September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne. 

Our first hotel was Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport. Located not to far from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, hence the Aéroport, in the Purpan neighbourhood of Toulouse, hence the Purpan, Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport is a conference-oriented hotel with a large parking facility. It shares land with other hotels and offices. 

Check-in

Check-in was friendly and efficient. The receptionist explained to us where the pool is, and the bar. There’s no gym. But there’s a pétanque area, a tennis court, pingpong tables and a playground.

She recommended Le Colombier restaurant for cassoulet toulousain. 

An oddity is the numbering of rooms. Almost in every hotel of a certain capacity, rooms with number 1XX are in the first floor, 2XX on the second floor and so on. Not so at Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport. Rooms 1XX are on the ground floor, 2XX on the first floor. Very confusing. 

The room 

The room was set-up a bit oddly. We had requested separate beds and what did they do? Set up the sofa bed. Cute. 

So. The room features a two-persons bed, a rotating desk, a sofa, enough power outlets. But why do hotels often only give one side of the bed a power outlet?

A USB outlet device on the desk. Tea and coffee making facilities. The room is pragmatic. The styling is out of date. “Not so ‘novo‘, this Novotel”, Oriol quipped. 

The WiFi connection and speed was only so-so, but as we would experience later on, connections can be worse. 

The bathroom

The shower is okay-ish. The temperature is hard to regulate, as is the height of the shower. The toilet is separated, which is alway a very nice feature. 

Toiletries are by Rituals and in fixed dispensers as is now common in hotels. 

Breakfast

For a French hotel, breakfast offers a pretty decent variety of items. Bread, cold cuts, cheeses. On the subject of cheeses: in France I expect a better, quirkier assortment. 

But you have al you’d expect: pastries, yoghurts (which were wrongly labeled), juices, sweet items, hot items, hot and cold drinks. Teas are served in pots. Everything is self service. 

Breakfast missed something important: plain baguette. There were baguettes, but more fancy ones. I missed the traditional white baguette. When I France, I want my baguette, sacrebleu!

So?

Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport is a decent hotel. I feel the ‘brightness’ of four stars for a hotel has dimmed in general, but I had way worse four-star hotels than this one. I would recommend this Novotel as a stopover, but it must add baguette to breakfast!

2023 Occitania – Andorra – Catalonia Road Trip

1. TOULOUSE-BLAGNAC AIRPORT | Arrival, ID check, car rental and unusually strict security at departure.