Le Permayou — Restaurant in Oloron-Sainte-Marie

One of the more decent places to stay if one is doing some hiking in the area. The hotel seems tastefully renovated (some time ago). Hard to comprehend why electric kettle is provided in the room but no cups, tea or coffee. Even with portable fan in room, it can be a bit warm if there is very hot weather. It would improve the quality of stay tremendously if there is a small bar fridge to keep some cold water especially after a long day's hike in the heat of summer. Food service in restaurant is a little slow but serving size is big and food is decent. A little too salty for my taste. Being in the countryside, restaurant has to put up with flies in summer - lots both dead and alive - leading to constant battle to keep them off your food. Access to hiking trails is good. Reasonable sized supermarket and small gas...

I was doing Transpyrenees and after heavy rain I was willing to stay here. However girl at the reception said they were fully booked. She tried to look for other stay options in the village but everything was booked. However I was able to stay as the last room was taken by my cycling collegue from Spain. We shared a room. Had a pizzas for dinner (La Cabra with local goat cheese was really good). We slept with open window to the mountains and in the middle of the night fire alarm woke us up (alarm was ringing for 20-25minutes). Before that we smell somebody was smoking hashish outside in the terrace. Maybe it was somehow related. However the breakfast was very nice and early (7.30 a.m.) with some jazz and blues music playing in the background. I found it nicely setting me up for a 170km bike ride...

We came here without a reservation and were greeted by a friendly woman at the bar who spoke both French and English very well. She found us a room and we were very grateful as it had been raining and we needed a place to shelter. Somehow, she seemed to be managing the hotel and the bar all by herself! She was very welcoming and we felt right at home. The room was small, but had everything we needed. The only complaint we had was the flies! 40 or more flies came in the room within minutes! We needed to open the window for ventilation, but there is not a screen. The staff did find us a fan, but it was unfortunately not working. Luckily, the staff was excellent: kind and welcoming, making it a good stay otherwise. Good staff can...