We have had Hôtel Garonne recommended to us but I understand its a bit out of the centre of Toulouse. Does anyone have a recommendation for a better than mid range place close to the centre of town?

I'm going in a couple weeks at staying at the Mercure right in the center, I think the one named Toulouse Wilson. So I can tell you what I think of it in a month or so. I checked around and it seemed the best deal for something very central. I don't care about the chain hotel thing as Toulouse didn't seem to have a whole lot of great, medium-priced hotels with supposed charm in the center. The only ones I was considering were 2* and had mixed reviews. My budget may be lower than yours, though. Toulouse doesn't actually have a lot of 4* hotels in the center, which surprised me.

I am also going to Toulouse in a couple of weeks. (Christina, are you going to the piano festival?)

I have stayed at the Hotel Albert 1er before, and it was very centrally located. We had two rooms, one of which was very large and nice and one was smaller but still nice. http://www.hotel-albert1.com/index_uk.php

This time the Albert 1er was not available for my dates, so I am staying at Le Grand Balcon on the Place du Capitole, which is a bit more of a splurge but looks very interesting and has great reviews on Tripadvisor. I'll report when I come back.

www.grandhotelbalcon.com

Hotel Albert Premier (1er) at 8, rue Rivals, is a very short block off the main Place de (du?) Capitole. It is a two-star but very well-located, clean and well-appointed rooms.

Last August we had a twin-bedded room for around 80 euros. It was a standard and very small but we spent very little time there; they had other rooms which were larger. TV, AC and I think internet access.

Friendly staff--okay buffet breakfast, slightly over-priced if I remember.

hi marco,

we stayed at the Albert 1ier too, and chose a slightly more up-market room. it is dead central and very reasonable. for what you get [freshly squeezed orange, boiled eggs, cold meats, coffee, croissants, etc] we thought that the breakfast was good value.

don't reckon on getting a taxi in the morning should that be your plan - we ended up walking all the way to the railway station trailing our luggage behind us to pick up our hire car.

I considered a lot of 2* hotels but none of them sounded really foolproof to me, they had such mixed reviews, so I went with what seemed more a known quanitity as I didn't want to scrimp on this part of my trip for various reasons. I also wanted something convenient to metro and the train station.

I was not going for the piano festival, but am very interested as I play myself. In fact, I had one of the performers as a teacher, once -- well, sort of, in some master classes in Paris (Bavouzet). I'm not sure if I knew about that, but I'll check out the schedule as I will be there part of it. Thanks!

Oops. Just noticed I put in the wrong website for the Grand Balcon Hotel. It should be www.grandbalconhotel.com

Please, an edit function, pretty please.

Christina, I knew you played piano, that's why I asked. I play too. And I am coincidentally going to be there during the festival and just found it while researching my trip the other day. I'm having fun deciding which concerts to attend.

Hotel des Beaux Arts is right on the river, and an easy walk to most sites. There is a good brasserie around the corner. Toulouse is lovely town.

Thanks people !!
Annhig, how far was the walk to the station ?

of the places I've stayed in, I like the Beaux Arts best. We've also stayed twice in the Crowne Plaza which is very central and does what it says on the tin, and in the Capitouls Best Western which ditto but is slightly further out. Ditto the airport Hilton.

In the cheaper league we've stayed in the St Sernin, which was fine and well located- we caught the end of a canicule and the lack of a/c was a bit of an issue, and we've stayed at the airport Ibis which is just grand at €40/night (for 2)

hi marko,

tooooo long. and past some dodgy folks too. ok it wasn't that far, say 15 mins, and they weren't that dodgy, but the route does go through one of the less solubrious areas of the town. it's easy enough to find, as it's at the end of a long straight road out from the centre.

an alternative to picking up a cab when you leave, is to pick up the night before and park the car somewhere near to the hotel. we have done this elsewhere and it has worked very well. this presupposes that you can find somewhere to park, though. and that you don't get caught up in the traffic which is fouling up the taxis in the morning.

regards, ann

Thanks for the headsup Ann !! cheers.

I've stayed at the Mercure Wilson, and the Beaux Arts. The Beaux Arts is very pretty, a real boutique hotel, and we love the Brasserie just around the corner. One of our favourite places in Toulouse (the Brasserie that is) Really small rooms at the hotel though.

For location, I would say that the Mercure Wilson is slightly better,just off the Place Wilson, and about 2 minutes from the Capitole. It's a more 'American style' hotel, very comfortable, larger rooms, but still quite a small hotel, unlike the other Mercure - St Georges, which is huge.

Neither is cheap, and so we sometimes give in and stay at the Ibis Centre - very central, comfortable, just not very much charm. But then not as expensive either.

Over the years we have looked for charming small hotels and haven't really found many that appealed. Tried Le Clocher de Rodez, which sounded charming - 18th century building, etc. But opposite the bus station, and paper thin walls.

If you are planning on staying in Toulouse I would recommend booking as soon as possible. It is not uncommon for ALL the hotels to be full. We've had friends drive home 2 1/2 hours after the opera in Toulouse because they couldn't find a hotel anywhere. And one of the reasons we ended up at the IBIS the last time we went was that we needed two rooms for friends visiting in May, and by February the Wilson Mercure had only one left.

yeah, I booked the one that is slightly better (Mercure Wilson). I did check out the location and other things very well, so made my decision based on that. I was actually considering the Ibis, also. I also found hotels booked up already, in some cases (I booked a couple months ago for a few days in the second week of September). As I recall, the Crowne Plaza looked like a great location and very nice, but already was completely booked.

I'll admit I couldn't find very promising charming hotels, either, in the budget to moderate range. As I recall, there weren't hardly any 3* hotels in central Toulouse (and at my time, I really wanted good AC, also, which limited things some) -- all the hotels seemed to be 4* (only a few) or 2*.

Another vote for the Hotel des Beaux Arts.. I stayed there some years ago and found it to be delightful. Its' location next to the Pont Neuf, overlooking the Garonne river is a bonus. The room I stayed in had a small terrace overlooking the Hotel Dieu. Toulouse is a wonderful city with enough restaurants and sights to keep you occupied for 3 days at least...

All great info Thanks !