Just back (5th September 2009).

Hotels in general in Carcassonne are on the expensive side. OK if you are celebrating something, but for a short break like ours, this hotel was just great. It is ideally situated for the Old City (2 minutes), and is a ten minute walk into the Bastide (the town outside the Cite). There is a bus 2 minutes away that takes you in to town, and a little tourist train that takes you all the way across town and to the train station if necessary this is also right beside the hotel.

OK the hotel is fairly basic, but it was spotlessly clean, beds comfy too. Small amount of storage space alright, but if you are only going for a couple of days it's fine. The rooms are small, but most French hotel rooms are like that. The shower would take the skin off your back it was so powerful, so full marks there.

Yes, there is no bar, but there is one straight across the street. I personally prefer no bar in a hotel, it makes it much quieter late at night.

Ah yes, the aircon. When we arrived it was roasting. After unpacking etc. I went down to reception and asked could we have it turned on when we returned at night. No problem. We weren't there during the day and evening so why not save the planet! As soon as we returned at night, no sooner had we closed the door on the bedroom than the aircon came on. Now that I really liked.

The staff were very friendly, so much so, that if it was quiet the night receptionist joined me outside for a cigarette and a chat late at night, so I could practise my French.

OK , not a 5 star, and it is small, but in my view, perfectly formed. If you want a five star try the Hotel de la Cite in the old town. We went there for a drink after our meal, and yes, it is impressive, but I felt much more "at home" in the easy going atmosphere of the Aragon.

And by the way, Carcassonne is spectacular and relatively undiscovered by Northern Europeans. Mostly French and Spanish there I found, which was wonderful. Felt exclusive to me an Irish person, as I was one of the few they had met.

Rated as a three star hotel you have to expect the basics are good. Pillows are lumpy and the bed hard. Walls paper thin so we listened to a disappointed pommy rugby fan sing " sweet chariots" all night. Location close to the Carcassonne castle is great as we were able to wander around the castle at night and enjoy dinner and a drink.

April 2007 we arrived in Carcassonne Sunday evening because we had an early flight Monday morning and had travelled up from the south. Decided to try Hotel Aragon for a vacancy because of its location and outside appearance was good. Got two family rooms no problem. Room decor was dated and smell was not great. One room had no bath plug and when we asked for one were just told sorry but have none. Staff tried to be helpful although when we asked for baby bottle to be heated they had no microwave for us to use so they sat it into a kettle which would not boil. We were told it only works sometimes!! Room cost about €80 (I think) overall ok to put your head down but definetly not great place if you have children with you.

Booked this hotel two days in advance of arriving in Carcassone due to the Best Western cancelling our room. We were lucky to get the "bon weekend en ville" 2 nights for the price of 1 promotion in such short notice and were generally happy with the hotel. The best thing was the location. Absolutely ideal to walk for a minute to get to the Cite. The view of the cite walls from the bed of room 10 was also a plus. However, the room was a lot more basic that we would expect for a 3 star hotel, especially for 120 euros a night (thankfully we only paid 138 euros for 2 nights with breakfast included). We found the staff to be friendly and contrary to one other reviewer, we did have a bottle opener in the room. As stated previously, this hotel would be ok for a couple of nights, there is defintely not enough storage for long periods of time and it was a bit strange to have the air conditioning/heating of the room controlled by reception...