Where to stay

FRENCH hotels are generally cheaper than British
hotels. That’s a help to British visitors in a time of
reduced exchange value of the pound. It also helps your
pocket, and may promote nocturnal acquaintanceship, if
you share a room with another human being.

The best appointed hotel in Dieppe is the Europe,
at the eastern end of the seafront. At 101 euros a night
for a double room in 2009, the price is a bit OTT for
a two-star establishment in France. But, at that price,
such accommodation would be a gift in a British seaside
resort: vast rooms, vast beds and vast baths. And,
remarkably, every room has a seaview. Another boon
is Philippe’s bar. Watch the master cocktail creator at
work: an enthralling sight.

Dieppe’s long seafront, which boasts the widest lawns of
any coastal resort in France, has only six hotels. Reading
from the east, they are the Europe; the Aguado, the
Europe’s classier three-star sister; the Windsor, with
its panoramic restaurant; the Plage, which has a faithful British clientele; the posh Grand Hôtel at the Casino; and the three-star Mercure, smartened up since the chain took over the rather dilapidated Présidence.
Cheaper hotels are inland. In the Rue de la Halle au Blé
Fayolle, parallel to the seafront behind the Epsom bar, you
will find the unpretentious Tourist Hotel (C4) clustered
around an old monastery courtyard. No lift.

The spick-and-span Etap Hotel in the Rue Claude
Groulard is run with impressive efficiency by the ever welcoming Florence Giffard. All en-suite rooms, served by
a lift to every floor: at 38 euros for a single small room
(45 euros double), it offers the best hotel bargain on the
Dieppe scene.

 

 

 

 

More spacious, and dearer, accommodation is available
at the Hôtel des Arcades, overlooking the marina.
The Grand Duquesne, next to the great church of
St Jacques, has a dozen rooms above an elegant restaurant,
a convenient juxtaposition of facilities at bedtime.

Hotels outside the town centre include the Ibis, at the
top of the Avenue Gambetta; Formule 1, just outside
town in the Chemin des Vertus at St Aubin; and the lorry
drivers’ haven, Les Ouvriers Réunis, which you will find
if you follow the sign ‘‘toutes directions’’ on leaving the
ferry port. Turn right at the roundabout at the top of the
hill and find the Gathered Workers at the next roundabout
you come to. They get well fed, those Workers, too.

Some people prefer the charm of a chambre d’hôte – a
French-style homely B and B – to a hotel. For example,
the very successful Ghislaine Boré (0 235 821 652)
has transformed an ancient convent into cosy rooms
for guests in the Rue des Capucines, Le Pollet (6H). Or
you might choose the architect-designed Villa Florida
(0 235 8 037), impressively overlooking Dieppe golf course
on the Pourville road beyond the western edge of town

You will find details of most of these places and more
on Google, or from the Tourist Office in its temporary
office at 56 Quai Duquesne, opposite the fishing port
and near to the railway station. (0 232 144 060 and www.
dieppetourisme.com)

Bonne nuit!

• list of hotels in Dieppe