Hotel Le Cagnard - Cagnes-sur-Mer, Nice

We selected Le Cagnard because it was a 4-star and close to the castle where our friends were getting married. The garden suite we received was lovely on the outside (an orange tree and a table outside), but inside it smelled damp and musty. We decided to keep the room on the belief that we could open all the windows to "air-out" the smell. Upon our return from the wedding, the smell had not gone away and an inspection demonstrated there was mold on the walls in several places that would come off when rubbed. The next morning -- after a breakfast with orange juice that had seeds, scalded milk, semi-cooked eggs that you could still see slightly raw whites, but with a gorgeous view of the valley -- we asked to change rooms for the second night. As they said they were full, and we ended up having to find alternate accommodation. On the plus side (aside from the nice views), the woman who runs the hotel was very polite, spoke very good English and understood the smell was a problem. On the whole, we cannot believe this is a four-star hotel. It may have been 15 years ago, but now we believe a 2-star rating would be generous.

The hotel has seen far better days. It's worst problem is that it is completely inaccessible by car, which they do not clearly explain when you make your reservation. You must park in a bizarre lot (you drive your car through electronically-operated glass doors, and the car then disappears, by elevator, into some sort of car heaven), and while they tell you to then call the hotel for a pick-up, no one answered the phone when we did, so we ended up walking walk uphill for some 400 meters, carrying our bags over the cobblestones, with no signs directing us to the hotel. We checked out the very next morning.

Very good service, friendly staff and beautiful village with very narrow cobbled streets