The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is once a famous abby turned prison turned landmark, hotel, and…read morerestaurant. Unfortunately, on Yelp, there are various entries for this place, but all under different names and different addresses. Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud is the name of the site. Within the Abbey, there is Fontevraud L'Hôtel and attached to the hotel is Fontevraud Le Restaurant. To visit the site, you will need to by a ticket, or you can book the hotel to stay in there (they have special parking for hotel and restaurant guests) that allows you to roam the abby at night, free of charge. The hotel itself is modern and very pretty, and also very child friendly. When we asked for a crib for the room, we had real wooden crib placed inside by the time we checked in. they even offer babysitting sevice for 12 eur an hour, provided you book with them 48h ahead of time. However their regular rooms lack a fridge so it's actually quite hard to feed the baby there. The attached restaurant is a one-star michelin. Their breakfast at 18eur a person is a bit ostentatious in pricing, especially since they only offer some vienoisserie, some ham and cheese and yogurt, and oeuf cocotte. The first morning, they had a really awesome meat and mushroom suace for the cocotte, but the second morning they did not. To book their restaurant for dinner can be difficult unless you are staying there. We tried to book them in parallel to our stay and were rejected both times. However, when we were there, we were able to book dinner directly. The food there is really good but a little "modern". Prior to our amuse-bouche, we had a sheet to eat made of honey and nuts and goat milk. The menu is inexpensive for its quality, just as the hotel. 68 EUR for 4 courses and 34 eur for additional wine pairing. Additional prices for 6 courses and 8 courses and another additional pricing for wine pairings for the different courses respectively. The last dinner slot is at 8pm and there's a good reason for this. It takes forever between each course and they want you to really spend the time there. When I asked what time they close, we were told they close when the last patron leaves, whether that be 1am or 4am. By 11:30pm, we were not even at the dessert and cheese yet so we had to ask them to bring up the rest quickly as we were so tired! We were pleasantly drunk and happy walking out at almost 1am. The whole stay was such a wonderful experience. Great food, great rooms and services, and walking around the abbey is an unforgettable experience. Highly recommended!!

The Hotel. At the…read morereception desk they handed us an iPad and explained how it controlled the TV, replaced the room phone and could be used for photographs during our stay, they would email. The photographs to us. I looked at the grubby case, my jet lagged mind desperately wanting sleep. The recessed Hotel corridor lights turn on, then off as you pass by. Quiet, subtle and bright enough. The Hotel is a converted part of the monastery. Tasteful and quiet. It is a lovely retreat Later at midnight when I accidentally knocked a glass onto the floor in the bathroom, the glass shattered. I couldn't work out how to use the iPad to call reception. I got dressed, went to reception who handed me a dishpan and brush to clear up. I was shocked, and felt like crying. I cleared up the mess and went back to sleep. The next day, no one removed the dishpan, brush, broken glass. A replacement glass wasn't provided. The hotel is at once both stunningly wonderful, and missing the mark. Some of the staff are not strong, as mentioned in the last paragraph. Most of them were outstanding. Some were surly insensitive. There was almost always a line of people waiting at reception. Understaffed? My 78 year old mother and I shared a twin-bed room. Staff phoned around local restaurants to make us dinner reservations, they drove us and our luggage from the car park to the hotel. We used the hotel as a base to visit the Abbaye, Chinon, Chenonceaux, Saumer, and gently exploring the region. It's in a great location for this. I would visit again for the peace, amazing ambiance, few excellent staff and location.

Wow WOW WOW WOW! is all i could think and say as we pulled into this amazing Chateau after our 3…read morehour drive from Paris to this beautiful "little town, in a quiet village." The near by town of Chinon is out of a movie set. I would never have imagined this could be real. Beware: our navigation took us to the wrong location and we were very confused and lost. However, we asked people on the street which way to go and they were all very knowledgeable and about Chateau Maracy and had great things to say about it. As we pulled in, we were al in shock! the first glimpse of this Chateau is magical and awesome! We were taken care of very nicely and professionally. The hotel staff is gracious and friendly and kind. They break every "french stereo type." We were able to check in right away and we had a 2 story cute room with stone walls. The master bedroom was on the top and 2 pull out beds were on the 1st floor. The towels and linens were clean, white, fluffy and much more plush than I expected. The views from our room was magnificent. You could see the beautiful french countryside and French sky for miles. I'm convinced that the sky looks different in France. I need to look this up because I understand it odd it sounds, but really, it looks different than our American sky. it seems lower set and wider. The Chateau had e-mailed us earlier about reservations at their restaurant and I wish I had booked it. They were completely booked at the restaurant and I now understood why. This remote Chateau had a michilin rated restaurant!!! Although they were booked, they agreed to provide my kids with a 3 course meal in the Parlour room! The meal was licked clean by my extremely picky and anorexic kids. We were served by 2-3 waiters in tuxedos in the parlor room of an 11th century Chateau! 1st course was cantaloupe (melon) slices. I swear, it was not your typical melon (lol, as Max Amini says, "I am not your typical Persian girl"). It was the most delicious cantaloupe and I am usually not a fan of the orange melon. Next course was Sea bream with Ratatouille and pasta with the most delicious white light sauce. Yes, my kids were thrilled to have ratatouille and they ate up veggies for the 1st time and LOVED IT! All 3 plates were licked clean and the kids sat in anticipation of dessert. Vanilla ice cream. How could vanilla ice cream be any different than all the vanilla ice cream you've ever had? Thats what I thought too! trust me, this WAS different. so freakin good! all the portions were relatively small for American Standards but to was enough. we left very satisfied and not stuffed/gross. They had turn down service with little chocolates on our pillows. We woke up to roosters and the beautiful silence of the country. They were able to squeeze my kids in and take them horse back riding. They had a beautiful pool and some outdoor toys and balls you could borrow. My kids loved walking around and petting the horses. My sister bought back pizza from Chinon for my kids and the hotel restaurant held it for us and then served it to us outside, warm on a beautiful tray! I will never forgot the kindness and grace of the staff and the breathtaking beauty of the Chateau. Our room lacked hot water so they refunded part of our stay.

I am just back from vacation in France. I wanted to make sure I wrote a favorable review for the…read morechâteau de marçay. We stayed there for a night and had dinner. We actually arrived after the noon meal, but before dinner was available. The staff told us they could provide us with some cheese to get us through until dinner. I came to find out that they are well known for their cheese monger because they brought us the most incredible cheese platter I have ever seen. There were like 20 some different kinds of cheeses. They also brought some wonderful bread and we had the house red that they produce which was actually quite good. Near by Chinon is not as famous for their wine as other regions of France, but as we were traveling through Loire, we drank a lot of it, and were not displeased. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that even the average wines are quite good. That night we had dinner. I think it was the best meal we had in France. I got a set menu that had well paired elements starting with foie gras, followed by a fish dish, then duck, a for dessert a soufflé. Clearly a traditional french menu, but all the preparations were inspired and subtle. Also, the house served small dishes in between courses that were equally unique and inspired. The staff is quite young, but very professional. The service was excellent. We got what we needed just as we were about to ask for it. It is such a pleasure being served this way. Just when you think you need more water, you look down and someone has filled your glass. The owner came and spoke with us prior to dessert. She was wonderful and inviting. After meeting her it was clear to me how they maintained there strong level of service. It is clear that the château is very important to her and she delights in its maintenance, improvement, and stewardship. I have nothing but good things to say.

From the owner: Accueil 24/24h toute l'année, petit déjeuner buffet dés 04h00 du matin tous les jours, wifi…read moregratuit, restaurant brasserie intégré dans l'hôtel (service jusqu'à minuit).

A very nice property along the river and not far from the Chateau and some nice restaurants. The…read morestaff here were very helpful and accommodating. There is a nice bar and pool. The courtyard is lovely. We had a room in the building at the back of the courtyard. It was quiet and very comfortable.

What can I say? It was the best coziest little hotel we've stayed, more like a Bed & Breakfast…read morestyle hotel. Our bedroom, standing up, sitting up, laying down our bed, you have the view of the Saumur Castle. http://www.saumur-tourisme.net/chateausaumur_uk.html Lovely location, friendly staff, great breakfast. If you want the Loire River view, don't. There are tall trees blocking your windows. How I know this? People from our groups have those rooms!

For this type of hotel, you can expect the best of it. Very nice presentable staff, very friendly,…read moreand smiley:) The music ambiance at the reception is soothing and welcoming. The room were cozy and bed was comfy. The energy ECO system used in their hotel is great The overall and cleaningness of this hotel is great. Definitely recommended.

We stayed here with the Parkside Colliery Male Voice Choir when we represented Wigan at the 20 year…read moretwinning celebrations. It was Central for us quite basic but provided what we needed, Nice English speaking staff