This is not a 3 star hotel. The rooms are very poor indeed, very dated and worn. The receptionist was a miserable man who begrudged having to talk to you and was unhelpful. Be warned that if you are staying in the summer months that many of the rooms look out onto courtyard areas which can be noisy and stuffy with no air getting in. There isn't any air conditioning so it does become unbearably hot. The furniture was falling to pieces and had been knocked about a bit, the carpet was threadbare, the beds were uncomfortable and lumpy, the bathroom was still in the 70's along with the service. How can Best Western honestly get away with charging decent money and claiming that Le Grand is a 3 star hotel? I'm never staying at a Best Western ever again. Avoid paying an extortianate amount of money in the hotel for a poor attempt at a breakfast (continental style)....stale bread, cereal etc, instead, there is a cafe a few doors down called the St Louis that does a mean Omellete for a reasonable price. Bayonne itself is a beautiful old town, bursting with character, the people are friendly, there is plenty to see and do, lots of historic places to visit, charming shops, etc. The standard of all of the restaurants and cafe's that we ate in was exceptional and the service was great too. My recomendation for a meal would be to take a stroll from the main bridge up the street that runs along the side of the river, before your reach the next smaller bridge you would've passed several excellent restaurants, although our favourite was the last one which did a huge bowl of mussels for 5 euros or a 3 course lunch special for 7.5 euros, whic is exceptional value. Beer is expensive here (3 euros + for a half pint) although the wine, especially the bordeaux's are excellent value. I've always found the French to be a bit ofended if you haven't quite got to grips with the language, however I found the locals in the area to be really helpful and really charming. By the way Biarritz is the muts nutz, but thats a different story.

Mediocre interior, and basic room, at the front of the week I was all for "well, you don't go on holiday for the room.." and all that. Luckily. Bathroom ok, shower, small towels and a separate toilet, all to be expected, but not a room to just come back to and chill for the sake of it. Mind you, I can't ----- about it, if I wanted quality, I'd have sought out a decent b & b. Although the initial receptionist was well nice. But make sure you confirm whether you have to pay for the very petit dejeurne, or else get stung lik we did, despite expedia website saying and printing otherwise. Aside from all that Bayonne is bien, and river side restaurant Vivaldi's very convivial and reasonable.

According to the review of the Best Western Le Grand Hotel in Frommers France 2004 this is the best hotel in Bayonne. It is definitely not the best - unless we got the worst room in the best hotel! My boyfriend and I stayed in this hotel in September 2004. I originally booked a room in the hotel for 4 nights but we ended up moving to another hotel after the first night because it was so bad. It was a standard double room, Chambre Confort for €82 a night, located down a badly lit corridor - quite dangerous as there were steps in places that weren't visible. The room itself was a good size but the decor and fittings were a bit tired. The bathroom was of average size but the toilet made a strange noise, the towel rail was broken and the shower was so narrow that it was impossible not to burn yourself off the exposed pipes in it anytime you moved. There was a view of a concrete wall from our window. The room had no air conditioning and because of the heat and humidity, we had to sleep with the window open. This wouldn't have been too bad if it was quiet outside but there was a thunderstorm that night and it seemed that everybody else around had their windows open too so we could hear all sorts of noises including a screaming baby for about 5 hours. So we had a terrible first night in Bayonne. The room definitely wasn't worth the price. We stayed in other hotel rooms on our trip that cost less and were of a much higher standard. When we checked out the next morning, the man at reception didn't seem too surprised or concerned that we were leaving early. We went to the Hotel Loustau for the next 3 nights - a bit pricier (€95 a night) but the parking was cheaper and it worked out about the same price as Le Grand Hotel overall, but so much better - a large comfortable, soundproofed air conditioned room with views over the river and the city. Bayonne is a lovely little town and the rest of our stay there was wonderful.