LAURIE'S DREAM - Fabulous All-Season Beachfront Getaway in Beautiful Menton

We have just returned from 10 days spent in Menton and we had a great time. The apartment is very well located, just yards from the old town with its many bars, restaurants and shops and the local indoor produce market, which is a beautiful building in itself.

The main living area of the apartment is well laid out and spacious with a well equipped kitchen. The only downside of the apartment is that the mezzanine floor where the bedroom is, only has a ceiling height of about 4.5ft so you can't stand up in it! My husband is 6'2" and my son is 5'9" so this meant they virtually had to crawl around in the bedroom area! You couldn't live with this set up, but as it was only for 10 days, we could cope with it! The worst part is the road noise. The apartment is situated on the main road, and the road noise is constant. It seems that motorbikes love to race down this road at night when the road isn't as busy as during the day, so the loud revving of motorbike engines goes on for most of the night! Then to top it all off a digger comes along at 6am every morning to "rake" the beach! We found that shutting the windows made a huge difference to the noise at night, but that did make it rather hot with no fresh air coming in, but there is a large floor fan that does help with this. Although the noise and the very low bedroom ceiling were far from ideal, you have to consider the perfect location you are in. All the properties along the main road will have the same problem with the noise, but can you put up with that to be able to sit on your balcony every morning and see the amazing view and be in a perfect location in the town?

Catherine, the lady who manages the apartment is very helpful, and even picked us up from the station. She gave us loads of information on the local area. It is very easy to travel around into Monte Calo & Nice by bus for just 1 Euro 50 each way.

Ons verblijf was goed, ik (vrouw 52 jaar )samen met mijn 2 dochters van 16 en 17 jaar ,verbleven wij 8 nachten in dit ruime appartement. Fijn van alle gemakken voorzien,stoeltjes en parasols voor op het strand ,zelfs srandlakens ,ruim schone handdoeken !

De vide was erg laag om daar te slapen ging wel goed maar toch heeft mijn dochter vaak haar hoofd gestoten . Voor wat kleinere kinderen is het ideaal,zodat ze kunnen staan ,het was extreem warm dus was het erg fijn dat er ventilatoren waren maar airco zou ook best fijn geweest zijn ,het koelde snachts niet af.maar verder fijn zo dicht bij alles ,oversteken en je ligt op het strand ,heerlijk winkels loop afstand. .Vriendelijk ontvangen door de eigenaar Catherine,kon met alle vragen bij haar terecht ,bij problemen konden we haar zo bellen.

Zeker een aanrader wie van zon ,zee en gezellige drukte op de boulevard houdt !!

Like I assume of many other renters, we weren’t going to leave feedback, but then I saw the previous review which didn’t represent our experience at all, so here goes. That one just seemed so off, I really think the apartment deserves better.

It was perfectly clean, so I don’t know what that person was talking about.

And I’m not sure what they were talking about by “noisy”; there was some honking the night France won their Workd Cup semi-final, but that was all. Plus, it’s on the second floor, so it’s not like the street is right there.

Yeah, there’s no AC, but plenty of fans and windows—and two balconies—so we didn’t find it stuffy. Being across the street from the beach gives you the ocean breeze too.

We were lucky to see the fantastic Bastille Day---July 14----fireworks from our balcony, drinking wine and watching everybody stroll by. It was great and we enjoyed the view every night before and/or after eating out. We didn’t do a lot of cooking but the kitchen is big and well equipped. We had breakfast on the side balcony every morning. Very charming, cute, and with views of the sea and the cool garden (palm, banana, lemon trees and stuff).

The only caution might be about the sleeping loft. This is a beautiful old building with very high ceilings in the main living room. The sleeping loft doesn’t have a high ceiling, but the bed is right at the top of the stairs. I can see how it might be tough for somebody who is very tall, but for most people it’s fine. There’s also a couch downstairs in the living room if you want to sleep there.

Just a word about the managers who are not “hotel concierges” as the previous renter seems to believe. She and her husband were very helpful to us because we don’t speak French very well. (They speak great English by the way.) They advised us on the best way to get from the airport and they welcomed us on arrival, gave us the WiFi password (no internet problems for us) and showed us around, and even came to say goodbye on the day we left. They also explained where to find things around town.

The town was awesome, with two beaches and lots to do; we did lots of cheap water sports and sailing, as well as hiking, and seeing lots of the neighboring areas. Plus eating of course.

We’ll definitely try to stay here again. It was awesome.

I booked a 2- week stay at Laurie’s Dream. The first floor corner unit is centrally and ideally located with beautiful sea views from its windows creating a bright cheery great room. However, it also sits just above the very busy Promenade du Soleil which is a main thoroughfare and gets constant traffic [trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles and vespas]. When, before booking, I asked whether it was noisy, the concierge emailed me back that it was “very quiet” when the windows are closed, which was not true. It was noisy and stuffy when the windows were closed as it did not have air-conditioning. I vacated Laurie’s Dream and transferred to a quiet hotel room for the last few days of my 2-week stay in Menton.

As to the condition of the apartment, when I arrived neither the WiFi or TV were working, there were only a few wash-thinned towels and the apartment was only superficially cleaned. The dingy bathroom had a fabric shower curtain which was stained and not waterproof, the bath mat was old and dirty. The clothing closet, which doubled as a storage closet, had only a few usable hangers and I had to remove the vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket and dust mop, in order to be able to use it. The kitchen had caked-on grime in some places and a dirty floor mat. All very disconcerting when facing a two week stay.

I called the concierge about the foregoing on Friday evening after I arrived and she and her husband did not come until late Monday morning to repair the WiFi and TV leaving me without the service for nearly 3 days. She also brought new hangers, a new plastic shower curtain, removed the dirty bath mat, and said she would bring additional new towels at the end of that week, which she did. While the concierge rectified some of the apartment's issues, it was not ready for paying guests when I arrived.