Hôtel Le Cheval Blanc - Vieux Bassin Honfleur - Climatisé — Hotel in Lisieux

Best Western Le Cheval Blanc - Honfleur, France||REVIEW TITLE: Top panoramic room with balcony on Honfleur Harbor||OVERALL RATING: Suite Alphonse Allais. Best room in the hotel for a don’t miss stay on Honfleur Harbor. Would stay again and highly recommend for any stay in Honfleur. ||REVIEWER BACKGROUND: Fortunate to travel extensively. I have done travel advising for years. We are always looking for that “magic stay” and we found it certainly at the Suite Alphonse Allais at Le Cheval Blanc. ||DATES OF STAY: 5 nights in October 2025||LOCATION: At 2 Quai des Passagers at the entrance to the Honfleur Harbor - a “quieter” sanctuary as it is just across the street from the busy and more touristy main part of the harbor. You could not be more centrally located to visit Honfleur. The magic of this location is you are in the middle of everything visually and physically - but with great soundproofing - so it is a true oasis.||3 STAR HOTEL: This is a 3 star hotel - and probably so. The property is not glitzy and state of the art in its looks. It is clean and comfortable though. ||ROOM/S: The Suite Alphonse Allais is the best in the hotel. It is the only hotel room with a balcony in Honfleur on the harbor. The photos do not do this room justice, at all. The Suite is enormous in all ways. ENTRY: As you enter the suite, there is an semi-circular anteroom with desk and chair and lamp. BEDROOM: The bedroom is huge and has notably tall ceilings with a beautiful crystal chandelier. In the bedroom is a unique at least 6 foot wide round mirror to the right - that turns into the tv screen of that size. To the right of the bed is a large couch. Just in front of the balcony entrance is a very large perhaps 5 foot wide round table. To the right in the room is a faux fireplace, and to its right, a writing desk. BALCONY: You are drawn by its 3 floor to ceiling side by side windows all leading to that amazing view. The balcony is the full width of the room - overlooking the entrance to the port and fishing boats. The balcony is too narrow to have a table there - but you can stand and enjoy the view. BATHROOM: A beautiful half wall of stained glass divides the bedroom from the bathroom. The bathroom is equal to the largest of our travels with both a shower and notably a tub that is literally 5 feet round. DRESSING AREA: Behind the bed is a little dressing area and closet and coffee/refrigerator cabinets. ||VIEW: Suite Alphonse Allais is the definition of a “room with a view” for a beautiful sanctuary of a stay. The view was so amazing - the room so large - we changed our stay from 4 nights to 5. I would not want to stay on the main and busy central harbor. This is just to the side at the entrance to the main harbor. In fact just out the windows on occasion we would see to the right the tiny drawbridge that opens from the entrance of the port - to the main port - if a sailboat needs to enter that area. ||BREAKFAST: Not included in the room rate. 17.50 Euros per person per day. Good buffet of hot (eggs, bacon, sausage) and cold items. Breakfast room is on the 2nd floor with for the lucky, 2 tables for 2 at the window facing the water. ||PARKING: A great great asset of the hotel. The hotel has a very precious commodity of two hotel owned private parking lots for guests only. Reserve well in advance. One is right around the corner with 6 spots in their covered garage - the other a 10 minute walk with 9 spots open air behind a locked gate. 13 Euros per day. ||STAFF: Two staff members are to be noted. BRIAN at the front desk was often on duty and was notably prompt and accurate whenever we needed his help. He is a great asset to the hotel. SOPHIE in the breakfast room was amazing in service and smiles. The main service issue we experienced in getting the reservation and getting information throughout our entire process - lack of any urgency in responding to guests - was reported to management and hopefully the employee counseled to not repeat this practice. These were the type of service issues I read about so much in Tripadvisor before our trip that brought concern. The hotel really needs to counsel on this. || OTHER INFORMATION & OUR BEST EXPERIENCES: ||D-DAY BEACHES: This major site is about a 1.5 hour drive away. We only went once because of the drive, but we made a full moving day of it. ||CALVADOS/CIDER TOUR: We went on one exceptional tour that is to be highly recommended. Calvados Christian Drouin & its restaurant Le Pre-Verger. In one “package” we took the distillery tour followed with lunch (savory galette then sweet crepe offering) on the property. Their products are calvados, cidre, poire, pommeau and gin. Drouin s so unique - 3rd generation - but by far not a tiny mom & pop stand. They have grounds and history and great pedigrees. Drouin has won 286 gold metal awards for Calvados and related products including a Grand Prize of European prestige and in 2024 they won #1 gin in France then in the world at the World Gin Awards. In the middle of the distillery grounds - the restaurant Le Pre-Verger is in a 17th century Norman manor house. Drouin is on beautiful small grounds within a complex of 17th century Norman farm buildings of an old distillery, wash house, old bakery. ANCA was our excellent tour guide. CHRISTELLE was our excellent server in their restaurant Le Pre-Verger Creperie. ||DINING: This is a big part of our travel experience. Top recommendations:||L’Abstinte. Dinner. Equal to our #1 dining experience in Honfleur. Stone dining room - table in front of the fireplace - magical atmosphere and service. Don’t miss this experience. ||Le Vieux Honfleur. Dinner. Equal to our #1 dining experience in Honfleur. France’s 2nd oldest restaurant (after La Couronne in Rouen that we also visited). Stone dining room - table facing the harbor - magical atmosphere and service. Don’t miss this experience. ||Bistro du Port. Lunch, 2 times. For the freshest and most iconic best fish and seafood dishes the region has to offer. Both times we had a window table which faced the water a hundred feet away. Wonderful fun service. Special mention that it serves equal to the best French fries of any of our travels - this is an art. ||And so, MERCI Best Western Le Cheval Blanc for...

Stayed here for one night recently, as I was driving from Calais to Antwerp, and wanted to break the journey up over two days. Idea was to get a good nights sleep and hit the road refreshed, which did not happen. Upon check-in I received what seemed to be a nice room. That night when I tried to go to sleep, there was incessant clicking from a light sensor that was malfunationing directly outside the beedroom door. I could not sleep with the lights turning on and off every ten seconds. I went to reception where I learned that this was known to cause annoyance to previous clients nbut yet they put me in that room anyway. The lady at reception gave me a key to another room, when I tried to access the room the deadbolt was on the door and I could not access. When I explained this to the receptionist, she gave me another room and key. Several access issues again with the key, went back to reception via the lift, which now had what I presume was dog urine on the floor. I explained to the receptionist who was very annoyed at me at this stage. She inisisted that the key was working and went with me to the room where she found the key was indeed not working. We are now past 2300 at night and no sign of me going to sleep yet. Eventually this was sorted and I settled down for the night. The double mattress was too big for the two single beds underneath and caused a big "dip" in the middle of the bed, at this stage I didn't want to further annoy the receptionist so I put up with it. When I awoke the next morning I was covered in bites, 27 by my count. I cannot say if these were bed bugs, mosquito's or other, but I was covered in bites. Receptionist and house keeping investigated the bed. Receptionist promised me a refund and a cal from the manager..... four days later no contact made with me by the hotel, and no refund. Very uncomforatble with all the bites, and the drive to Antwerp was not fun with constant itching and scrathing. I would recommend avoiding this hotel, just not good enough, hygiene is not only essential in the industry, it is just bad form not to take any action on this matter. Disgraceful.

Following on from the reply below. How dare you accuse me of yelling and gesticulating. This is completely unfounded. What is not unfounded is the fact that there were two other guests in the lobby while I was making my complaint, with whom I have already made contact. They both can vouch for me that there was no yelling or gesticulating. I fact I had a cordial conversation with a young lady receptionist. I'm sure you CCTV can back up my story.

Threatning me is not a great way to reply to a genuine review. I have a medical report detailing the bites, and also pictures to further prove it. I will also contact Best Western France and convey my concerns on how you have accused me and treated me. I will also be forwarding my dossier to the local health department.

All you had to do was call me as the hotel promised becuase there was no manager working on that Sunday, and this review would not have happened.

I would strongly advise you to reflect on your comments in your reply and adjust...

Let's start with the hotel's real highlight: the location. In the heart of Honfleur that is a beautiful, typically Normandy village. The hotel offers, not insignificantly, a private car park for guests located about 8 minutes from the hotel on foot. Of course you can park at the hotel to unload your luggage, get the code and then go to the car park. The hotel is in need of renovation, particularly in the rooms. The hotel classifies as three stars but the room did not convince me like other three stars. The furniture needs to be replaced as other work is needed for example floor need to be replaced. The best thing about the room was definitely the view on the “basin”, which was very pleasant. The staff is a mix some friendly others a bit more hasty. Breakfast is ok for a three stars hotel with local products. It is a shame because with the right renewal work and considering the location the hotel it could have the potential to become a 4 if not even 5 stars hotel. Recommended for...