We live in France and were recommended the pricey and deceiving hotel “Cazaudehore - La Forestière”, a supposedly Relais & Chateux at the Saint-Germain forest outside Paris, for a weekend getaway to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We were frankly surprised by the modesty of the premises and kept wondering how they managed to be included in the Relais & Chateu guide. We were booked in a small and uncomfortable room. The hotel garden is nice but nothing to write home about. We were charged 375 € for the evening, including dinner and breakfast. The restaurant décor is also quite modest and far away from what your would expect for a Relais & Chateux. Dinning was very good but you have to stick to the fixed menu with little choices unless you are prepared to see your bill skyrocket by going “a la carte”. In short a good expensive gourmet restaurant (like hundreds in France) with a mediocre hotel.

This hotel is located about a mile from the main St. Germaine area and the RER station, down a rural road. I guess it was once forest but now is just fields, with a teensy patch of woods around the property.

This is a very stylish place set in a quadrangle, with a modest sized but well grown garden in the middle. All the dining rooms, including the breakfast room, are located on the opposite side of the garden from the hotel and you walk between.

It is very isolated so unless you are driving, you had better plan on eating here. They have a parking lot.

The room was lavishly furnished and comfortable, even had a chaise lounge. Oddly, no CNN offered tho.

Our tour group spent its last night here. Our farewell banquet was lavish. The food was exquisite, expertly served by charming and well trained waiters who were also spunky and seemed to really enjoy their work. No idea what it cost. The dining room was mobbed all evening, and there was a business event as well. They seem to do a good food business here.

The property was clean. Unable to evaluate breakfast as they just put on a basic spread for those of us departing at 6:30 AM for Charles De Gaulle airport.

St. Germain is a charming, upscale location, and if you wished to avoid the hassle of downtown Paris, this could be very enjoyable for a special getaway. No idea of the price but it's not cheap.

We spent three romantic evenings at Cazaudehore which perhaps some might consider a restaurant with rooms as opposed to a destination hotel, but the rooms are very comfortable and very lovely. We had a junior suite with sitting area, beautifully furnished and upholstered with a view of their garden and the restaurant (housed in a separate building). Excellent sheets, pillows, towels, etc.

All of the staff are warm, welcoming, highly professional and knowledgeable. The food is absolutely wonderful and the sommeliers are dedicated to suggesting the perfect wine for your meal, not necessarily the most expensive. They are extremely knowledgable about the extensive selections on offer and we tried several unfamiliar to us, all with outstanding success.

Close to Versaille and in the heart of Germain-en-Laye the days go quickly and the luscious evenings eating outside or in the lovely interior restaurant are still very fresh in our memories.