Bellegarde Vacations from $1,442

The location was utterly fantastic, right next to the main station and tram route so real easy to get around the city. The only downside was I had a ground floor room facing the street the was noisy with passing vehicles, trams and hearing people, also street cleaing happened around 3am and that woke me up also.

First impressions of the hotel were awful. On pulling into the parking area in front of the hotel, I thought, "Oh no. What have I done". The parking area felt unsafe. The hotel, and particularly the gardens, looked tired, dated and unkempt. It got worse. When we checked in, they had not got our reservation from Expedia so that took a while to sort out. We had paid extra for a better room but when we eventually got to the allocated room, it was a basic single - so we headed back to reception to get it changed. So why is this not a 1* review ? Once we were past the initial disappointment, we found that there was a separate, secure parking area. The room itself had been renovated and looked like the photos on Expedia. The bed was comfortable - so we got a great night's sleep. So, overall, we had to say that it was "OK".

Excellent service from front desk and excellent food from the bistro. The property is very cool. Unfortunately our room had some issues. One was what seemed to be a faint lingering smoke smell. They had an air freshener, perhaps to mask it, but it was too strong and we put it outside. Second, the bed was hard and very uncomfortable. Lastly, plumbing issues, the shower head was spraying all over ceiling. The AC was shut off for season, but it was still quite warm in October when we stayed, so that added to the discomfort.

Easy parking outside in parade of shops. Close to nature walk and lake - restaurants nearby were not open (Wednesday) so we walked for 30 mins to nearby town Vollonne for evening meal.