Gîte du Volcan — Restaurant in Saint-Benoît

Gite de Vulcan:||We spent two nights at Gite de Vulcan in July, 2016.. The dorm we stayed in had 5 rooms (the room we stayed in has two bunk beds very very cramped), two toilets and two showers in a separate building. The supplied linen is very old. A cosy fire warmed up the the bungalow.||The bathroom was beautiful, but unfortunately the water went off early that evening and only started working again the next day, which was quite a mess. Don’t expect to take a warm shower after your hike up to the volcano, because the showers only have cold icy cold water. It seemed like you could pay for hot water, but the other travellers said that the hot water supply does not work.||For dinner all the travellers sat at one table, which made interaction between travellers easy. We heard about others experiences and could catch a view tips for the hike up the volcano while enjoying a three course dinner meal and breakfast.||The staff could not speak English, and they did not go out of their way to try and understand or help us, but the spectacular view from the restaurant and dorm, as well as the easy access to the start of the hike (which starts across the restaurant) made our stay at Gite de Vulcan worth it. The grounds are well kept and lovely with all the trimmed hedges.||Make sure to take everything you need, including snacks for the hike with you to Gite de Vulcan, because there are no...

We payed 18 euros per person for a bed in a 4-bed room. The value for the money is absolutely ok! You have everything you need, the bunk beds are comfortable with pillows and warm blankets and they even provide bed sheets (which is rather unusual for a refuge). The sanitary rooms are small, but sufficient and there is a shower that also has hot water (and you get one coin for using the hot water per day for 5 minutes). I think the place consists of several of these huts and each has a common room with a oven that is heating in the late afternoon (so when people are coming back from their hikes). If your cloths are wet there is some space where you can hang them to dry close to the oven. ||The dinner and breakfast was 26 euros in total - the dinner was really really good (especially for mountain refuge standards it was amazing), with 3 courses (!) - and probably even too much for all guests. ||One of the staff members spoke a little bit English and all of them were really kind. ||||One special advantage: there is a parking lot just next to the Gite, reachable even with a small car (you don't actually need a pick-up if you drive carefully). Once you reach the gravel road of Route du Volcan, look for a sign on your left after a few kilometers. From the Gite it is only about 15 minutes to the start of the main hiking routes to and around...

Nothing can top the views from this location, and the building itself is very inviting and atmospheric. This is a hiker’s hub, and a lot of heavy trails can be done from here. However, not all rooms have their own bathroom, and when we were there, the showers on our floor were out of order, so we had to walk up two flights of stairs to shower. This accommodation is very ‘green’ and all for minimizing their environmental impact, and that translated to only having shower water when pushing a button, which was very annoying, especially after a long and arduous hike. Due to some sort of problem with the electricity, we only had access to wall sockets between 17.00 – 21.00 hours every evening. Wifi was only available in the dining room, but the dining room was not accessible other than during breakfast and dinner time, so that was a very strange combination. The food was well cooked, but during our 3 nights the menu (buffet style) did not change AT ALL. So we had the exact same meal three nights in a row – that definitely could use some consideration from management. Staff were friendly and the sanitary areas and (very small) rooms...