Editor Pick
Best Western le Dauphin
- December 11, 2005
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Ed Hahn from Hong Kong, China
We check in to the Best Western Le Dauphin, a lovely hotel, which is a refurbished Priory. I find that in Europe, at least France, Germany and England, Best Westerns seem to offer the best value - three star quality, reasonable prices and interesting venues. We are in the older section of the hotel so we do have to carry our bags up two flights of stairs. I understand the newer section has an elevator but lacks the charm of the older antique furnished section.
The clerk offers to help, but we realize the bags are bigger than he is so we turn his offer down and struggle up the stairs ourselves. Our rooms, though small, were very bright and pleasant. All the facilities in the bathroom worked as they were intended.
Our location is excellent, just a block from Caen castle and within walking distance of the City Center, shopping and the Vaugueaux tourist area. The tram and bus stops are half a block away.
Except for the manager, who was rather curt and cold, the staff was very helpful with advice on directions, parking, internet sites, shopping, restaurants and anything else within their ability to speak English and our ability to make our wants known with very little French. We choose to pass on the 10 Euro breakfast option. Best Westerns seem to have a breakfast optional arrangement unlike most other hotels in France. I suspect it’s a function of our room rate. We were paying about 50% of the published rate.
The restaurant has an excellent reputation but the night we wanted to eat there, it was completely booked for a private party. The bar is cozy and welcoming and we sampled widely from its excellent selection of Calvados. Parking was a problem as there are only a few parking spots and they are, as is customary in Europe, very narrow so getting in and out of the car was a challenge. There is a parking lot, across the street, guests can use but one must get up in the morning to feed the meter or move the car into the hotel lot which does empty fairly early.
I read some reviews of the hotel before writing this one and they are rather schizophrenic. Some people loved the place; some people hated it with very little in between. Tom and I loved it and I’d gladly stay there again. I recommend, though, using the internet to check prices as the room rate we were paying seems to have been quite a bit less than those on the hotel’s website and mentioned in other reviews.
From journal Historic, Beautiful, and Brave Normandy