Hotel Suisse

We recently spent for days at Hotel Suisse. It was our fifth or sixth stay at this hotel. We had a large, superior room. Some rooms here are very, very small. If you like small fine. We do not. They have large rooms so make certain you ask for one when making your reservation. Location is perfect, a one minute walk to the Cathedral or the river. Walking distance to Old Town, the shops, many restaurants, Our bathroom was huge with two sinks and a huge shower. There is not AC so if you are visiting in summer beware. The breakfast is huge, larger than most French hotels. Breads, cheeses, pastry, fresh fruit, juices, cereals, champagne on weekends and more. Staff here are always attentive and will make dinner or taxi reservations for you. There is a nice elevator large enough for two people and baggage. This is our favorite place to stay in Strasbourg.

We had a Superior Family Room and it was huge. Oddly, the two queen beds were pushed next to each other, so anyone "in the middle" had to climb over others to get out. I'm not sure why there isn't a small separation between the beds. But this was not a problem. We also had a rollaway bed, so each of our two teen boys could have their own bed, and my husband and I shared one of the queens. The room was large, and breakfast was excellent. We had a view towards the cathedral and the Christmas Market which was fun (although the Christmas Market was over when we arrived, so we just watched them dismantling all the little shops). The room was a bit noisy from pedestrian street noise in the daytime, but it was very quiet at night. I'm a very light sleeper and I slept well here. We only stayed one night and had an early wakeup planned (at 7am) and the cathedral bells went nuts at that time. So be aware of that, which is commonplace everywhere in France. It became background noise for us - we heard bells everywhere we went, and it's just part of the fabric of the towns and part of the experience, and it wasn't bothersome at all for us, especially since we were waking up at 7am anyhow. But it could be for others so I wanted to mention it. I think the bells stopped at 10pm until 7am.

I booked a single room with a double bed for 3 nights at this hotel based on reviews. I did walk to this hotel from the central train station but I suspect most wouldn't. It was about a 25min walk, flat but slightly confusing and lots of cobblestones. From the outside this is a charming little hotel and that continues on the inside. Check in was efficient. The lady on reception spoke quite fluent English, though she did send me to the wrong floor for my room :) There is a small lift that would take one person and luggage that went to each floor but on each floor there were several different levels with lots of stairs. My room was small with a tiny entry that had full length storage and a mirror, with the bedroom to the left and the bathroom to the right. The bathroom was small but modern and included a deep bath/shower combo. Fairly poor lighting and nowhere really to put toiletries. The bedroom had a double bed with just enough room to get around. A double window, one of which opened and from which the cathedral could be seen. There was nowhere to put luggage and I put mine on the window sill. There was a large TV (with 3 English language news channels) and tea/coffee making facilities but no fridge. Also no air-conditioning, just a small fan. As the room got all the afternoon sun, I suspect it could be unbearably hot in the middle of summer and it was too noisy to sleep with the window open. There was just one power point in the room. It did have a triple adapter plugged in but, if like me you are using travel adapters, you will only get one in at a time. The wifi worked well, although for some reason would not work with a VPN, which I always use for security when traveling. If you are not an early riser, just note that the cathedral bells ring at 7am in the morning and can well and truly be heard through the double glazing. Breakfast is served on the ground floor and there is also access to a charming little terrace space. Breakfast was fine. Very French as would be expected. In fact this is indeed a very French experience and most of the guests when I stayed were French. The location (apart from the train station) was great, with easy access to the cathedral, the river and plenty of eating establishments and shopping.