierre. They lost our reservation and were fully booked up and so sent us off to a hotel some distance away at a much higher rate--no offer to make up the difference. The next day we had to argue for an hour to get our pre-payment back.

lavaflow, by "passing through," I assume you mean only a night or two in Uzès? There are nice houses to rent by the week, but I suspect that's more than you are planning?

Anselm

The place that we stayed--Hotel d'Albiousse, right in the middle of Uzes--has been sold. Which is a shame, because we loved it. I haven't heard anything about the new owners opening it as a hotel or b & b, but if your research leads you to a place on rue Doctor Blanchard, it might be the same place, under new ownership and probably worth checking out.

Underhill, that is so unfortunate. We had a lovely stay there a few years ago.
We had a lovely room, a lovely meal and they could not have been nicer. they gave me a beautiful poster of the art exhibit that was there and I framed it.

Thank you everyone for the responses.. especially of the places I should avoid. That's always helpful too.

If there are places outside of Uzes that I should look into, such as Nimes, I'd love to hear suggestions. Ideally, we'd stay somewhere west of the Pont du Gard, so that we can wake up in the morning and drive to see it, before heading to Nice. Thanks again!

AnselmAdorne - yes, sadly, we will be there only one night.

Lavaflow, check out Hotel Marie d'Agoult, in Arpaillargues. Maybe it's the same hotel you mention, and it's changed its name since I read about it.
Anyway, I read about this hotel in Ina Caro's wonderful book, "The Road from the Past, Traveling through History in France". The hotel sounded lovely. In any event, try to read that book (my library had a copy, but then I bought my own as it's a "must have" for travelers to France, at least for me).

We stayed in a Gite near Uzes for 2 weeks recently.

In the town of Castillon du Gard there is the very exclusive (expensive), Vieux Castillon. From behind the church you can actually see the Pont - it's lit at night.

In Arpaillargues there is the Chateau hotel by the same name. On prior trips, we stayed there & also dined there. Recently we dined there. Excellent old chateau and the restaruant is spread out in the garden when the weather is nice. I'm sure both have web sites.

Stu Dudley

Lavaflow - I have pasted a web address that has some b&b and hotel sites. Some state they are in that area - UZWS and Pont du Gard. Cant vouch for them personally but the pics may help.

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/bb/maison-barry/gb/

The Marie d'Agoult is definitely the same as Chateau d'Arpaillargues. I saw on the website that they call the restaurant Marie d'Agoult. It's only 4 kilometers from Uzes. Looks lovely,and not too expensive.

Oh, I'm so bummed! Chateau d'Arpaillargues (Hotel Marie d'Agoult) just emailed back saying the hotel will be closed in April 2006. Now, I'm back to square one.

Any other charming town west of Pont du Gard should I consider staying in? The hunt continues...

Cigalechanta -- no, I didn't dine there, their restaurant could have been fine, I can't say. The menu didn't appeal to me that much the night I was there and I just kind of wanted to get away and explore the town some, also. The restaurant wasn't super-busy, so they should be able to pay attention to you.

I did dine at a restaurant I found mentioned on this web site which was right next to St Etienne church, and it was excellent.

I think they have some rooms at the Hotel d'Entraigues which are AC, not sure -- well, they must if they advertise that but I don't remember them saying some were and some weren't when I booked. When I got there, they had messed up my reservation a little and had me booked into a room that we had discussed once but I told them I didn't want and wanted something else which they had suggested. I don't know how they got that mixed up. Anyway, I didn't complain about the AC because they seemed to have only two rooms available, the one I didn't want (as it was noisier), and the one they gave me--I was only there two nights so didn't have the energy to get into it a lot. It was really hot, about 95 down that at end of June, so it was not pleasant because hotels in town like that don't get much breeze. I've heard some people refer to the old and new buildings on here, but they both looked really old to me (unless they have another one I don't know about). The building I was in was where the restaurant is and looked pretty old to me.

Well, for one night, it won't matter so much and you may find it great--lots of people can experience different things in hotels depending on the room. The room I had was absolutely huge, however, so at least it wasn't as depressing as if you were in a real tiny room in the heat--I had a large bedroom and then a separate sitting area, so it was really a suite. They had hidden away a fan in the closet which I managed to find and drag out which helped a little (odd they didn't tell me about it). It wasn't even a good fan, but a real small one that had no base to hold it so I had to prop it against a chair. Honestly, this hotel was really cheap in ways that I couldn't believe -- if you are going to have a hotel in a really hot area like that, would it kill you to spend $20 for a nice large oscillating room fan on a stand? They last years, after all. Aside from that, they wanted 4 euro for a small bottle of water in the minibar, which I didn't pay, of course. Even at the local cafe, you could get it for 2.5 euro. The room wasn't ugly, though, and had some style, I just hate foam mattresses (that's the stiff yellow foam). There is a convenient parking lot right across the street next to the church that is free at night, though (and wasn't full)--I think you can park there from about 7 pm to 8 am free.

Anyway, I think there are better bets outside of town. A few others I was considering that looked nice were the Hostellerie le Castellas in Collias (which is where I wish I'd stayed)
http://www.lecastellas.com/

I found a few other possibilities, but not quite as close to Uzes/Pont du Gard. I liked St Maximim, but it was too expensive for me.

Thanks Christina, for one night we can endure it even if it's not as nice as the Begude that was one of our best stays in Uzes. We'll try to lunch at the Trois salons.
I read your report on Independant traveller. (I think that was where I read it) .

We rented a house right in Uzes for a week . It was a great experience pretending to actually live there!.Maybe,as Anselm says, for less time than that,it might not be as good an idea.I do hope you are there at the weekend....Saturday there is a fabulous food market and the same space holds a flower market on Sundays.Have a great time!

I don't post on Independent Traveler, so that wasn't me.

I was wondering if I were crazy and the place really had AC and I never noticed it, but I think not, I looked everywhere in the room--their website clearly states "36 rooms with air conditioning", nowhere does it say some with and without or different prices--I was in the most expensive double room category. Maybe they have a total of 40 rooms or something and only 36 have AC, I don't know. That building was old, so it would be difficult to air condition.

I think I was remembering on here someone said they had a main and other building, which is true -- I was in the "other" building, which has no elevator. I didn't care about that, it's not tall.

I saw someone else on Fodors said they didn't like the Castellas (on a search), but their complaints seemed like nothing compared to mine about the Entraigues (they said the room was somewhat dark and the rollaway bed for their child was rather lumpy). It is true that town would not be as interesting as Uzes, although it's just down the road, so you could drive there easily, anyway.

I did find several decent-looking B&B type places nearby, but they were more modest so not sure Lavaflow would be interested in them. I'm not sure Lavaflow is reading this anymore, anyway.

I'm still here!

Lavaflow, I'm sorry to hear that the Chateau d'Arpaillargues will be closed. I hope it's just temporary, and not closed for good! Did they tell you?

cig, it was trip advisor where you may have read christina's report. She mentioned the foam rubber. Maybe you can cancel and book elsewhere. Thanks for my name. I know you liked it as your second one.

Lavaflow, if you're willing to stay in Nîmes, we have reservations in September at what appears to be a lovely small townhouse hotel called Jardins Secrets. Having only driven through Nîmes in the past, I'm looking forward to visiting and will be there for the Féria des Vendanges. An article about this event and the city is in the August/September issue of Saveur magazine.

www.jardinssecrets.net

Sue4-- I don't know if Chateau D'Arpaillargues is permanently closed. They didn't say.. but I plan on emailing them back to ask, so I'll keep you posted!

shellio-- That place you posted in Nimes is BEEEEAAAUUUUUTIFUL! So dreamy.. oh my gosh. Lucky you. We are definitely willing to stay in Nimes. But, I did come across 3 other cute places near Uzes that are less expensive that I am leaning towards. Now, I just have to decide.

Has anyone heard of these places?

Mas de Luna
http://www.masdeluna.com/en/accueil.php

Mas d'Oleandre
http://www.masoleandre.com/en/index.php

La Maison dans les chenes verts
http://www.leschenesverts.net/maison.htm

lavaflow, I haven't heard of any of those places, but I looked at their web sites and located each one on my map of France. I'd have trouble choosing which one to stay in! They all look wonderful.

Regardless of which one you select, you will be very close to Uzès. You'll love it; be sure to sit in a café in Place aux Herbes and watch the fountain spray sparkle in the sunlight. Look up through the plane trees and you'll see the red- and yellow-striped flag of the Uzès family fluttering over the Duché ...

I can't wait to get back.

Anselm

Yes, it is true I posted my report on Tripadvisor and mentioned the foam. Who knows, maybe some rooms have regular mattresses, but hotels usually buy the same quality throughout. Some people wouldn't even care about that or the AC, I suppose. Now I checked the online Rivages Guides de Charme and they said only half the rooms had AC; well, if that is important, someone needs to specify AC with Entraigues, I'd say.

I was looking through my things and most of the nicer hotels, villas etc I had considered were not really right around Uzes, but more in the Drome and Grignan area (where I did have a lovely stay at Domaine du Colombier after Uzes).

Other than the Castellas, I had found the Mas d'Oleandre B&B also, which you mentioned above. It looked rather nice and is nearby, but of course, somewhat modest. I suspect they don't have AC, either, being a B&B (although that wouldn't be important if it weren't a really hot time of year, and some people do not care about it).

I did find a really nice place but it was a little farther NW in that region and kind of in the middle of nowhere, and not right around Uzes-maybe better for the Ardeche.

Well, for just passing through, lots of those places look nice enough.

We have been in the Hotel d'Albiousse and we can't believe that it's closed.
It was a fascinating place.
Does anybody have more information about it? Closed permanently? New owners?

I'm not sure what the current status of Hotel d'Albiousse is, but I saw it listed for sale in France magazine! We had already had an e-mail from Tanguy informing us of the sale, but still, it broke my heart. If only I had the 1.something euros to buy it.

Tanguy purchased a lovely chateau in the Corbieres, if I remember correctly. He did send photos and contact info, but it's on my other computer.

That should be 1.something <i>million</i> euros. I do have a euro or two :). . .

Who is Tanguy?