陶洛湖酒店(Gîte du Lac Taureau)

Nous avons été chaleureusement reçus. Le chalet était confortable et spacieux. Faire du kayak sur le lac était super agréable surtout au moment du coucher de soleil. Seul le temps n'était pas au rendez vous.

We were looking for a cabin by the lake for a last-minute end-of-summer vacation. The large condo in the main building at Gite du Lac Taureau was the only place that was still available. The place is really spatious and was a comfortable accommodation for our huge family with 5 boys. Big rooms, large beds, three (!) bathrooms, plenty of space. The terrace is also very large and nice, and we enjoyed BBQs in the evening. The building is not right next to the water, but close enough, and the kids were happy to spend the days playing in the water by the dock. The furnishings and amenities inside are quite basic. The owner explained that the bedding was not supplied because of COVID, which didn't make a lot of sense to me, but well. Turns out, the blankets weren't provided either, so we were happy we had our sleeping bags with us. No soap or shower gel in the bathrooms either (perhaps due to COVID too?). The kitchen was stocked with everything necessary, but the microwave wasn't working and the toaster kept burning the bread setting off the alarm over and over. The lighting in the living room is very dim for such a large space, and it gets quite dark in the evening. All the above was only minor inconvenience and didn't prevent us from having a good time. The biggest downside was an overcontrolling owner/manager. You can tell by the language she uses in her house rules: everything is presented with a threat of a punishment, which doesn't make you feel welcome. The sign above the kitchen sink literally says "Thank you for washing the dishes PROPERLY (underscored), otherwise a cleaning fee will be charged." She was after our kids for skipping rocks on the lake and insisted that the rocks should be put back. At the end of our stay she tried to blame us for the ripped beach chairs, subsequently admitting (after we defended ourselves) that they were damaged before we arrived. We weren't surprised much when we received an email from her upon our return home claiming that we broke one of the bedroom doors. The email showed some pictures of a crack, which we never noticed before. We were with our kids all the time and are pretty confident that we would have known if they had broken the door, but since we don't have a habit of obsessively inspecting any room that we are renting for pre-eisting damage, we couldn't argue with her. We figured that 60$ she charged us for repairs weren't worth the stress. Overall, the place is OK, but if you aren't booking last minute, like we did, you'll have better options for the same price and can avoid the frustration of having someone policing you all the time. We are definitely not coming back.