Domaine Des Lys

What People are saying

Quirky when you don't expect it.

Lindsey A on 06/10/2017 17:59

On Sunday afternoon, I left my house at 1 p.m. to start what would be a fairly epic journey to France. My flight from Chicago was at 3:50 p.m. and I transferred in Dublin and Paris. Eventually, I landed in Nantes, France, around 4 p.m. on Monday. A shuttle, train and car ride later, we arrived at Le Domaine des Lys.

I had been traveling for close to 24 hours. You know how you feel when you've been on an international flight for a while and you deplane with a slight sticky feeling? Maybe not people in the front of the cabin, but us coachers know what I'm slinging here.

So, I'm handed my lovely, tasseled key and march across the hotel grounds - which are decorated with modern art; super fun - and find my room. Lug my suitcase up the stairs, open up my door and plop my bags down. The rooms are well-appointed; velvety touches adorn the drapes and bed, dark red undertones dot the space.

I zip open my luggage and hang a few items before moving my toiletries to the bathroom - the shower I was about to have was going to be epic.

Or not.

Because there was no shower. Only a bathtub. After traveling for a day and schlepping myself through four airports, I was subject to sitting in a tub of water. Sigh.

I asked to change rooms but I was told there were only two rooms with showers, and those were booked. Baths it was for the week, then.

Overall, though, staff was extremely friendly at this modern gem in the middle of nowhere. The restaurant was sufficient, if a bit slow, but the food was tasty. We had dinner one evening (I had local fish) and breakfast, which consisted of various meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, cereals, yogurt , juices, coffee and fresh fruit. Lovely.

I was here for work so the stay was just fine. The bar area - with a pool table, couches to lounge on and free snacks - was perfect after day-long business meetings. The outdoor art was something to admire, and the chateau section was cute.

WOW-- Amazing place, romantic, qwirky, great restaurant!

CM_G279 on 20/09/2017 20:42

We were looking for an off the beaten path sort of place to land for a couple of days of our 5 day road trip of southwestern France. I am SOOO glad we found it. GPS took us there, otherwise it might have been tougher (there are signs, but they are sort of few and in the midst of all the traffic circles and French drivers with their speed and horns, well- use GPS).

The place is on the site of a former chateau, and the former stables have been converted into guest rooms. they are well appointed, the beds are comfy, with one caveat, which is why I only rate very good instead of excellent. See next paragraph if you want detail, if not, skip to the one after.

Hubby is 6ft3 so finding king beds in Europe can be tough... so I jumped on this when I saw the photo... what we got however, was a room where there was this rather odd (contemporary for sure) bed frame that stuck out 3-4 inches horizontally from the mattress, all around, right at shin height... and yep you guess it, the duvet covered it, so I hit it 4 times on the first day... leaving a large bruise, which I still have over 2 weeks from the stay. One side of the bed was no problem to avoid, the other however, did not have a lot of clearance and that, unfortunately, was the route to the desk.

The grounds are peppered with these very cool, again contemporary statues of animals... alligators, bulldogs (mostly), giraffe, rhino... just way cool. the contemporary décor is a very intriguing juxtaposition with the building itself, clearly antique in nature. Unfortunately the larger area of the grounds is off limits, I was somewhat saddened by that, not certain if the actual house is a residence, but oh well.

The restaurant was so good we ate breakfast there, pricey but well worth it, and dinner both nights-- a rarity for us as we like to explore the area we are in... but we both wanted to go back again. Staff there was lovely... my French is not great, but I do try, and one of the staffers was very patient and what I did not understand she translated for me.. this is not always the case in France. I appreciated her understanding, as I hope she appreciated my trying to communicate in their native tongue.

Difficult to locate using the navigation system but what a beautiful surprise

920Riza on 23/03/2017 02:58

Service : checking in was fast, the front desk lady walked us to our hotel room (another building) across the main lobby. Breakfast was a variety of baked goods (yummmmm), cheese, juice, tea, fruits served in glasses. Wifi was fast

Our room was in the second floor with Asian decor. It was good for 3 people and larger than a typical European room. There was one king size bed and a double bed. There's a small work table with all the electronics/connections were located. The bathroom had a large bathtub with air jets and chromotherapy - it was cool to see the water change in color. The problem was there were black stuff coming out of the air jet holes. This dampened my daughter's enthusiasm to use the tub unfortunately.

Location : we arrived in Ancenis around 8:30 PM. We had significant difficulty finding the place using Iphone map, Google map, the car's navigation system. The directions kept taking us to a farm route with a road block at the end. Finally, we just went to McDonald's and asked the staff if there's anyone who can help us get to the place. There was a very nice young lady customer who heard our plight. She decided to just drive in front of us and we followed her. We we're less than 10 minutes away. This lady was our angel that night. The next day, my husband mentioned our difficulty to the front desk and she said - the place is difficult to find using google map/navigation. One lesson for this type of places - ask the locals or call ahead and ask for specific direction from the hotel especially if you are arriving at night.

Surrounding area/garden : excellent to walk around / explore

Amazing

Glenn C on 25/09/2016 09:03

Highly recommended for a great get away and seeing the history. The Chateau was just some awesome to take a look around and the gardens where well kept. Dinner was fantastic the rooms where large and modern and catered for all needs. Good for a honeymoon or a romantic get away. We where driving around France and just happen to run into this mazing place.

Nice stay in a beautiful context

carlodamiani on 22/09/2016 08:38

The hotel is near the chateau. You need a car to get there and move around. Rooms very spacious, nice decoration and furniture, Jacuzzi in the bathroom! Views on the courtyard or on the countryside. Friendly staff. Ancenis looks pretty and there are some good restaurants. Breakfast was OK. Maybe on the first evening we felt a little bit insulated as almost nobody else was at the hotel, apart from the staff and the security guards. The property gate is closed during the night and this gives a little bit of safe feeling. Worth a stay for a few days!