Relais & Châteaux Hôtel Parc Victoria

We needed a break after a long day and spotted this Relais et Château in the area. We went for a drink on the pool. The secret champagne cocktail was good. It is a quite a charming place but staff and service could be better.

Hotel Parc Victoria is situated in pleasant wooded grounds within walking distance of the sea. The lounge is a shrine to Art-Deco with its many objects d'art, and this theme runs through the hotel and bedrooms with its choice of furniture and unusual paintings. Rooms are quaint and comfortable. The hotel offers top quality dining, served al fresco by the pool area. Staff are friendly and efficient. We have stayed here three times and will no doubt return. It is unusual to have a hotel offering peace and tranquility so close to the heart of town. The only negative feature for me as a business user was the intermittent Internet connection.   .

When trying to decide where to stay for one night along the southwest coast of France near the Basque Country, we narrowed our choice to Biarritz and St. Jean-de-Luz. The fabled Biarritz is of course all about the jet set, while the more subdued, yet no less picturesque St. Jean-de-Luz, had a decidedly more down to earth vibe, not to mention a fab village with countless indigenous shops and eateries. We chose the latter and specifically this Chateaux et Relais property, which, while older than others we've stayed at in Europe, offered us a private escape amidst lush grounds behind a gated entrance. If you're looking for something modern and sleek, Hotel Parc Victoria is probably not for you. If you'd like refined, comfortable and classic, then you'll be smitten with this property. (Think Renoir, Seurat and Van Gogh versus Twombly, Koons and Hockney.) Our room was small, but had a charming view over the village rooftops. Again, it didn't have all the technology you might expect from a five-star property, but there were electric outlets so we could adequately charge our devices. The grounds were well-planted, even in early November, with private cottages, a dining house and heated pool. And the hotel was less than 10 minutes by foot to the seaside village. Again, my photos accompanying this review will do more justice to the hotel than my prose. Bottom line: if you're looking for a private escape in one of the most charming villages in France, Parc Victoria will more than satisfy. It also seemed especially well-suited for family with children.