Clos Saint-martin

Quaint little hotel situated behind and unassuming door which leads into a courtyard…. We had the pink room on the third floor ….do not even consider this room if you are not too fit!! Very comfortable with a massive bed and a good shower in the bathroom….. young lady looked after as well… she spoke good English….but was obviously pleased that one person in our party spoke good French! Really enjoyed the breakfast ….with individual baskets of breads, and good jams. Only down side was the price….. which I felt was a little pricey but would definitely book again on our next time in Caen

A beautiful gem in the middle of Caen. Fantastic location. Rooms are stunning. Cycling here. Bike security great. Delicious breakfast. V helpful hosts. Comfortable beds.beautiful courtyard. Slightly difficult to find as it is hidden away.

Pro- it's quaint in an old lady kind of way. It was comfortable. ( see cons) Good location. Cons- the water is not hot enough. The shower doesn't drain. The "breakfast" was bad. Very few choices and not fresh. The water pot was not cleaned from the last guest. The room is cold.

The Clos Saint-Martin hotel in Caen, is near a wonderful WW2 Museum and easy drive to WW2 landing beaches and other wonderful towns and sites in Normandy. It's not obvious from the street that there is a hotel behind the green door that abuts the sidewalk. When you go through the door you enter an arch covered cobblestone walkway to the hotel within. There were 7 of us, so we rented the Comfort Quadruple Room Ensuite that was in the main house, as well as the Gate House. The Quadruple was made up of a room with king bed, a room with twin beds and a shared bathroom. It was in the main house was on the second floor . The rooms were very charming and spacious, and were accessed by a wide stone curved staircase. The main house definitely has a romantic charm. The Gate House is a little more modern inside. It has a kitchenette and dining table that was nice for eating in. There was a room with king bed and a room with twin beds upstairs. Downside is having the bathroom downstairs. The breakfast buffet in the main house was wonderful. Lots of delicious items to pick from The breads and jams and the hot chocolate were especially delicious. The hotel staff was very friendly and understood English.

The pros: The location is in an old, historic type of building so you actually feel like you're living it. Also the bread in the morning is the real deal - which is worth a lot, especially if you can almost never make it to France (each breakfast in France with real French baguettes and butter is sacred!!!). The texture is the real-French texture where it's a bit chewy and stretchy on the inside, rather than more uniform. Honestly, even upscale hotels we've stayed at in Paris and Annecey often don't have bread this good (and you **cannot** find it in the US, even in big cities like Boston). For us in France, the breakfast baguette is one of the highlights of the day - with French butter (SO much better than in the US!), amazing French preserves (much better here than elsewhere), hot chocolate or coffee - they also had good fresh cut melon... When we travel in France we base a lot of our hotel choice on the breakfast because a good breakfast is first of all, not to be missed in France and second of all, carries us through the day and makes it less urgent to need a "real" meal later - which also saves money. The other pro was the staff - super friendly and kind. Be aware: The one thing I will say about this place is that the pillows were kind of hard (mattresses were great though), be aware that there is no AC (not a big deal most of the year, but a little warm for us even with a fan on the nights of 80-degree August days; also, you'll need to sleep with windows open so bring an eye-mask and maybe a white noise maker), parking in the area is not obvious - nor is driving, as it's in an area with lots of pedestrian-only streets that weren't super obviously marked to my foreign eyes - the hotel itself is also not well-marked (you must approach the big green doors - only then can you see that there is a small sign on the side of the door frame) - and be sure that you have a phone that works in France because it's not super obvious how to find the keys and all of that without connecting to the manager, David, but my phone wouldn't make calls in France so I basically couldn't do that. I did figure it out eventually though, even without that. These are the kinds of things that younger travelers can probably handle no problem, but they were a little rougher for me at age 42 arriving in the evening exhausted from other travel and without all my wits about me.

We stayed 5 nights here and we were pleased. We had the Blue room and our other couple had the Yellow room. Both rooms are quite large and roomy. The bathrooms are up to date and clean. This B&B has a great court yard, great for having a glass of wine before heading out for supper. The location was good for walking to the square with lots of restaurants. There was no airconditioning here but they did supply a large fan. We found it quite comfortable. The breakfast was good, but we would have liked some meat and eggs. This place has stairs only and they are rounded old stone. We had no problem with the stairs but they could pose a problem for others. I loved the stairs they fit the house perfect.