We drove on to Colmar - a town I have visited several times and enjoy - where we stayed at the four star Le Marechal which is in the area known as petite Venice. The receptionist was first class when we walked into this clearly upmarket establishment. It is an old building which backs onto the river and is one of those places that is truly picturesque. Considering the age of the building they have done well to manage to squeeze in rooms and a lift that works. We had two small doubles which were perfectly adequate as singles and I suppose OK as doubles if you are small, or very friendly. That night we dined in their gastronomic restaurant called A l’Echevin: it provided slightly pretentious service: the food was correct as one would expect in such an establishment: but I would have liked to see more flair and inventiveness.

Rooms are not very spacious and the decoration is not what one expects for the price. This hotel is in need to a refit! Marvellous location nonetheless, and the set price dinner was just superb, as was the choice of taster wines to go with it. Staff were helpful and friendly.

My husband and I were so excited to go to Colmar. We found this hotel through a reliable network called Small Luxury Hotels. We are members of this sight and have used it before and not been disappointed until now. Le Marechal looked so adorable, quaint, comforting, and old on the websites. It is set overlooking a canal. When we arrived, it was quite adorable from the outside and looking at it from the canal (some rooms overlook the canal). We parked in public parking just across the street from it. Quite convenient parking and easy to use. By the way, definitely mapquest or use your gps to find this hotel. When you get into "old Colmar", it becomes difficult to navigate. Anyway, we checked into the hotel. Small lobby but adorable. Friendly staff took us up to our room (Debussy, I believe number 14). We of course walked up many flights of creaky old stairs....just to be expected. When we entered the room (top floor), all I could see was this canopy bed that took up so much of the room there really was no room. For a room that size (typical in Europe)....who would think of putting a four poster bed in it. I was trying to figure out how we would navigate the room the bed was so enormous. It was not a cozy feeling at all as you just felt that the bed dominated the whole room with just a foot or two on either side to walk. Ridiculous. When I entered the bathroom, I checked out the shower. I could stand in it (5 feet 6 inches tall) with not a lot of room left over between me and the top of the shower. I was trying to figure out how my 6 foot tall husband was going to handle this. I understand everything in Europe is much smaller than in our country....but please....why bother having the room if only small people can take a shower. On top of that, we were paying a precious price for this so called luxurious room. We asked if there were other rooms available and they showed us the Wagner room. Much nicer, a lot more room, overlooking the canal. They said we would have to pay the higher rate but could only guarantee the room for one night and then we would have to change back to the Debussy. We took the room and agreed to pay the higher rate. Well, it went downhill from there. The room was okay. The bed was hard. The air conditioner came out from the wall above and was noisy and not effective. You could hear the noise from the restaurant across the canal all night. The television....no american or british channels at all.....not even BBC! This was archaic. The straw that broke the camals back was this room had no enclosed shower. It was a small jacuzzi with a hand held shower attachment on the faucet of the bathtub. There was no shower curtain, no glass....you simply had to stand in this open bathtub and hold up (no holder to put the hand held nozzle into) the nozzle to shower. Water went everywhere in the bathroom. There was no place to set it down while you shampooed. It was ridiculous. Even if the place is old.....can't you rig a shower curtain or some sort of enclosure with a holder for the shower handle???? I finally convinced my husband that we did not need to spend another night in this place. We had commited to 3 nights but I felt that we were being ripped off. We went out to dinner to think it over. When we came back, we wanted to sit in the bar to have a drink. There was no real bar. Everything was just sort of makeshift. Long story short....we went to complain and they were not helpful at all. They were defensive, arrogant, and unwilling to help make the situation better. The next morning we went to the reception desk and spoke with the so called manager. She was defensive and unhelpful. We said we wanted to leave and she granted that and let us out of the other two nights. We voiced our complaints to her and she did not seem to care. Long story short, don't stay here. Overpriced....bad accomodations....bad service....really bad service. We went out that morning and found accomodations down the street and over the canal at the Hotel Colombier. It was outstanding, less expensive...much better accomodations, and great friendly help. I will write a review on this hotel next. Do not stay at Le Marechal. The ambience is not worth it.....the service is "I don't care I have your money!"

We stayed two nights at htis centrally located Alsacian hotel. The triple room was a very generous size with a contemporary style bathroom. The seperate shower and toilet were fine, but there was a very unpleasant smell.

The young lady on reception was charming, but the only real down side was the service in the restaurant which was slow and surly, however the food was great. The restaurant is very formal so wouldn't recommend it if your children can't sit still.

The hotel is a v short walk from all the sites, and Colmar is so pretty and great pressie shopping. May well go back to the area for the Christmas markets which I would imagine are beautiful.

Very romantic location, probably best for cuples rather than families but we had a great time.