Plaza Madeleine & Spa

The Hotel Plaza Madeline in Sarlat is a gracious structure and has been a prominent hotel in Sarlat for more than a century. Unfortunately, sometime in the past decade or so it suffered a renovation which took away all of the character that must have existed in this historic hotel. Now the interior feels like an upscale US chain hotel.The bedroom amenities are excellent, the linens very nice, the beds comfortable.  The breakfast room is bland and characterless, and there is no lobby or lounge in which to sit - just a bar.There are nice spa facilities with sauna, steam, jacuzzi and a covered swimming pool.  There are posted regulations that these facilities are not to be used after a certain time in the evening. Unfortunately, during our stay we were woken several times at the wee hours of the morning by people partying and splashing in the pool area. When I spoke to the front desk the next morning about this (the desk is not staffed 24 hours a day) my French was not sufficient to allow me to make a complaint.There is free public parking in an open lot near the hotel.  The hotel's garage, while secured, is full of columns and is not next to the hotel.If you need a solid hotel choice with reliable bedroom amenities this hotel will fit your needs.  If you are looking for character in this most character-ful of beautiful French towns, this would not be your first choice.

Quick summary: a very comfortable stay in a clean, quiet room in a full-service hotel. Easy walk to center of town. Very helpful, friendly, professional staff. Very good breakfast buffet, cocktail bar, restaurant. Parking available on the street, but the hotel,s parking is a long walk away. We actually stayed in three different rooms my during our 10-night stay, so we saw the differences in different categories of rooms. I will describe details below, but briefly, we booked one night in advance of a tour we would join that would stay at that hotel. We could not confirm the category of room with the tour operator, so we booked our usual preference - a king bed. When we joined the tour, we found ourselves in a room with a queen bed and fewer amenities. We decided to pay an upcharge to move back to a nicer king bed room, but stayed two nights in the queen due to lack of availability. Frankly, the queen bed room was really nice enough, but my husband loves a larger bed. First, all our rooms looked onto the front street. All were quiet enough. All beds were very comfortable, with lots of pillows and good linens. All at least had a roomy walk-in shower; room 206, a king bed room billed as “prestige,” also had one of those large, deep, soaking tubs that I find so hard to get into and out of (high kick and gymnastic moves, or sit on the edge of- with no grab bars anywhere - and swing your legs in. All need more bars to hang a wet towel. Shampoo and body lotion are provided. All had good HVAC, coffee/tea maker, good desk and ergonomic chair, minibar, in-room safe, TV that has some English language channels as well as French ones. (Disclaimer: I usually read at night.) All have complimentary WiFi that could be better - mostly okay, but often dropped out, speed not great. None of the rooms had really convenient places to plug in and recharge your devices. The king bed rooms (206 and 309) had very comfortable Berger-style sitting chairs and a cocktail table. The queen room had only the desk chair. Comfortable sitting chairs are another big thing with my husband, and he loved the bergeres. Only the room 206 king had a pod coffee maker as well as the tea kettle style. The queen room had no shutters or curtains on the window. Of course, the queen room was smaller, but still comfortably acceptable, IMHO. The king bed rooms had good drawer space. The queen bed room had basically none. The breakfast buffet was lavish, with scrambled eggs, sausages, meats and cheeses, fresh fruit cup, yogurt, an array of breads and pastries. Special high marks go to the array of specialty breakfast tarts available each morning, We had cocktails here, and a dinner with the tour group. All was fresh and tasty, reasonable prices, and the menu broad enough to please most. Due diligence: there is nearby street parking that seems safe enough, but not possible on market day (Saturday.). The hotel’s secure parking is a long walk away, IMHO. We parked