WOW factor from the minute you arrive! No car park but the hotel can park the car for you for 11 euros a day or park it yourself over the road in the car park for 8 euros a day. Fantastic reception from highly efficient and friendly staff who cannot do enough for you, and with a smile too! Amazing service and luxury décor throughout. Definitely top notch quality hotel. The room was absolutely gorgeous overlooking the meticulously manicured gardens and the park next to the river. The beds were sumptuous, the mattress was like sleeping on a duvet, and the duvet and pillow were filled with feathers, it was like sleeping on a cloud. The bathroom had a separate toilet and shower room and a large corner bath with shower, dressing table with lights and hairdryer and lovely complimentary toiletries. Two pairs of slippers and fluffy white bathrobes hanging in the closet ready for use at the world re-known famous Vichy spa facilities which can be accessed by hotel guests from the 3rd floor via a walk-way which crosses the road beneath. Jaw dropping outstanding spa spread over 3 floors with giant Jacuzzi and steam rooms, and relaxation areas, but the big bonus was free herbal tea stations and fridges with free bottles of Vichy spa water. The hotel pool was on the 7th floor offering amazing views over Vichy with part of the pool outside, the inside pool had sunken Jacuzzi beds to lounge on. The fresh blue towels you will find rolled into sausage shapes but most guests use their towels and then leave them thrown all over the beds so we soon learnt that the clean ones are the ones still rolled into sausage shapes. These get refreshed late afternoon, a couple of times we arrived to find no fresh towels and dirty towels left thrown all over the beds by lazy guests who cannot put their towels in a basket by the door. It would be better to have a pile of fresh towels on the desk by the entrance door to save confusion. My friend slipped on the wet tiles around the pool so tread carefully or spend a night in A&E like we did! The cleaners do come round a sweep away the water often and refresh towels. There is a midday snack bar by the pool selling healthy food but no other drinks available up there after 3pm and in scorching summer temps a water dispenser would have been most welcome. The room had a flat screen TV with DVD player and the hotel has wifi access BUT at 5 euros an hour! You get a complimentary free trial for about 12 hrs although the registration page says free 24 hr trial after that you pay direct through your credit card to ‘orange’ OR go to any other local hotel and get FREE wifi access like I did. I found the drinks a bit pricey around 5 euros for a diet coke or 3 euros for water, so we only could afford a couple of drinks at the bar one night but it is a top class establishment and even other local bars wanted 3 euros for a diet coke. We could not afford to eat at the restaurant as plat de jour was 43 euros and dessert was 10-15 euros so we ate out every evening. The two recommended restaurants was The Bungalow Bistro – walk through the back of hotel through the park to the river, there are 3 restaurants, one called crocodile, then the bungalow (posh one) then bungalow bistro style, I had margherita pizza for about 10-15 euros and my friend had steak and chips for 25 euros. They had the most gorgeous choc cake for pudding! Watch the sun setting over the river and throw the ducks your bread while you eat dinner – LOVELY! Also go into Vichy town and find the Casino Grand buffet restaurant for 14 euros the most amazing buffet including desserts!!! I would NOT recommend the Ibis Hotel, as a vegetarian I ordered a green salad and it had more meat with dead green fly in than my friends meat dish! BUT it was cheap 5 euros for a plate of lettuce (full of flies)! We got hassled by beggars everytime we took a stroll in Vichy so watch out for that. I would recommend the Les Celestins if you are looking for a high class quality establishment, but Vichy in general is an expensive place to visit if you are on a budget!

Village is great, hotel and spa had aged pretty baddly. The materials, colors, and general design feels so much like a sour taste comming from the early 90s that is shoulld stop you from choosing this place. The service was excellent, the spa treatmants were great.... but overall, the trip stay was boring... we will choose another balneaire city next time...

This really is a lovely hotel in many ways. We stayed for four nights, using it as a base to tour the surrounding countryside. (I agree with other reviewers that Vichy itself, while pleasant, will not occupy you for more than half a day unless you want some intensive spa treatment.) Our room was lovely, overlooking the park, and the bathroom was one of the nicest hotel bathrooms I have seen. Service was excellent. We ate in both the bistro and the restaurant which were excellent - the restaurant has an innovative cuisine. ( I can also recommend the restaurant La Table d'Antoine, a few minutes walk away - but book as it is only small.)

The pool on the top floor has great views but is small - not for serious swimming. Luckily it was little used when we were there as otherwise it would quickly have got overcrowded. And it was surprising that no towels were provided - you had to take the ones or the towelling dressing gown from your room.

The only thing that spoilt it was the fact that the airconditioning had been switched off during a warm September with the temperatures into the twenties. Indeed it was worse than that. On a hot evening we set the air conditioning (as we thought) working and came back from dinner to find the room stiflingly hot with hot air pumping in. On enquiring whether there was a fault we were told that the air conditioning was switched off in September and replaced by heating - no matter how low you set the temperature control hot air came in!! Our room faced West and got the full afternoon and evening sun so it was difficult to keep cool. We had to sleep with the windows wide open and noisy geese in the park kept us awake. Very warm duvets on an otherwise very comfortable bed did not help.

But apart from that it is a lovely, although expensive, hotel. Provided you go when the air con is working or when it is not needed, it can be recommended.

Vichy is a good place to come to rest in one late afternoon + evening while passing through France. Don't plan more time than that, because there's only the (small) lake and some shopping streets to discover. Overall it has a lot of the flavors of towns like Deauville or Le Touquet, including the rather old "public".

This Sofitel hotel is okay. Rooms are spacy, the flat-screen tv includes a dvd-drive (don't forget to bring some film disks with you), the massage shower is fantastic and there's a separate (and that's rare!) toilet. Also two free bottles of the sparkling version of the famous Vichy water are waiting for you, one of them already cooling in the fridge. There's a mixed indoor/open-air pool on the 7th floor, with a wonderful lake and city view. Don't forget to take your camera with you, when leaving for a swim! But also take your towels from your room, because there aren't any by the pool (although they still get changed - on demand - when back in your room).

For supper definitely try the N3 gastronomic restaurant! Meals are superb, with overwhelming and surprising ingredients (we had a ball of ice cold foie gras, together with a boiled oyster in a three-stage glass with a hot vegetable consommé poured over it!). Ofcourse, there's a price to pay for such Michelin star quality...

Only major downside is the somewhat disappointing breakfast: e.g. there are hot saugages and bacon, but no scrambled eggs, except when you pay extra for them! This strange separation seems like a commercial trap to us. And oh yeah, internet access isn't free: the minimum is a 4,5 EUR/hour (to spend within 24 hours) formula.