Cauterets is a typical mountain village that fails to live up to its potential. The location, at the head of the valley and a ten minute drive to Pont d'Espagne, one of the most attractive sites in the French Pyrennees, would lead one to expect a lively tourist town with many restaurants and shops and good hotels. Unfortunately, the town... more

We had planned a stay over for two nights in Cauterets to go hiking in the Pyrenees, but decided to skip it entirely when we saw the place, and in particular the Hotel Aladin! Maybe the bad weather didn't help, but Cauterets came across as a run-down, completely charmeless mountain village, which might have seen better days in the seventies,... more