Les Jardins de La Glacière

Really unpleasant arrival. I had written two messages informing the hotel that we would arrive 2 hours earlier, yet I did not get a reply at all. When we arrived -we had no choice as we traveled by train -the receptionist was really rude, extremely unfriendly and walked away leaving us in the smelly hotel lobby without any offer that we could use the terrace or have some drinks in the bar. There is no restaurant at the hotel. For dinner, one needs to walk 15 minutes to the restaurant „Refuge“ further up the Valley (walk along the street). The outside area is not well maintained with filthy lean chairs and dirty tables, although the area next to the riverine is really picturesque. I was ridiculed when I asked for transport (bus) to Corte at the reception. They offered us an e-Scooter for 35€ / day. I asked for a map of Corte, but the reception did not have any. The room was ok and clean. The entrance door and the toilet near the breakfast area dirty. Upon departure, I had asked for a taxi. Instead we were picked up by an ambulance (!) that charged us double to get to the train station (20€ instead of 10€ we were charged when coming).

We visited Les Jardins as part of a tour of Corsica. The hotel is around a 30 minute walk from the train station, the last 15-20 minutes is on a winding road out towards a national park, you might even spot some grazing cows on the way! The hotel is definitely worth the walk, there are beautiful gardens backing onto the stunning Restonica River with padded sun loungers and comfy chairs and tables. The rooms were spacious and comfortable and the owners were always around to help.

We booked 3 rooms at the Hotel Arena le Refuge in Corte. As the location is out of town it was essential for us to have a restaurant. Before we traveled we were told that we were all ‘upgraded’ to the sister hotel, Les Jardins de la Glacière nearby. When we arrived we had a hostile reception which got worse when we asked where we could eat. The room had a toilet that wouldn’t flush and a shower knob that came off in your hand. This hotel had no restaurant and the restaurant in Le Refuge was closed. We asked if we could get a taxi the 2km into Corte and were told that no taxi would go such a short distance. We enquired about a take away but were firmly told that we would have to eat it in the room. We then asked about the restaurant close by in another hotel. This was clearly the competition so wasn’t mentioned to us. We asked if they could be called to see if they were open and this was done very grudgingly. At check out we mentioned the problems in the room which was greeted with a very sarcastic, disbelieving ‘Oh really’. This appalling establishment seems to be run by only 2 people who we believe are the owners of both these hotels. Clearly, neither of them has had any hospitality training. Having travelled all over the world we have never met such rude, condescending and sarcastic staff in an hotel or stayed in such a terrible place. If this was an upgrade from the Hotel Arena le Refuge we hate to think what that must be like. We strongly recommend that you DO NOT BOOK AT THESE HOTELS.