Le Grand Hotel is just that, an old, quaint French hotel, straight out of H E Bates A breath of…read moreFrench air with a scowling maid in the morning, who will actually do anything for you but will complain about doing it all the time! This is NOT a Hilton or a Marriott, you cannot pick up your mail from the TV set in the room or watch an adult movie! It's what it is. Le Grand Hotel. They've been doing things their way for a long time, and they hope you like it, if not........they'll give you a typical French shrug and wave you goodbye! That said, the bed was downy soft, the sheets crisp and spotless, the bathroom straight out of a black and white 30's movie and the 12 feet high french doors open straight out onto small balconies overlooking a facinating street with a genuine patissiere directly opposite. The elevator in itself is an experience with the concertina grill and an almighty thud on take off! The breakfast was bread, bread and more bread, cheese, ham, croissants and coffee together with foiled wrapped butter and plastic pots of jam. Don't go here if you want efficiency, but the hotel is next to everything Bayonne has to offer; fantastic riverside restaurants and walks, shopping, churches, and great open air markets with the local Basques passionately singing their lungs out. Oh don't take your vegetarian teenager to the markets ......plenty of live lunches on sale and skinned rabbits hanging everywhere! Go with a sense of adventure.......or book into the Ibis!