Just got back from nine nights at the Holiday Inn based in St Laurent du Var.

Hotel just what you would expect of a holiday inn - rooms quite large, clean and well equiped.
Maid service good and as soon as anything needed replacing it was done before we even needed to ask - e.g. light bulb went over the shower.
Did not eat in the hotel as there is a wide selection of restaurants nearby.

A great place to eat was Le Paradis Marin - fantastic food and a great menu.

Another restaurant (with green fringed chairs) serves a fantastic Paella (seafood and meat mix).

The location of the hotel is good for restaurants and bars (not as many of these) but it does get busier Thurs-Sat, some nightclubs and late night bars.

The airport is visable from the hotel and if I had been told my room would face the airport and I could see planes starting to take off I would have cancelled my booking. However, it really was not a problem - rooms are sound proofed and it did not affect my opinion of the hotel at all.

Places to go in the local area - Antibes is a beautiful town - we went there by train (the station is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel). Lots of bars and restaurants here, we ate at a fantastic Chinese. Last train back to St Laurent was at 12:15 and takes just 10-15 mins.

Villefranche is also gorgeous with a lovely beach and lots of restaurants on the sea front.

I really enjoyed my holiday here and would return to this area of France again.

I went there with my wife and two kids (4 and 2) in June 2007 because the hotel is near the airport and by the sea. We did not want to hire a car and preferred to travel by train and bus. Free shuttle is handy but you must call them using the phones in the terminal. The hotel itself is deceptively small. From the photos one would expect the hotel to have hundreds of rooms but it occupies only a tiny portion of the complex, the rest being used as commercial units and private apartments. The room was comfortable and clean but the air conditioning unit could use with an upgrade. Breakfast was ok but the hot food was average. The bacon rashers and omelettes were not very appetising so we stuck mainly to the fruit, pastries and toast. The service was very good. The restaurant is used only for breakfast so if you want to eat in rather than out you are stuck with room service (limited choice and high prices). This is understandable in a way as there are loads of restaurants on the beachfront. Hotel staff were friendly but not overtly helpful – they did not go the extra mile for the customer. The hotel receptionist gave me the wrong phone number for the airport and when I informed her of this she protested that it was the only number she had. Any customer-oriented staff would have said “sorry sir, I will get you the right number”. But that’s down to management. In the end, I had to ask her for the phone number of the operator who gave me the correct number. Another time, I asked the evening manager for some teabags. He looked puzzled and said he did not have any but I insisted that there were some in the backroom as I had been given some a couple of days before. I persisted and he eventually found some - reluctantly. In short, whenever I asked the staff for something I often felt that I was bothering them. The swimming pools are not part of the complex, although you would think so from the photos. As another reviewer said, hotels guests pay 7 euros per adult per day. We did not like this formula at all as 1) you had to pay a daily fee which sucks and 2) the pools tended to be full of people not staying at the hotel. There was also little or no security in the pool, the lifeguards usually being too busy chatting to their buddies with the result that people were using the pools without paying and you had teenagers taking over the kiddies pool and frightening young children. As for restaurants, they all serve pretty much the same things – fish, pizzas, pasta – simple food such as mashed potatoes, carrots and chicken would have been nice for the kids. I often say to my wife that if we opened a restaurant on that boardwalk, we’d be making a fortune catering for families (loads of people were in the same situation). There is a shopping centre nearby, which was handy. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. I don’t think this was value for money. At least we made the most of it and the weather was great but we won’t go back.

This hotel is just 5 minutes by free shuttle from airport, and is right beside of of France's biggest shopping centres, Cap 3000. It is situated on a nice well kept promenade with clean but very stony beaches. Do bring bathing shoes! There are some sandy areas in parts, and one area especially suited to children. There is a very joyous well-behaved atmosphere along the seafront, and local people are polite and friendly. They love you to admire their beloved dogs. There is a very good local transport network to all the famous places along the Riviera. Traffic can be immense, but local road manners are very good. Hotel has a lovely reception area & pleasant staff. Rooms are among the best equipped I have come across - clever suitcase storage, free safe, minibar, tea & coffee maker, hair dryer, plasma tv, radio alarm, corkscrew etc. Everything seems to be very new and in perfect working order. The resort area is not glamourous in the "Riviera" style, but it is still very pleasant, and its flatness is suitable for wheelchair users.

I stayed here with my friend for 6 nights and found it to be a lovely hotel with a very laid-back feel. The Breakfast was excellent as was the level of service. We ventured out to the nearby bars and eateries in the evening and were surprised by the friendly and pleasant service we received.
In terms of a first visit to the area this was an excellent hotel as it is only a short walk to the station (we visited Cannes, Monaco and Antibes) and it is easy and cheap to get the bus from the mall into Nice.
The beach area was excellent and we felt the 7 Euro entrance fee was fair and the lunch we ate while their was excellent.
Overall we were sad to leave.