We stayed at the Hauterive Saint James for two nights in August 2007 and loved every minute of our stay here.

The hotel is located in a pretty little village called Boulliac, on a hill overlooking River Garonne and Bordeaux. The architecture of the hotel is very unique. The cube-like buildings are designed to make the most of the views. We were given a corner room with glass windows all round. Each night we went to bed with Bordeaux shimmering like a beautiful jewel in the distance. The hotel is in the middle of a vineyard. it is absolutely incredible to find grapes growing everywhere even on the fences around the swimming pool.

Service is excellent. The food is world-class especially in Restaurant Saint James. You need to book ahead because it is very popular and it's not cheap but having had a most divine meal there, we would say that the experience is worth every penny. The restaurant is split into three different levels to allow every diner an uninterrupted view of the magnificent scene that lies before you.

The hotel is also a good base for exploring the surrounding wine region. St Emillion and Pommerol are just under an hour's drive away (easy drive). A 10 minute drive takes you into Bordeaux where good restaurants are aplenty.

We will definitely try to come here again.

Sometime contemporary architecture can be very interesting. This one ended up with rooms which are very cold, stone terrazzo floor, kitchen Table, and beton type walls. The bed is toi hard. The views are fantastic. The Restaurant has a contempoirary desing. We took the Gourmet Menu, excellent quality and some very innovative Ideas. Extensive and (for France) reasonably priced Wine List. The Service in the Restaurant is not very attentive (we had to fill our Glasses during the Dinner ourselves on a regular Basis) but friendly. There is much room for Improvement. The pool is nice but no poolbeds (only Chairs) available. No Gym or other Fitness equipment.

So overall it is a nice location, if you like the desing of the rooms you might be happy, otherwise there are much nicer Hotels in the Region at about the same rate

Fabulous modern hotel which overlooks Bordeaux and the Garonne river.The room was fantastic (bed was a little too hard though) with fantastic day and night views over Bordeaux.We had The Discovery Package which included accomodation,dinner with wine and breakfast.We had the best meal we have ever had in our lives ( and we have travelled extensively) on the terrace after spending an afternoon lounging around gorgeous pool set in amongst grape vines.Breakfast next day was a treat also with little pots of assorted fruits and yoghurt as well as usual breads,pastries etc.Also access to hotel great,it was only 10 mins to airport by motorway.

We spent a lovely week-end in Bordeaux and our second night at the Saint James which was a treat compared to the first night in a 3 star pretty plain hotel in downtown Bordeaux. The only reason why we didn't do 2 nights here in Bouliac was that the hotel was full due to a wedding party the previous evening.

The common areas of the hotel (reception, restaurant and - with a special mention -the high class bar) are very nice decorated with a warm feeling. The staff is extremely helpful and smiling. The pool is simple, but nice with a lovely view and surrounded by vines and a great garden.

We only went for a standard room (No 8) so didn't expect anything over the moon and it was exactly as we thought it would be: the decoration is fun, modern with concrete floors and stone walls, minimalist, no curtains but electric blinds sort of thing, TV and hifi B&O equipment. Beware that these category rooms are pretty small for the price €190/night. There is no balcony. However, the view over Bordeaux through the windows is spectacular, especially at night.
You can tell the design is by an architect (Jean Nouvel) - particularly in the very small bathroom. All very pretty and neat but not very practical (nowhere to put the shower spray so you end up spraying water all over when you need to wash your hair using your two hands. Not much space for towels and toiletries or clothes. Our week-end outfits just about filled it up. Again fine for one night but can be tiring for a longer stay. The toilet is the smallest I've ever seen and above the WC was a cupboard for anyone to open and see the ventilation system and concrete walls 'behind the scenes' (why don't they put a lock on the cupboard? It seems the workers didn't finished their job.) We were surprised that there was no safe in our room - pretty unusual for a hotel of this standard.

We didn't have dinner at the hotel but heard it was very nice. Should be for a relais & chateaux. We did however have breakfast paying an outrageous €30 per person! We knew before so weren't shocked but this is seriously overpriced for the usual coffee, tea, a few croissants, bread, ham, cheese, salmon etc. The extras were fresh strawberry juice (yum) and some sweet puddings and yoghurts with fruit presumably prepared by the chef of the restaurant (thus explaining the high price). We enjoyed the experience though despite some VERY weird music playing all the time we had breakfast. We would probably have taken the car to a nearby café for an €8 full breakfast had we stayed an additional night.

It's a nice experience and special thanks to reception who was very helpful! If we come back, we'll definitely book one of the larger suites which all have a terrasse or balcony.