This hotel belongs to the Citotel chain and I booked it online from home. The location, less than a 5-minute walk from the train station, seemed perfect for me since I was traveling by rail.Check-in was very pleasant - "Ah, you are bonjour au Canada," reminding me of how I’d started my online request reservation. After a long night of air, metro and train travel with a sightseeing stop in Amboise, I was very happy to have an elevator whisk me and my luggage up to my second-floor room.
Although the hotel is on busy Blvd. Heurteloup, I was lucky enough to get a rear-facing room, which was very quiet. Of average size, the room had a very comfortable double bed, desk, lots of drawers and closet space, plus satellite TV which got two or three English stations – mostly CNN, but at least I could catch up on current events. The furniture was dark and definitely a few years out of date, but it was clean and the price of €43.50 was reasonable.
The bathroom was a hoot – linoleum floor and pink everywhere – tiles, deep but narrow tub, bidet and pedestal sink. It certainly was an eye-opener in the morning!
Breakfast cost an additional €7 per day and I had it one rainy Sunday morning when most other places, including the nearby bakery, were closed. I felt it was worth the price - cold meats, cheeses, croissants, brioche, cold cereals, juice, hot beverages and fruit served buffet-style in the breakfast room, which was bright and cheery in spite of the gloomy day outside. The hotel also had a bar and restaurant with three-course meals for as little as €9, but I didn’t eat there.
Accessible from the breakfast area was a rooftop patio set up with a few plastic tables and chairs. Much of my stay in Tours was marked by rain, but I did manage a few sunny hours one morning on the patio working on my journal.
A nice feature of the Criden was the hall lights, which were equipped with motion sensors that came on automatically whenever there was movement. This saved fumbling in the dark for the light switch and made me feel safe when returning to my room at night.
The hotel is surrounded by apartments and at night the sidewalks were almost deserted. Fortunately, there was enough traffic on Heurteloup that I wasn’t concerned about walking after dark by myself. Vieux Tours (Old Town), where most of the restaurants and tourist sights are located, is an easy 15-minute walk away.
The hotel offers guest parking for an additional charge in the garage next door.