WE CAN'T WAIT TO RETURN TO THE REDYK (Hotel Redyk (Zakopane, Poland))

Name: Richada

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Product:	Hotel Redyk (Zakopane, Poland)
Date:	19/09/06 (932 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value For Money. Superb Food. Fantastic Views. Excellent Room & En-suite

Disadvantages: We were only there for two nights!

Sometimes, just occasionally, by complete and utter accident, one stumbles across the kind of place that leaves you in two minds: do we keep this a secret for ourselves, or do we tell the world about it?

Well, as I have always kept our favourite hotel in England a secret from you, on the reasoning that you are not all going to flock to the Polish mountains at once, this one I have decided to share with you.

After a couple of weeks staying with my parents in law in their diminutive first floor flat, situated in an, let's just say, "uninteresting" area of semi-rural / semi-industrial south-eastern Poland, I usually find myself craving a little "own" time - a break in other words. Do not get me wrong, I dearly love my in-laws, but when on holiday, there is precious little to actually do or see in the locality in which they live.

We were in Poland, primarily to attend a close family wedding on 5th August, our return to England having been booked for the following weekend - thus giving us a few days spare to play with. Unlike here in the United Kingdom, there are few places of leisure, or short break destinations, in Poland. The Poles tend to go north to the seaside or lakes, south to the mountains, or nowhere at all.

My guide book (Lonely Planet) informs me that both areas are extremely crowded and not advisable to visit in the main holiday months of July and August. Ho hum, what to do?

Oh, I did not mention that the temperature was in the mid 30's either did I? Inside a concrete block of communist era built flats, we had for two weeks experienced what it would be like to be a couple of VERY slow cooked chickens inside a rather small oven.

Having decided that a three day break would suit us both, I actually expressed but one desire to my wife: a luxurious AIR CONDITIONED hotel - situation irrelevant. My wife, being a fan of mountains and lakes, was determined to go to the Polish mountains - partly on the advice of our dentist who had spent the previous weekend there - staying in a private house where they let rooms, the Polish equivalent of a B & B.

Now our dentist is a fit lady (in more ways than one!) and had been cycling in the wilderness. No thanks. I was after good eating, a comfortable bed and AIR CONDITIONING! The area which she had visited was devoid of any hotel rooms whatsoever, a lack of hotels generally (let's face it, what kind of wilderness has a hotel on every corner?), and in nearby areas where the hotels were situated, they were all fully booked. Mrs R, using both telephone and internet was drawing a blank - the search started to spread further west towards the Polish honey pot that is Zakopane - their number one ski and mountain resort.

ZAKOPANE……

……this is not a review about Zakopane, save to say here that it has now joined my list of "you must see if in Poland" places, however this is where the hotels are located. It is not a big town, but it does have a disproportionate number of hotels and lodging places, ranging from really dirt cheap, to very pricy indeed - and that is by English standards! This is an international resort, particularly popular with Americans and increasingly so with Brits - go there (off season PLEASE!) and it is not hard to see why…..

……No, we did not stay in Zakapane - quite. I do not expect to pay more than around £40 maximum a night for the two of us in a Polish hotel - even in Krakow you can stay in a good three star hotel for that, in Zakapane that is not the case. An internet search threw up an interesting alternative; the Hotel Redyk, in a place that neither of us had ever heard of……

ZAB…..

……(pronounced zambe) meaning tooth in English, dentist - mountains - tooth, an omen if ever there was!

Zab, 10 kilometres from Zakapane, has its' unique place in Polish geography as the highest inhabited village in the country at 1023 metres (3356ft) above sea level. It sits on a mountain overlooking Zakopane and directly up at the highest peaks in the Tatra Mountains. It is hard to over-describe the beauty of this setting. The Poles refer to this area as the "Highlands" the inhabitants of which, naturally enough are called the "Highlanders".

Mrs R shows me on the computer screen the one and only hotel in Zab, the three star……

HOTEL REDYK……

……"What do you think?"

"Erm, looks lovely, but no AIR CONDITIONING! Never mind, at over 3000ft it could not possibly be as hot as it was at sea level here in Mielec"

Ominously, it was the ONLY place that she had found with a room available, and only a twin at that, all the doubles were booked.

"Go on then, book it" I replied, rather unenthusiastically.

We paid for two nights in advance via the hotel website - 360PLN (zloty - no Euros in Poland!), that is the equivalent of £31.00 per night, including breakfast at the (then) exchange rate of 5.60PLN to the £1.00.

The day after we made our booking there was a tremendous thunder-storm, the first Polish rain in many weeks and Poland's hottest summer in 200 years was over - the next day was the wedding and yes, it stayed dry - just! Bacon saved, air conditioning would no longer be a priority!

On Monday morning we made our tortuous journey to Zab. Nothing unusual in that, most road journeys in Poland remain an unpredictable adventure to this day. It took us around five hours to drive the 150 miles, through the mountains and several large industrial towns. Approaching Zakopane on the infamously dangerous Zakopianka (Krakow to Zakapane road) the sky was threateningly dark at around 6.00pm. The turn off to Zab is well sign-posted about 6km from the centre of town.

From the main road you climb constantly, up through the clouds, parts of the road are barely made up. There is a deep, muddy, flood in a dip in the road, we are following a dumper truck which is pulled over by the police, a breathalyser bag being thrust through the open window into the drivers' mouth. The police wave us past on the narrow road and continuing up the hill the hotel is very distinctive and prominent, just as you enter the village before reaching the very top of the hill……

AT LAST, WE'VE ARRIVED!

Having seen the unusual pyramid design of the place on the website, from the road you cannot miss the Hotel Redyk. At the top of the drive, which drops away incredibly steeply to the left of the road, there is a large wooden board announcing your arrival here.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS……

……as you drive in are entirely favourable. A fully paved car park, surrounded with immaculate rockeries and flower beds, is the most attractive that I have seen in Poland. Both the car park and approach is also very well lit at night.

Getting out of the climate controlled car, the first thing that you notice is how very chilly it is up here on this August evening, the first time on this visit to Poland that we had actually felt cold. Walking into the hotel through the front door, first impressions remain entirely favourable; the whole place has a very modern, yet somehow traditional air to it. Very attractive stonework abounds in the comfortable, but small, reception area.

WE CHECK IN.

As many of you may be aware, my wife is Polish, language therefore is not a problem. However as it turned out, the receptionist and all of the staff that we met, spoke English. As experienced in most Polish hotels, the staff were young, all female here too strangely, we did not spot any that would have been over 30. Without exception they were charmingly helpful and polite, as well as proving to be an absolute mine of local information.

Upon checking in, our passport numbers were recorded, the passports being returned to us. The receptionist very helpfully informed us that they had a 'partner hotel' in the centre of Zakopane, where we were invited to park our car (for free) for the day if we so desired. Having purchased from the reception (5PLN = £0.89) a map of the area, this offer proved invaluable the following day.

The receptionist handed us the key to room 16. After not eating a proper meal all day, we enquired about dinner - the restaurant was open from midday to 11.00pm, 6.30am to 10.30am for breakfast.

OUR ROOM……

……was on the first floor, there are several ground floor rooms, plus some on the second floor. This is not an ideal hotel for the less able bodied among us though as there is no lift. That obviously would not be a problem if the dining room were on the ground floor, it is however downstairs. Potentially, wheelchair users could access it by wheeling out of the front door, down the paved slope to the lower car park and into the dining room through the wide door. OK in summer, not brilliant if it is raining or, in winter, snowing!

The heavy wooden door to our room is extremely well insulated, it has a thick rubber seal all the way around it. Stepping into the room, the impression is a good one, certainly far better than any three star English hotels that we have stayed in recently. The room is immaculately clean, smells as though nobody has ever stayed here before and is very comfortably furnished.

As with continental hotels generally, do not expect a kettle, or tea making facilities, to be provided in the room. Here complimentary bottles of mineral water - sparkling and flat are however provided. Satellite television and a radio are provided, as is a telephone. Unfortunately only Polish and German programmes were available on the TV, however the fascinating and ever changing view from the window rather made the TV redundant anyway.

THE BALCONY……

……is accessed through a double glazed door from the bedroom. Under the bed are a couple of deckchairs. Those of you whose idea of a good holiday is to take a good book and sit there reading it all day, would be ideally suited here. Open the door and all you can hear is the ringing of bells - attached to the necks of the sheep - and the mooing of cows, it is an extremely tranquil and beautiful setting.

THE VIEW……

……in my experience would take some beating. Standing on the balcony, looking to the east, in the valley, you can see Zakopane, particularly pretty when lit at night. To the south , in front of you, are the rocky alpine type peaks of the Tatra mountains, whilst immediately to the right are traditional Highland homes spread across the hilltop. Julie Andrews would experience a sense of deja-vu here undoubtedly.

THE EN-SUITE……

……was the cleanest that I have ever experienced in any hotel. It literally looked as though it had just been built.

Over the top of the toilet seat was wrapped a paper seal: "DISINFECTED" it announced in three languages. The toiletries, whilst of unknown brand (having the hotel name on them), were of fine quality as was the water coming from the taps - not always the case in Poland I have to say. Next to the toilet was a large single shower cubicle with a heated towel rail facing it. Regrettably we were unable to make this work in order to dry the thick fluffy white towels over night.

THE DINING ROOM……

……had almost as good a view as our bedroom window, offering panoramic views to the South and east of the Tatras. However, had it not had a view at all, it would still have been a delightful place to eat due to its' décor and design. Deceptively large, it splits out into separate eating areas. At the bottom of the stairs to the left you find the small, but amazingly well stocked, bar. In front of you the door out onto the car park - tables with parasols were outside for alfresco drinking and dining.

In the centre of the area in which we chose to dine - and indeed eat breakfast in the morning - which had the best views, was a stone water feature, constantly running. A marvellously "cool" touch after all that hot weather of the previous weeks!

Equally attractive a draw to the eyes in the dining room (or restaurant more accurately - it was open to non-guests) were the large stained glass wall panels depicting, as my wife explained, scenes from highland folk law.

THE MENU……

You are presented with one menu, the wines being contained in the back pages. Interestingly, the international wines are well described and accompanied by quite large pictures of the bottles. After two days of wedding celebrations my taste was not for more alcohol, I chose Tonic Water to accompany my meal, Mrs R, mineral water.

The food menu, as in most Polish hotels, is extraordinarily long and complex - you rarely come across the "that's off!" situation either. The main menu was printed in Polish, German, Russian and English, the "special" menu, a separate A4 inserted sheet was however only in Polish……

THE HIGHLANDER SPECIAL……

……both my wife and the very helpful waitress advised me to try the traditional Highland meal - that "special" printed all in Polish. Unlike many people of my acquaintance, when I go abroad, I prefer to eat the native diet, for me that is an important part of my travel experience. Here at the Redyk, I needed little encouragement to order the Highlander Special, a four course fixed menu, which as it turned out, did take some pushing down though!

The Highlanders have a character and traditions very much of their own. The food was therefore different here to any of the more usual Polish fayre served to me previously. This is one of the only places in Poland where you will see lamb in the fields and on the menu for example. We were also about to discover that the Highlanders expect you to have a very hearty appetite!

As a pre-starter we are served superb breads, one of which was my favourite, onion bread, along with a small pot of seasoned and spiced animal fat to spread on it, yes Richada's cholesterol level hits an all time high!

The starter was a most unusual tartar; I am used to eating beef tartar in Poland, but the main ingredient here was bryndza (sheep cheese).

Bryndza, both smoked and not, is very popular in the mountains and the next course was a smoked sheep cheese soup with croutons. I am no lover of cheese; however, this was absolutely superb, thick and tasty. Had it been served with a bread roll, this would have been a satisfying meal in itself. Incidentally my wife ordered this as a separate starter the following evening. The cost? 5PLN (£0.89)!

Is your mouth watering yet?

Good.

Now we are about to see the main course - you guessed it LAMB! To be honest, I am already full on what has been eaten so far, now a large white platter is placed before me containing a huge portion of roast shoulder of lamb, croquette potatoes and an assortment of vegetables looking as though they had been picked this afternoon.

The lamb is incredible, tasting like no English lamb. It is very lean, extraordinarily succulent, falling apart at the merest touch with the fork, and is served with a very mild mint jus. This is a meal that the very best London restaurant would be proud to serve - if in half size portions!

My wife, not being a lamb eater is actually enjoying a form of beefsteak, piled high on sautéed vegetables, having started with fried smoked sheep cheese and cranberry sauce. Her meal is undoubtedly of equal quality to mine, I try a tiny piece of her (large!) steak - it melts in the mouth and is extraordinarily tasty.

The only hitch comes with the sweet, the sweetmeat traditional "cake" is actually not available - cake, after all of that, I ask you! My sweet is substituted by a tiny (at my request!) piece of hot apple pie and ice cream.

Now, in England, for a meal of this quality - but not quantity, I would expect to pay between £35.00 and £50.00 dependant on the place in which it was served. Here at the Hotel Redyk in Zab, Poland, it was 42PLN.

Yes, that's right, this superb four course meal had cost £7.50!

Breakfast is laid out on what the hotel describe as a "Swedish Table". This is a standard buffet breakfast with a choice of cereals, bread rolls, cut meats, cheeses, salads and cakes. As you enter the dining room the waitress offers you the choice of scrambled egg - with or without chopped bacon in it - or an omelette. We chose the scrambled eggs which were superb.

OTHER DETAILS

After dinner we treated ourselves to a half hour session in the hotels massage chairs, situated on the first floor landing. There is no charge for this. I can imagine them being great therapy and in high demand after a hard day on the piste!

Should you wish to book overseas conference facilities, albeit on a smallish scale, then the Redyk can oblige there too.

The Hotel Redyk offers single, double, twin and suite rooms, all with en-suite and balcony. For the singles and twins, for the remainder of this year, you will pay 180PLN per night, this increases to 200PLN (equiv. £35.70) per night next year.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there is a ski hire business and a ski school, right next door, plus a superb ski run going down past the south facing windows, an all year round resort hotel then this, and up here snow is guaranteed for nearly six months of the year.

The full address:

HOTEL REDYK
34-521 Zab 48e
kolo Zakopanego

Tel: (0048) 018 200 1661
Fax: (0048) 018 200 1660

www.redyk.pl

Incidentally, just in case you were wondering about the word Redyk, it means to lead the sheep to high pasture in the mountains for the summer months.

IN CONCLUSION

With superb food and excellent service, very comfortable beds, tasteful and superbly well kept décor, this three star hotel earns an unequivocal five star recommendation from Richada. Everything looked, felt and smelled so new here, that I was amazed to be informed by the receptionist that the hotel had been open for business for three years.

Summary: A fantastic hotel in a truly breathtaking setting.