We came across this hotel to escape the jams on the autoroute north and were not disappointed. The hotel is a two star and logis de France hotel and like many of its era has a nice entrance hall and feels grand. The rooms were not enormous, but were comfortable and enabled a good night's sleep. They are not air-conditioned. The literature in the bedroom suggested that there had been a programme of on-going refurbishment over the years to ensure it met with modern standards, but without losing the Edwardian feel. The focus of the last few years had been the kitchen both in physical and management/staffing terms and reading the reviews below, it seems we may have missed a trick in terms of dinner.
It was with some difficulty that we found a brasserie (ironically a few hundred yards up the road from the hotel), which served us a very large and good meal with a decent of bottle of wine, without breaking the bank.
Breakfast at the hotel consisted of everything that would be expected - boiled eggs, meats, cheeses, cereals, breads and pastries, jam etc, juices, coffee, tea ... and for those wanting to sample it, various Vichy waters.
Vichy proved to be a really interesting town and one on our list to visit properly. Water is its claim to fame: people come here to take the waters for various ailments and this is done in a large, iron and glass pavillion from the last century, which is situated in a park in the centre of town. The park has at one end the pavillion and the other a grand building, which was one stage a casino and now, I believe, a museum. Around the edge of the park runs an iron and glass covered walkway, built at the same time as the pavillion and starting and finishing at it. I assume this was to shelter patients from the weather, whilst they exercised. Vichy sits on a large river, along whose bank is situated more parkland, a newer casino and the grander 4 and 5 star hotels. There also appears to be a wide variety of watersports and other forms of exercise in the area. A road race was just being set up the day we left.
A number of things struck us about the town - the buildings reminded us of some of the better parts of Paris in terms of architecture; it felt an old town in terms of the inhabitants' age, but this could be because we were there in August when most of France is on holiday; it is a wealthy town with some very high end shops; a lot seems to go on over the year - it has its season of horse-racing, it has its own opera and theatres and there seem to be a lot of music events. I also understand it serves golfers well.
It is not really surprising when reading about the town's history that 1940-44 is very glossed over.
Overall, a hotel which we would be very happy to stay in again and town that is certainly worth a few days getting to know better.