La Creole Beach Hotel & Spa

clean beach to swim at

The bathroom in 610 is a serious safety hazard - the tub is too high and shower is not enclosed, water on floor - slippery when wet. I actually fell…. and when I mentioned it at check out it was not taken seriously. Someone may get hurt, like me again or worse if this is not addressed.

We had a wonderful stay at La Creole and enjoyed our stay from start to finish. We highly recommend this hotel.

Rooms:
We chose to stay on the Mahogany side as having a balcony is important to us. The Junior Suite Family was perfect with a beautiful view of the ocean. It was simple but everything we needed. We found it helpful to keep the upstairs bedroom door closed during the day to keep the room cool. The kitchen had almost everything you would need for the week and though the bar fridge was small it was quite cold- perfect for drinks and groceries. We did purchase paper towel for the week as we preferred to wipe down the kitchen table and cooking surfaces/counter daily. The Carrefour express was close by and had everything we required. Many previous reviews complained of lack of hot water. We had zero issues whatsoever. We each had two showers a day and hot water for each one.

Staff:
Every staff member we interacted with was professional, friendly and helpful. We loved the front desk staff; they even helped us make restaurant reservations as we do not speak French.

Grounds/ Beach:
The hotel grounds were beautiful and very well kept and cleaned daily. We were very impressed as cleanliness is important to us. The manicured gardens and lawns were lovely.

The beach was not our favorite and therefore we did not spend much time there. This was our one disappointment of our stay. We understand and respect that all beaches in Guadeloupe are public, however at many other hotels on the islands the public was not permitted to use the hotel loungers/ chairs. We found that these were taken over daily and this left us disappointed. Our other complaint about the beach was the music being played from the hotel beach bar. We are open to many types of music and understand that some lyrics are suggestive in nature however the music being played was sexually explicit and vulgar- with so many young families this seemed inappropriate to hear daily. We assumed that it was a language barrier as the song lyrics were in English and those working the bar did not speak any English. It just did not seem appropriate.
Beach towels were provided and could be exchanged daily at the side of the beach bar building.

Parking:
We had read reviews prior to visiting that parking could be difficult. We did rent a car for the week from the airport (highly recommend Sixt) and therefore this was a bit of a concern for us. Arriving on the weekend was daunting as there are parties and weddings that take place at the hotel, making parking a challenge. It truly is a large lot, and they have done their best to create as much parking as possible. We found that the best solution for us was to venture all over the island early in the morning and come back between 2-4pm in the afternoon and leave the car parked for the rest of the evening. It is the evening and returning late from dinner (8pm and later) that is when parking is the biggest issue. We chose to have dinner within walking distance each evening to avoid any issue. This solution worked perfect for us and honestly getting up early made for less people on the beaches and at local gardens, zoos and distilleries. We never had an issue finding parking.

Bars/Restaurants:
We are not big fans of buffet meals, but the breakfast buffet was excellent. We usually arrived with the first half hour of opening, and it was very quiet. Excellent food selection and made to order options, smoothie bar, breads, pastries, fruit and juices.
We appreciated that the drinks from the bars could either being paid in cash or charged to the room. Yureli beach bar offered a great selection of drinks as did the Rhum bar. Their wine selection was minimal but great tasting, and their mixed drinks were excellent.

Boutique:
The onsite boutique offers many beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces- high quality and well worth the price. Many small businesses sell within the shop from jewelry to swimwear, cover ups, bags and dresses.

Très bel Emplacement, taille du complexe et organisation, chambre avec terrasse , espaces préservés, nature et environnement paisible et très cosy, excellent petit déjeuner. Magnifique plage et piscine.

Belle chambre petit déjeuner super les repas

Mycket välstädat och ok strand även om den var mycket kort.

Les chambres sont très grandes.
Très belle piscine.
Parking à l'hôtel.
Multiples possibilités de restauration avec un restaurant en self-service, un restaurant un peu plus haut de gamme et un bar de plage avec des paninis et des pizzas et plusieurs restaurants extérieurs accessibles à pieds.
Possibilités de louer des jet-skis et autres équipements nautiques directement sur la plage de l'hôtel.

Presque tout par contre beaucoup trop de gens indisciplinés et étrangers à l’hôtel occupant les plages et les lieux réservés aux clients de l’hôtel

L emplacement
La piscine
La plage
Le buffet

Le petit dej

The staff is very responsive. Even though my problems weren’t resolved, they did their best to help.

Le confort de la chambre et la terrasse vue la mer. Très beau sentier pédestre ceinturant l’hôtel et le stationnement sécurisé. L’offre de restauration variée au buffet.

I stayed here with our son and one of our daughters during their university reading week, and we had a very pleasant time! The hotel is very nicely laid out, with a very nice beach. The food was excellent, and the staff were very friendly.

The grounds are lovely, with beautiful flowers and even wildlife (pelicans diving for fish at the beach, the occasional iguana moseying about). We had adjoining rooms on the third floor of the "Chelonia" building, with windows overlooking the water and manicured grounds (partly incorporating the faint vestiges of a 17th century fortress turret - complete with a couple of old cannons). The windows were sliding glass doors opening onto a narrow, European-style balcony (room enough to stand or hang clothes over the railing, but not sit). We spent a few late afternoons wandering the grounds, taking photos against the mountainous backdrop of Basse-Terre over the water, before heading to dinner.

The breakfast buffet was excellent, and we used the same restaurant "La Route des Épices" for the dinner buffet, a few nights. In between, there were paninis available for lunch at the Yureli Beach Bar (the menu includes club sandwiches and salads, which were sometimes unavailable). There are a few good restaurant options within a short (3-5 min) walking distance from the hotel (we ate at "Le Restaurant le Massai" one night, and "Coconut Coast" another couple of nights). We had planned to eat at "Le Zawag" (a really lovely, fancier, restaurant on the hotel grounds) for our last night, but failed to make a reservation (which I think should be done at least a day in advance) and so ate at "Le Canopy" (the rooftop restaurant at the nearby casino) instead.

The comfy bar "La Rhumerie" is nicely situated, adjacent but above the swimming pool area, and became a focal point for live music, most evenings.

You can rent jet skis on the beach (my son and I took them out for a spin, one afternoon). It's also possible to arrange excursions (the concierge desk was able to schedule a wonderful half-day out on the water with "Cap Lagon", in the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin, a major marine natural reserve and UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserve to the north, between Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, which included snorkeling and a tour of the mangrove forest). They even arranged a driver for us, although there's a Hertz rental car agency right across from the hotel parking lot, and we rented a car on a couple of other days, in order to explore more of Guadeloupe (hiking to waterfalls, visiting the fantastic outdoor zoo, and ziplining through the rain forest!)

We found the hotel staff very responsive (at one point, there was a water leak in one of our rooms, and they came to fix it, right away). They also arranged transport back to the airport, on our last day. The one thing I would say is that one should have some fluency in French, since few of the hotel staff spoke English, which represents a great opportunity to brush up on your French!

In summary, we had a wonderful and memorable week at La Creole, and I would definitely recommend it.

Tout vraiment tout

La plage et la piscine
Le buffet