Built a century ago as a private house, this belle époque mansion was turned into a hotel by François André in 1926. It was he who founded the Lucien Barrière group, naming the place after his wife, Marie-Louise. It stands in a large garden (with pine trees, white parasols and loungers) across the wide promenade from La Baule's magnificent beach.
Previous guests have found the hotel ‘marvellous, wonderfully relaxing with superb, friendly staff’. In the beamed restaurant, the cuisine and service are so good that most people turn a blind eye to the price and eat in every night.
Antiques add elegance to the public areas and bedrooms. Some rooms are large and sumptuous, with four poster beds and heavily patterned matching wallpaper and bedspreads. The two deluxe rooms on the first floor have terrific sea-view terraces. Breakfast is a good buffet with some cooked dishes. The resort is quite flat and the hotel will lend out bikes without charge.
The Barrière group is the Big Cheese in la Baule: besides the Castel Marie-Louise, they own the casino, the Hotel Hermitage (whose pool other Barrière guests can use), the Thalgo Thalsasso Spa, the 45 hole championship golf course and the tennis club where children get an hour free each day. In addition, if that’s not enough, the resort offers sailing and windsurf centres, horse riding and organised walks.