Hotel de la Porte Saint-Malo, Brittany

Advantages: excellent customer support and booking advice service
Disadvantages: not a lot for 'tweenagers' to do on board the ferries

...Brittany Ferries is not just a ferry operator, but also a holiday and hotel booking service. ~~ Booking ~~ Somehow, no matter how hard we try to plan things in advance we always do things at the last minute. Last July we decided, rather late in the day, that we’d like a ‘little holiday’ in France. This was to be our third short break in France, having previously travelled to Caen and Cherbourg, both from Portsmouth. This time we chose St Malo, and gave ourselves a week to arrange it and get there! Brittany Ferries offers what appears to be a great online booking service, trouble is we were too late to use it and I had to use the phone to make the booking, referring to the website to find details of hotels. We wanted bed and breakfast somewhere we could use as a centre for a quiet sightseeing family holiday that we could... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Comfortable hotel, laid back surroundings, good for non-swimmers
Disadvantages: poor telephone service

...The Hotel Condessa de la Bahia is part of the Mar Hotels chain, who offer, good, clean and comfortable rooms. This particular hotel is in the middle of Alcudia on a 7km stretch of pure golden sandy beach. The hotel lays directly on the sea front, so is ideal for those who want a beach holiday. The Hotel has 5 floors which is served by 2 lifts. The staff are very friendly and all staff speak English. Prices in the hotel are very reasonable - a large pina colada will set you back only 750PTE (under £3). A buffet breakfast and dinner is served with very flexible hours. I had one vegetarian guest with me and he was very well catered for. A full entertainment programme is available in High Season from end June onwards with activities during the day for all the family. The evenings enterainment is carried out on stage at the back... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic

Advantages: Dramatic location, characterful old town, colourful past
Disadvantages: A bit of a tourist trap

...June would be good. Winter might be rather too bleak. * Where to stay * Need I say that St-Malo - the most visited tourist attraction in Brittany - is teeming with places to stay of all types and price-brackets? We were tempted by two of the hotels in the old town: the classy-looking but not excessively-priced Chateaubriand fronting onto the square of the same name, and the Porte St Pierre, which faces the ramparts with sea-views from the upper rooms. But, perhaps in a rather craven way, we were deterred by the difficulty of parking in the centre and settled for the Hotel La Grassinais on the outskirts. This has been converted from an attractive old farmhouse, has an outstanding restaurant and is good value for money. The catch is that an ugly retail park has recently sprung up around the hotel, so compared... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful