It's always a great pleasure to have dinner at the Restaurant Le Pastoral (Hotel Alysson): large…read moredining room, relaxing music, friendly, sensitive and thoughtful service and extremely interesting price ("menu tradition" with starter, main course and dessert at 29€). But above all I am always impressed by the creative and perfect combination of ingredients in all dishes, like today the potatoes and duck mille feuille with vegetables and mushroom sauce, or the other proposal from my previous picture.

I always try to be balanced in reviews, and the good part about staying in Oloron St Michel is that…read moreit is really the perfect place to go hiking through the lakes south of there. We had an astonishingly beautiful day and I would not have traded that for the world. Staying in Oloron seemed a good option, and after staying in the amazing Chateau Lalande near Perigueux, we found the listing for Alysson in their same guides to Chateaux and Hotel. Sure, it looked modern, but it was cheap, and located in a place that we liked. I didn't mind the bird in the lobby. I like birds. I thought that the very pretty women at reception were also very competent and friendly. We appreciated the free parking too. But this hotel really needs an upgrade. It's more like a motel. We stayed in the unrenovated wing, and it was quite ugly. The wireless in our room did NOT work. It worked in the hall and lobby and perhaps we shouldn't complain as we had troubles with wireless throughout the whole of southwest France! The gym was OK. Thank god to be able to run on a treadmill after so much rich French food. But it's pretty run down. There was no refrigerator in our room for the lovely cheese we'd bought en route. Dinner was neither terrible nor outstanding, though the environment felt really like a motel or cheap hotel rather than upscale dining (and the prices were upscale). We had some really good wines, and the entrees and mains were better than the dessert. If we had the choice, I'd probably have looked for somewhere else with a bit more charm.

On our way to Pau, France, we found an excellent Bed and Breakfast. The Bed and breakfast is owned…read moreby a very friendly young couple, Ann and Denis. The house is new, nice rooms, well equipped and has a charming atmosphere. We got a lot of information by Ann and Denis about the area around and hints to see the best points of interest.