Le Grand Large, Belle-Ile-En-Mer

Gorgeous property including impeccable gardens and a small forest. Conscientious and friendly staff. Large tastefully decorated beautiful rooms (very clean and neat). This is the kind of place you don't want to leave. Located approximately 35 min. walk outside of Honfleur. You can walk or bike to town but there is some elevation to consider.

Our first visit since the merger with Castel Clara was a sharp disappointment. While the staff present is committed, every single bit of the new Grand Large shows that it is all about cost minimisation and margin maximisation. Nothing of the erstwhile boutique spirit has been maintained, except the location. Grand Large is now merely an annex to Castel Clara. While the rooms are what they are, some more attention to detail would be helpful (bathroom amenities, writing utensils, drying stands for towels?). Also, there are only dark night curtains affixed (no transparent ones) which leaves you completely exposed on the 1st floor unless you choose to completely darken your room by day. The breakfast is purely functional, tables are arranged with a cup and nothing else while plates need to be collected by guests themselves either from a low shelf (bending, almost kneeling required) or from a high shelf where you first need to take out the entire lot. The food selection is uninspired and some of the (small..) pains au chocolat clearly have seen several days in their life. While there is some cheese (in rectangular slices) it seems to come from some supermarket rather than presenting local foods (this also goes for meat, sausage, honey,..) There is one single person attending breakfast and the organisation is clearly geared to get as many guests „processed“ with as little human, food and dish effort as possible. Also, the terrace tables are systematically not prepared such as to suggest to guests to remain inside to facilitate cleaning once they‘re finally gone. Altogether uninviting and anonymous. This may be ok in a mass tourist place, but that would not come at close to 300 EUR per night. Grand Large will not see us again, alas. And this downgrade is exclusively based on senior management decisions, not the staff on the ground, to be clear.

Hotel charmant et accueillant. Location de vélos sur place, très pratique. La terrasse est magnifique. Nous reviendrons !