We arrived at the Prieure on one of those really hot days in September 2011. Eventually. Having negotiated the Amiens one way system several times we eventually parked as near as we thought we could to the hotel and lugged cases down a street and then over pedestrianised areas to get there. A sweaty experience, but it would have been much worse if it had been raining heavily. In fact you can park closer than we managed, but not much. Aim for the east end of the cathedral where there is metered parking (free on a Sunday and also Monday morning for some weird reason).That's the negative of the location - the positive is that its magnificently cheek by jowl with the cathedral, a wonderful, confident gothic construction.
The hotel welcome was warm. And so was our room. Once two people had showered, the fairly small (but modern) room was pretty hot and there's no aircon. The outside balcony overlooking an offshoot of Jewson's builder's merchants offered little solace as it was tiny and had room for just one chair.
Quite why the inner courtyard was full of building materials wasn't clear, nor was the reason for the rather eclectic furnishing and decoration of the hotel (e.g. a sedan chair and a very large white fluffy "thing" in reception). The hotel is certainly well placed for restaurants and the sights of the city centre. The service couldn't be faulted either. But the hotel is neither fish nor fowl and seemed to have the atmosphere of a public library (at breakfast no voices raised above a whisper). Breakfast was a pleasant buffet but I would only rank it average for what we paid. If you are planning on visiting Amiens and hotel location is your most important consideration then the Prieure would be a reasonable choice, But if this hotel was similarly placed in a less interesting city we wouldn't consider returning.
- Hotel Le Prieure
