Using au ,ala,aux

Question

Where do I use au, a la ,aux when going to a place.e.g je vais à l'hotel is  this correct .

Accepted Answer

Hi Nelly,
Je vais à l'hôtel = I am going to the hotel
is correct. 
Je vais au marché = I am going to the market
Je vais aux magasins = I am going to the shops 
Je vais à la gare = I am going to the station
etc.
I hope this helps!

Answer

To think about it start with whether the noun is plural - «à les» always contracts to aux. If the noun is singular, does it start with a vowel or silent h? If so,  it will take «à l'....» regardless of noun gender  (there is a relatively long list of nouns that start with an h that is not silent, but many are uncommon). Finally, if neither of these 2 conditions apply , the gender of the noun determines use: feminine (singular) nouns will take «à la»  and masculine (singular) nouns will take «au».  Basically use the same process for determining de la, de l', du or des. There is/was a good video in the lessons on this https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/my-languages/french/view/18?rts=%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Ddefinite%252Barticle%252Bcontractions , but looking at this lesson I think it may have been removed.