Holiday Inn Caen City Centre

D Day Normandy Landings

We based ourselves in Caen for a D Day Normandy landings tour over the Christmas period (23rd Dec to 27th Dec).
Caen was pivotal during the war and is a very interesting town.
Please be aware that the town closes entirely during Christmas eve and Christmas day, you will struggle to find bars and restuarants open, our Christmas dinner was a carry out pizza but all this adds to the ambience!!
Caen is well placed to allow one to visit the war beaches and graveyards and we took the car to France, therefore I cannot comment on public transport.
All the areas visited are well signposted and made for a good trip.
We found a good "Irish bar" opposite the small harbour area and spent two good nights in here with really helpful and pleasant staff but even that shut down for Christmas.
Caen has a pleasant old part and this is also easily reached on foot.
Overall we really enjoyed our trip to Caen but I was glad that I had the car to allow us to tour the surrounding areas, I think that a trip without the car at Christmas would have been a bit boring due to the Christmas closure which incidently is worse in January when most of the Caen locals take their vacation.

Unique Quality: This hotel is well placed and all town centre amenities are within a short walk.
Be aware that this hotel has NO on site parking. The surrounding areas are chargeable bays except for the tree lined area opposite but given that these bays are free you have to be quick to park your car.
We used this hotel for a 4 day Christmas break (23rd Dec until 27th Dec) and the hotel was empty, we had booked an executive room and this was very pleasant with huge bed and nice decor.
The room was really quiet and was on the front of the hotel, unsure if the same room would be as quiet when the hotel is fully booked.
Due to the Christmas period the restuarant was closed but the bar offered a simple menu (beef bourginion or salmon) but we were eating out and never sampled the food.
We were the only people in the bar and I think that we made the bar man's night turning up as I think he was really bored!!
The bar is nice and has a Cuban approach to it and generally this hotel is well kept and the housekeeping is good.
Breakfast is the usual continental help yourself approach and this is served in the breakfast room which is halved for smoking and non smoking.
Very enjoyable stay and I would use this hotel in the future if I was revisiting Caen.