We booked Hotel Cafe de Paris after reviewing Biarritz hotels on Trip Advisor. Though it is expensive It seemed to be the most suitable for our requirements - short stay in luxury hotel.
We booked in March 2010 and the quoted rate was 423.30 Euros per night. We travelled by TGV to Biarritz and hired a car at the station. We had been told to park the car in one of the nearby car parks which we did and laboriously lugged our luggage to the hotel. When we checked in we told the very pleasant receptionist that we had parked in a public car park which was some way from the hotel and had to return to get remaining luggage. No comment or offer of help to our room on the 3rd floor.
The room was small but with a large balcony, as it turned out it would have been better for us to book a large room without a balcony since the balcony is westerly,facing the sea and gets no sun in the morning. Biarritz weather is very unpredicatable and the sea front is windy so really the balcony could only be used on a sunny afternoon - when we were on the beach. We do not know whether there were other guests occupying the third floor but we did not see the balconies used during the whole of our stay. The bedroom was so small it was difficult to manoeveure around the very comfortable king-size bed. There was little cupboard/hanging space and no full length hanging for dresses, trousers etc and no mirror in the bedroom so one had to wait until the bathroom was vacated if a mirror was required. The air conditioning in the room worked very well and quietly.
Only one side of the french doors to the balcony would open, although not fully as the bed was in the way. We tried without success to open the other door to get air into the room but were unable to do so. We eventually asked Reception to do this and two lovely ladies arrived with little clue how to do it. They eventually found out that the mechanism had corroded/locked and used tablespoons and brute force (my husband) to open it. Perhaps an indication that this door had never been opened?
The shower room was very good, spacious and well equipped with two wash basins, dressing gowns, towels etc.
We asked about breakfast but were not told about the breakfast room mentioned by previous reviewers but told to have breakfast on our balcony. We knew that was not a good idea so went out for breakfast each day - probably a good plan considering breakfast reviews. There are some wonderful restaurants in Biarritz so we did not try the hotel food until two nights before we left. It was mostly inedible, although a fillet steak was good, the accompanying chips were most peculiar and tuna requested medium rare was well overdone and the accompanying piperade tasted as though it had been made with canned tomatoes. The waitress was adamant that it was not. In fairness to the staff, they were concerned that we had not eaten our food and deducted 10 euros from the bill. We were treated to so much good food in nearby restaurants that it is surprising they don't try harder.
As we were paying the bill on departure we saw a notice about repayment of car parking fees but were told that we had not asked for this at the time of making our booking. Giving them the benefit of the doubt there may have been a language barrier but my husband, who made the booking, speaks excellent French and we doubt if it was mentioned.
Having made all these grouses, we must add that all the young ladies on Reception were extremely pleasant and helpful within their capabilities.
This hotel has few facilities. There is no communal sitting area for guests apart from the bar and, of course, no swimming pool. This is an over-priced hotel in an expensive City.
We loved Biarritz and will return but not to Hotel Cafe de Paris. Either we will rent an apartment or pay more to stay at Hotel Du Palais which is not so much more expensive, has beautifully appointed restaurants and sitting areas as well as extensive grounds and two swimming pools.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
