Garrigae Abbey Of St Croix

“Excellent location”

A bit outdated but beautiful. Greatly located if you wish to visit the Provence. Could be much cleaner. Fantastic pool. You can enjoy a really provencal ambience and a wonderful view. It is worthwhile to pay. Good breakfast. extra for Saint Jerome suite.

“A mixed bag...”

Amazing setting and views in a lovely old abbey. One of the most beautiful places we've stayed. The room was very clean and spacious, and the staff are incredibly helpful. Everything points to 5 stars however, we did experience a couple of set backs. Firstly, we arrived very early (10am) and ex… more

Amazing setting and views in a lovely old abbey. One of the most beautiful places we've stayed. The room was very clean and spacious, and the staff are incredibly helpful. Everything points to 5 stars however, we did experience a couple of set backs. Firstly, we arrived very early (10am) and expected we would be unable to check in. However, when we spoke to reception we were told we could not get a drink, food or use the pool area because the whole establishment had been privately booked for a wedding. So, we'd been up since 3am only to arrive and not be able to do anything at the premises. This left us completely stuck. It would have been nice for the hotel to email us to advise us of this before our arrival, especially as they don't provide a check in time on the confirmation if you book direct with them. If they had done this we could have stopped at the nearest town on our way from the airport and grabbed lunch. However instead, we felt forced out, having to pay 25 euros each way for a taxi with the hotels recommended service and, pay out for quite an expensive lunch as options were limited on a Sunday. The only 'positive' about this was the staff member who called the taxi for us and arranged the restaurant booking in town but, nonetheless it wasn't a very good start. Dinner that same evening was lovely though, despite only having three options on the menu for the starter, main and dessert. We realised at this point we'd have to have the same dinner on our last night, as we were staying for four. However, this became worse when we sat down for lunch the next day, and realised the dinner and lunch menus were the same... so that was 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts to see us through for 4 nights for lunch and dinner... I was starting to realise how my cat feels. Also, we paid to have our dinners included with the room, which included a glass of champagne each evening. However, we had to ask for our champagne on the first night as it didn't come, as per the second night too. We double checked with reception that our booking definitely included this and they confirmed it did, so they spoke to the restaurant staff. About half an hour later the champagne comes with a comment from the waitress 'we didn't forget your champagne'.... .But, champagne is an apertif on their drinks menu, and on both occasions it came after dessert. Breakfast on the other hand was very yummy with plenty of options to suit all preferences. So nice in fact we did have to resort to smuggling some breakfast goods to our room to store in the mini fridge for lunch, to save us not only from having the same as last nights dinner but, to also try to avoid the extortionate price of 40 euros per person for a 2 course lunch. It was a little bit staggering to us that they don't even have a small selection of pre made baguettes and snacks you can add to your room bill. They said they didn't have enough staff to expand the menu but some bread and fillings aren't difficult to make available as an alternative to the very expensive same-as-dinner lunch menu. The drinks were also double that of the prices from the shops and cafes in town, so value for money here is definitely questionable. But, the place was very quiet when we went, and we did have the luxury of having the whole pool area to ourselves for 90% of the time over the course of the day and a half we spent in this area. The staff overall were extremely lovely and helpful but there is a strong language barrier. We don't speak French and struggled a few times to convey what we needed but got by ok. It felt like this hotel isn't really designed for international travelers, and is more for one or two night romantic couple getaways for French residents to experience, weddings and business conferences etc. Maybe they need to market the hotel slightly differently to avoid more somewhat disappointed international customers staying in an arguably unsuitable location to meet their needs. To rub a little salt in the wounds, an English speaking chap checked in while we were checking out. He was early too. The reception staff told him 'oh your room isn't ready yet but you can get a drink or some food and use the pool if you like...'. That's the response we were expecting on day one. We also witnessed a new couple get their champagne pretty much as soon as they sat down for dinner... so waitress, I'm afraid you did indeed forget our champagne, twice. Oh, and there was also the powercut between 08:45 and 14:30 on our day of check out, that we only learnt was happening the evening before. We had to therefore get as much sorted for check out as we could the night before, which was just an inconvenience and meant we couldn't properly enjoy or last evening or last morning.

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