Hotel de la Cite Carcassonne

The hotel and town are so disappointing. It’s like a Disney world experience rather than a historic town. The hotel did not Honor the room we had booked, it was dirty and cramped with no views. The hotel smells musty and like smoke. The worst part was the noise all night long of trash trucks outside our windows, the service workers yelling on their phones all night and morning. The delivery trucks all night long etc. The boys in the car park were the only Positive and were very kind.

Fantastic location inside the walled city of Carcassonne. Our room was nice and well appointed. Service however was hit or miss. We got the feeling that most of the staff had just arrived for the summer. They seemed to lack basic training which for a 5 star hotel is not acceptable. Same for the restaurant: loads of staff standing around but not attentive or well coordinated. The food was average and the prices sky high. Overall location is the main reason for staying at this hotel.

The hotel common spaces are beautiful. It’s too bad the rooms are so dated. The air conditioning is not up to the heat of summer. The room boarded on uncomfortable. I had to sleep on top of the duvet. Be aware that if you get a discount rate on your room they drop the quality of your room. So if you order a classic room with a discount rate they will stick you in an undesirable room in a less appealing location. I don’t like when hotels do this. Also they gave me a room with a stain on the duvet. They hid the stain by putting room information booklets on top of it. When I took the information to read I discovered the stain. That’s not very ethical.

This hotel is situated in the old town of Carcassonne. It's a unique hotel in a unique city. Lots of ups and downs getting around but it's so special. If you arrive by car you park outside of the citadel, and they drive you to the front door and bring your bags to the room. No lifting required. We had a family room which was huge(only 2 of us!) Breakfast was served outside overlooking the ramparts! Great breakfast. Pool was excellent in hot weather. Great garden to enjoy a quiet drink and sink into the history of the pace. A memorable stay!

This hotel has hosted the great, the good and the notorious. You are greeted with a selection of memorabilia and stay dates of some of the most famous guests (from Disney to Depp, from Rudyard Kipling to Winston Churchill, and a whose who of French industrial grandees and celebs) in the front entrance. It’s a charming hotel in the stunning setting of the (original) medieval city of Carcassonne. It gets a lot right - the setting, the comfortable bedrooms, the stunning views, the pool and shaded bar area and the “Barbican” restaurant overlooking the castle that inspired Walt Disney. But it also lets itself down on service which was at times slow and occasionally not particularly friendly, on the loud pop music which they played most days in the bar area which really wasn’t in keeping with the setting, and finally on the fact that the very high end restaurant - which did an excellent job when we ate there - has only limited set menus which were fixed for the full week. With a little bit more va-va-voom service and attention to detail this hotel, which is undoubtedly very good, could be great.