Le Lanternon

Night away Me and my husband only staying one night but check in isn’t until 5 and you have to park in a car park a walk away from the hotel. It would have been nice to have checked in at 2 like most hotels and have the whole of the afternoon to explore instead of having to go back to the car for the bags at 5pm! The hotel is beautifully furnished and spotless. The rooms are spacious and have lovely views outs looked out over the harbour which is beautiful. The biggest thing for me was no tea making facilities in the room as I love my morning cuppa!

Our pre arrival at La Lanternon was not without incident. My bank had totally, I think screwed up is the only way to describe the debacle, my credit card as I tried, speaking to 16 staff over two days, to make the final payment. Jerome seemed much calmer than I was about this. Having met him I now understand why. But we made it and what an absolute delight La Lanternon is. The restoration of this building is perfectly sympathetic and the atmosphere so calming. My friend of 50 years and I have both had quite a traumatic year. This haven of tranquility is exactly what we needed. As long as we can we will keep returning to this island and now, having found this special hotel and the the team that make it so, La Lanternon, will be our first choice of where to stay.

Misses the mark Great location and charming house. Our room was nice and spacious and the bathroom was lovely too. Le Lanternon has potential but misses the mark on a number of fronts, principally service related. It all starts with a bizarre check in rule of 5pm. There is no one available to even leave your bags with if you arrive early. We were offered breakfast the first morning and told to look at the picture of the offerings online for the ‘lux’ breakfast. The pic shows a beautiful spread with an overflowing bowl of colourful fresh market fruit, which we were told was bought the morning of. Reality was a half full bowl of banana, a few tiny pieces of kiwi and mushy melon. You had to scrape the condiments from almost empty jars and the coffee was mediocre at best. €25pp is not good value so go out and find yourself a nice cafè instead. For the price of the room you get virtually no service. No room service during your stay or amenities in your room. You’re not even allowed to help yourself to a hot drink in the morning (unless you’ve paid for the overpriced breakfast). There are many other places to stay on the island where you’d get much more value for your money.