Stayed at this hotel on way to the Pyrennes. Room very outdated and not too clean - facilities very poor. Staff member on duty (male) on arrival not at all friendly. Lady in morning much more pleasant and obliging. Have stayed in much better Logis de France - which have lower ratings than this one - felt this to be very overpriced. Glad I only stayed one night!

I was motivated to visit Carcassonne after reading The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (a wonderful book).

True to form, I left it to the last minute to book a hotel and, as it was the easter weekend, the vast majority of the hotels were fully booked. Three days before we departed, I searched for hotels in the region and the first one I found with any rooms available was the Hotel Montsegur. Only after booking did I look for reviews on the internet and was slightly daunted after reading the previous three reviews on Trip Advisor. Expecting the worst, here is what we found ...

Location: On the plus side, the hotel is located within a 10 minute taxi ride from the local airport (about €12). However, it is on the far side of the 'lower town' and a good 25 minutes brisk stroll from the mediaeval cite, and that's if you go as the crow flies through the backstreets.

Accommodation: Despite booking one of the more expensive rooms at the hotel (€92), the room was quite small (even though we were told it was one of the larger rooms) and sparsely furnished with antique (that being a euphemism for 'old') furniture ... not that you could get much in anyway. The view from Room 25 looked out to the front of the hotel onto a busy road junction and sometimes the traffic did seem a bit noisy.

Facilities: We had to laugh at the hotel website which actuallly listed having an elevator as one the hotel's facilities. Apart from that, the facilties were fairly limited, although the staff were happy to bring us a beer to drink in the 'salon'. The breakfast was a fairly meagre affair, but the coffee very tasty and the criossants fresh ... the toast was also the best I have ever tasted. However, if we'd have asked for more, I am confident that it would have been supplied.

Staff: All of the staff who we met were extremely helpful and polite and went out of our way to make our stay as comfortable as possible and provide us with all assistance that was requested.

The Restaurant: On the first night, we ate at The Languedoc Restaraunt, which is run by the hotel owners and located about 100m down the road. The food was great and the staff attentive, although the place did lack something in atmosphere (although to be fair, it was fairly empty). We were surprised however to see that the couple at the next table bought their dog with them and allowed it to sit on one of the chairs throughout dinner (the hotel does have a sign up however which says that they welcome 'nos amis, les chiens'). It was at the restaurant that we met the fabled 'madame' ... and no, she did not smile! On our second night, we got a taxi to the old city and ate outside in the main square and had a wonderful meal at "L'Arbre de Vie" which I would throughly recommend, for both the food and the attentiveness and friendliness of the staff.

Would I stay there again? To be honest, no. If I were to visit the area again, I would book a bit earlier and stay within the city walls, probably at the Best Western 'Donjon des Ramparts' (for a similar cost) or, if I was feeling really flush, at the Hotel de la Cite which has an envious location right next to the Cathedral. However, when you weigh it all up, what can you exepct for a little over £35 per person per night? All in all, I think that the accomodation and facilities were what could be expected for that price, and the staff were great.

I get married in carcassonne. With my wife, we booked a room at the montsegur hotel, to spend the wedding night. The room has been booked three months ago. When we arrived at the hotel our room, has been already rented to someone else...

I was part of the party of nine referred to in another review of this hotel and its restaurant.

The adjective 'supercilious' which the reviewer applied to Madam is perfectly accurate, but taken alone is far from adequate to describe the astonishing behaviour of this Manageress/co-Owner. She went out of her way to be unbelievably rude to several of us throughout the evening. We were at a loss as to why she took that attitude. We were a family group meeting friends for a pleasant evening, all of us guests of her hotel, and certainly none of our party, from 5-year-old to 60+, behaved in a manner to which she or any other diner could take exception. It is sometimes felt by English speakers that the language barrier can be to blame for such attitudes taken by a very few French people. However several of our party are fluent in French and assisted with the ordering of the meal, so we feel that that could not have been the cause. I must also note here that her behaviour was not, thankfully, echoed by her young female staff who were friendly and helpful - as were the receptionists, both English and French, at the hotel.

As far as the food is concerned, most found it to be fairly good, but one of our friends and I had the fish (cod with summer vegetables) which was quite dreadful - overcooked and inedible.

Despite Madam pointing out to me the shallow step between building and garden I still managed to trip over it, though without falling. (Vari-focal specs.) Upon our leaving I was assailed with loud taunts about what to me had been a briefly amusing incident. As we left she called out: "GOODnight Madam. MIND the step Madam. BE careful Madam. I'M sorry Madam" (this last with hand on heart), and appeared to be very pleased with her own 'wit'.

Our bill came to well over €400 for the meal, water and wine. One wonders how we would have been treated had we spent less! Avoid this place.