I stayed in Le Meridien Beach Plaza from 1st -6th June 2008. I booked it about 4 weeks before we arrived with a friend for a last minute summer holiday. We booked the flights and hotel separately as i find this was the cheapest way to do it, instead of booking with an online travel agent e.g. last minute.com. We arrived at Nice airport around midday and instead of getting the usual taxi or shuttle bus to the hotel we decided to take an alternative form of travel. We decided to get a helicopter from Nice airport to Monaco. We found a link for this service on the le meridien website. The helicopter company is called HeliAir Monaco. It cost 70euros each for a 8 minute flight. However the views over the mediterranean are amazing. When we arrived at the helipad in Monaco a mercedes was waiting for us there to take us another 5 minutes by road to our hotel.

The room itself was rather large. Straightaway on the left was the door for the bathroom. The bathroom had a sink, toilet, bidet and a bath/shower. Everyday they provided you with new soaps, shampoos and body washes which was greatly appreciated. Coming out of the bathroom and into the bedroom there was quite a big wardrobe which me and my friend used. Even after unpacking both our full suitcases there was plenty of extra room in the wardrobe. They also had a safe in the room which was free of charge. You just had to choose your own 4-digit password to open and close it. The bedroom contained 2 double beds, which were extremely comfortable. We had a plasma tv set on a large desk with a mini bar underneath. We also had a table with 2 chairs in the corner of the room. The balcony was also very spacious, it had another table and 2 chairs. Our balcony was on the side of the building but from it you could see the pool and the private beach. The mini bar in the room was extremely dear! A corona cost 13 euros, which i thought was pretty extortionate as they were only 4 euros at a bar down the road. The room was cleaned twice a day and a chocolate was left on your pillow everytime you came back to the room after your night out. I thought that was a nice touch that put a smile on my face. The room's had air conditioning for when it gets too hot in Monaco. We found the room to be comfortable, spacious and luxurious. The only disadvantage it had was the very expensive minibar, but that is the case in most hotels.

The outdoor pool area was great because they had lots of sunbeds and it wasn't overcrowded. When you go down to the pool a person at the hotel hands you a towel to use and then when your going back into the hotel you give it them back. Usually when you go on holiday sometimes people get up at 6:30am just to go down to the pool and put the towels down on the beds. There was no need for this here. No matter what time we went down to the pool whether it be 10am or 2pm there was always free sunbeds. The pool itself was big. It is split into 2 pools separated by a bridge. I loved the pool but a negative point is, if you have kids there is no shallow end. I think the shallowest point of the pool was about 4ft. The indoor pool is next to the outdoor pool but its inside under cover. We never used the indoor pool as the weather was so good, we didn't see the point of using it. It was smaller than the outdoor pool and looked very nice.

The location of the hotel was pretty central in Monaco i think. It was a 5 minute walk to the Grimaldi Forum, which is where there are a few exclusive bars & clubs and where they hold summer concerts. Celine Dion played there the week before we arrived. The walk to the casino is about 15 minutes, but it is nice to stroll on the promenade along the ocean where you can admire the views. The walk to the harbour in Monaco is about 20-25minutes. At the harbour there are many bars & restaurants where you can eat fresh fish and other delicious cuisines. There are numberous restaurants only a couple of minutes walk from the hotel on the beach. They are reasonably priced and serve great food.