La Couleuvrine

Really frustrated we ended up in a room not in the main hotel, we were not informed this was the case when we booked, if we had been we would have cancelled. Very dark and small, the room went straight onto the street, above the kitchen so noisy till late, mould on the bathroom ceiling. When we queried the fact we were not in the hotel, we were told we should of had a message to tell us this, we didn’t receive this, no apology, just that all the other rooms were booked a year ago? Odd explanation, no reaction to us stating there was mould on the bathroom ceiling, just carried on charging us the tourist tax. It’s a pity, as it’s in a good position and the rest of the hotel looks nice.

We stayed two nights at the La Coulverine, paying E116 per night for a suite large enough for a family of four. We had a fair experience. The hotel is located right on the edge of the medieval town (the old ramparts) and our room was on the third floor, with two rooms. A very large main room with a double bed and a second, much smaller room with two singles. We found the suite a perfect size for us, but others might find the second room too small. Our suite was clean and nicely decorated, as was the rest of the hotel. But many parts of the hotel felt a bit dark and dingy. That’s how the building was originally made and no complaints about that but a little extra lighting would have been great. Otherwise, it was quite charming. The bathroom needs some work. Yes, it has just been renovated but they’ve installed one of those small complete shower cubicles with the rounded doors – and the doors were falling off! I’ve seen that in other hotels on these kinds of shower cubicles too, so I’m guessing it’s a design fault. But worse was the mould above the shower, which really needs to be attended to. The location was just about perfect – walk out the door and you’re in the old city. So restaurants etc are very easy to find. Just as well, as I was not overly impressed by the breakfast at La Coulverine. Parking needs to be found on the street and metres topped up regularly. There’s a Laundromat just across the street, which was super convenient.

Pot luck This hotel has a reputation for hit or miss, we ended up in a terrible room. Room 29 for reference. It is an annex room.over the kitchen. The extractor fan of which empties cooking fumes on to the dirty terrace. On arrival we had a curt welcome, on the street, to the shortness of this is your room. We went out for a drink and came back to a patio now with with other peoples disgarded beer bottles. The door of our annexe room could not be locked from the outside and only with great difficulty from the inside.

What a fantastic stay in Sarlat-la-Canada! Beautiful Hotel with great, really friendly and helpful staff and the best dinner I have had in France!