Review: MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet, France
We read raving reviews about the MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet and its restaurant, but do we agree? Yes and no.
Off on another trip.
This time we decide to make another car trip from Belgium to France like we did a couple of weeks ago, to go to Vittel.
This time we go to Brittany!
And that is how we end up in the little picturesque seaside town of Le Conquet where we decide to stay 3 nights at the MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet.
People seem to be in awe of this hotel.
And after looking it up online, the pictures truly look amazing.
The MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet sits on a cliff overlooking the sea, and its design also attracts us: lots of concrete and large glass windows.
The MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet is part of the Accor hotels group, and we are members of their loyalty programme.
We recently became Silver members, which means that you get a few extras on top of collecting points, getting an immediate 5% member price reduction on room rates and special deals.
Don’t start dreaming.
Extras for Silver members are priority welcome – whatever that means, late checkout (which comes in handy at times, that is true) and a welcome drink.
A welcome drink, singular.
Yes, 1 drink.
We travel as a couple, and stay at Accor hotels as a couple.
It is insulting to just be offered 1 drink, for 2 people.
And it is not about the money, it is the gesture.
Accor hotels needs to do something about that, honestly.
It is embarrassing.
That said, let’s see how our stay at MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet went.
Video
We made a video of the MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet.
You can watch it here:
Location
The MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet is located right next to the port.
There is only one way to get to the hotel by car (no matter what your GPS says) and that is via Rue Georges Clemenceau followed by rue Sainte Barbe.
At the end of Sainte Barbe is a stop light, behind that 2 streets: the one on the right goes down to the port, the one on the left leads you to the hotel and its parking lot.
It took us a while to get to the hotel since our GPS kept sending us to one way streets and streets that were not accessible for cars.
Parking
Parking your car at the MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet is easy.
You have 2 options: the free outdoor parking lot, or the private indoor parking lot right underneath it that costs €20 per night.
Both are located in front of the hotel entrance.
A couple of days before your arrival date, the hotel sends an email with the necessary information, and the 4 digit code to access the free parking lot in case you want to use it.
Reception
Checkin was fast.
The very friendly young lady behind the counter took her time to give us the needed information about the hotel, breakfast, its bars and restaurant.
Bar and lounge
The MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet has 2 bars: La Rotonde at ground level (where breakfast is also served), and the rooftop bar that is only open in the weekend.
La Rotonde gives you a gorgeous 160 degrees view on the sea, cliffs, beaches and harbour.
On the menu: drinks, cocktails and small snacks such as fish rillettes (€7,50), 6 oysters with bread (€12), cheese and cold cut platters (€18) and a splendid looking club sandwich (€22). In the afternoon you can also order macaroons and cake.
Prices are quite reasonable.
Check the bar menu and prices here.
Room
We stayed in room 113.
It is called in French ‘la chambre d’angle’, or the angle room because of the view the 2 large floor to ceiling windows offer.
Bedroom
The door opens to a small window overlooking part of the harbour.
On the left side is a hallway that leads to…
A fantastic view.
Wow, this is magnificent.
We could sit on the bed all day just watching the coming and going of boats, people and cars.
What we also liked: you can open 3 windows to let the sea breeze in if it gets too hot in the room when the sunshine is too bright. And then that sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below, the seagulls squawking.
We loved it.
The bed is very comfortable to sleep in, the mattress is not too soft nor too hard. Same for the pillows, warm duvet and soft bed linens.
In the room is a coffee and tea corner.
The Illy coffee machine comes with 3 coffee capsules: 2 regular and 1 decaf.
There are also teabags and a kettle, sugar and creamer.
Also complementary: 2 bottles of Plancoët water, one still and one sparkling.
Those bottles are restocked daily, which we really appreciated.
Also in the room: a large safe, a fridge, 2 very soft and comfy bathrobes and 2 pairs of fluffy slippers.
The wardrobe in the corner is quite small though for 2 people.
The TV that stands in front of one of the windows almost on the ground kind of feels useless since you can only see half of the screen when you sit up in bed.
Not that we watch TV, the sprawling views from the room are way better to look at.
And if you are lucky enough, you can see dolphins passing by!
Bathroom
The bathroom with toilet is bright and well lit.
We loved the large walk in rain shower. Water pressure and temperature were excellent, taking a shower here is heavenly.
There is one sink in the bathroom which is enough for us. Plenty of space next to it to put your stuff as well.
The hand and bath towels were very soft and large.
The MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet offers Phytomer bathroom products: hand soap, shower gel, shampoo, hair conditioner and body lotion.
Fragrant and of excellent quality again.
Other facilities
Besides meeting rooms the MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet also has a jacuzzi hot tub area, infrared cabin and a marine spa with Phytomer spa products.
There are bathrobes, slippers and extra large towels in your room for the hot tub.
Due to corona measures, we could only use the jacuzzi area 30 minutes per day and on reservation only. Which we didn’t do.
The rooftop bar and area is often booked for private events such as pilates workouts and family gatherings.
Breakfast
Breakfast was not included in our room price and costs €24 per person.
You have to let the reception know a day in advance if you want to have breakfast or not.
There are 3 shifts, at 7:30am, 8:30am and 9:30am.
Breakfast in the La Rotonde bar is divided over different stations: 1) bread and sweet pastries, 2) cheese, cold cuts, smoked fish, jam, butter, fruit salad, coffee and tea, 3) fruit juice on the bar counter and 4) yogurt, cereal, toast and hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and fresh eggs to boil.
Coffee was strong and excellent.
The bacon was cold and a tad undercooked as well.
Everything else we ate was delicious and of good quality. Excellent cheeses, we also loved the freshly baked madeleines and that local Breton sweet buttery pastry called kouign amann.
Was it worth its money?
Even though we enjoyed breakfast and the view, we think that €48 is quite steep.
We cancelled our next 2 breakfasts and headed out into town to look for other options the next morning.
Bakery Bian sells an abundance of pastries and delicious ham, cheese and chicken sandwiches.
Buy your breakfast treats and head over to café Au Vieux Logis right around the corner.
Here you are more than welcome to sit down, order a cup of coffee and eat your breakfast with the locals who do just the same!
Restaurant
The Sainte Barbe Le Conquet hotel has its own restaurant called La Corniche.
It holds a Michelin Plate award for good cooking.
Email the hotel a couple of days in advance to reserve a table for you.
The restaurant’s entrance is a couple of steps away from the hotel entrance. You can get to the restaurant thought the La Rotonde bar.
Service starts at 7pm.
We were given the choice of a table outside or inside. As the weather was great, we went for a table outside with a view on the harbour and the sea way down.
We went for the €36 menu: starter, main and dessert.
Wines were excellent, great wine list.
To start with: crunchy bread and salted butter on our table, and an appetizer served in a spoon.
On our plates: roasted vegetable terrine with goat cheese and wild garlic, smoked haddock and a citrusy broccoli and cauliflower taboulé, for mains pork chop in caramelised soy sauce with sautéed artichokes and an oven roasted stuffed artichoke with buckwheat and oyster mushrooms.
We went for a sharing dessert: a Paris Le Conquet, a twist on the classic Paris Brest.
Service started off really fast and attentive, but as the restaurant started to fill up the staff seemed to have disappeared or too hurried to come check the tables outside. Our empty main course plates stayed on our table for over an hour, even after trying to get someone’s attention a couple of times.
It took another half an hour to finally get our dessert. The waiter said that our dessert order hadn’t made it to the kitchen. By then it was getting really dark, so no good picture we can share with you!
Too bad because the dessert was a true delight.
The food and wine was good but the wait, absence of staff attention and kitchen mix up made us leave the restaurant with a bitter aftertaste.
Wifi
The free wifi in the room and throughout the hotel is excellent.
Would we go back to MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet?
Yes.
What a fantastic room and beautiful design hotel!
Would we recommend MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet?
Definitely.
A room is quite pricy here, we paid about €320 per night.
But worth it, even for one night.
Pros
- beautiful rooms with fantastic views
- stylish, modern design
- (free) and easy parking
- lovely bar
- complementary coffee, tea and water
Cons
- good but pricy breakfast
Address
MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet
Pointe Sainte Barbe
29217 Le Conquet
France
You can book here: MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet
We paid for our stay at MGallery Hotel & Spa Sainte Barbe Le Conquet and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.