Fancy sleeping in the same bed as Jude Law? (Hoteldorf Gruner Baum (Bad Gastein, Austria))

Member Name: mrsgladwin

Product:	Hoteldorf Gruner Baum (Bad Gastein, Austria)
Date:	05/06/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely staff, great location, fabulous views

Disadvantages: We had to come home!

Having never been to Salzburg before, I was very excited about going for my wedding last December. I'd heard only good things about the hotel and if the website was anything to go by we were in for a treat. I've talked about the wedding side of things in another review so I'll just focus on the hotel itself for the purposes of this review.

~Background~

The Gruner Baum is a family run resort in Badgastein, Salzburg, comprising of five separate houses. It, and its surrounding land covers over 70 acres and is "in between the pure nature and car-free environment of Kötschach-Valley".

The main house has some bedrooms, and is also where the restaurant, bar, library and reception are situated. The other houses are mainly bedrooms whilst the "Kösslerhaus" also has the indoor pool, the thermal and spa department and beauty lounge. It was the Kosslerhaus that we stayed in.

They cater for meetings, conferences and obviously weddings; and pets are allowed at a small additional cost.

~Location~

The resort, as I already mentioned is situated in Kötschach Valley in Badgastein. It is approximately three hours drive from Munich and 90 minutes from Salzburg. According to the Gruner Baum website, Badgastein is a very popular spa resort due to the "clean environment" and "healing waters".

We found the location breathtaking. We went in the winter time so obviously there was snow everywhere. It looked like a postcode, particularly when looking from our balcony and seeing the surrounding mountains.

You could walk down into Badgastein but because of the weather and the fact I was 7 months pregnant we didn't do too much walking. Apparently the skiing facilities were very close by but again, due to "the bump" we didn't think skiing would be a good idea!

We took up the offer to go on a trip to the Advent Market, and were driven by the hotel's taxi service. It was only about 15 minutes away and definitely worth a visit.
There were other excursions available such as a trip to the Großglockner (Austria's highest mountain), a visit to the giant ice world, and a trip to the city of Salzburg. Unfortunately as we only stayed four days and had a wedding in the middle of them, we didn't have chance to visit these locations.

~Rooms~

As it was for our wedding we paid an extra Euro160 to upgrade our room to a suite and we stayed in the "Princes room". This consisted of a bedroom room area and a slightly separated living area with two couches, a table, a flat screen TV attached to the wall and a balcony. We were really pleased with our room and all the little extras they'd thought of. When we arrived there was a bottle of water, some wrapped biscuits and four apples waiting for us on the table, along with a personal note hand written note welcoming us to the Gruner Baum. The water was replaced each day, as were the apples and biscuits. There was also a shoe shine, towels and bathing robes with the hotels name printed on, an umbrella, and a bag with slippers and a towel in to take down to the pool area. They even had their own postcards with the image of the hotel printed on the front to send back home.

Our guests stayed in the standard rooms and when we took a peak, they seemed to be just as lovely, although obviously not as large as ours.

~Facilities~

Inside the main building were the restaurant and cosy bar in a room with a big open fire. This was lovely in the afternoon when we'd be out in the cold and we'd come back and have hot chocolates in front of the fire. There was also a library in the main building with a mixture of English and German books and a computer with free internet access.

Over in the building we stayed in was the indoor thermal swimming pool which we loved. It was always surprisingly quiet but was a good size so if other people were in there, it wasn't really an issue. The water was always lovely and warm which was great in contrast to the freezing weather outside!

They also had a Shiseido beauty lounge offering massages, hair and beauty treatments, and spa therapies. I had my hair and makeup done on the wedding day in the beauty lounge and the staff were friendly and the lady who saw to me really did do a good job. She listened to what I wanted and did it exactly. I can't comment on the price however, as it was included in my wedding package, but I think the treatments, especially body ones, are quite pricey, but considering they use Shiseido products I'd consider it worth the price for a treat.

In the summer they also have a heated outdoor pool with deck chairs and parasols; a volleyball pitch and mountain bikes are available for those wanting to explore a little.

~Service~

The service from the minute we got there until we left was outstanding. We paid Euro250 for the hotel driver to pick us up from Munich Airport and he was a complete gentleman, carrying our bags and talking about the hotel on the way there.

When we arrived we were greeted by mulled wine as we checked in. One of the guests had a double room booked but due to a last minute hiccup her partner was unable to fly over with us She told the lady on reception this and she offered her a single room at half the price to save her forking out the full lot just for herself. We thought this was great service, as at a lot of hotels there would have been a charge for that.

One of the family members who own the hotel was our wedding co-ordinator. She was lovely and professional throughout, calmed my nerves and was available whenever we needed her. She even presented us with a personalised engraved photo frame with our names and our wedding date on, and told us it was a gift to thank us for choosing them to host our wedding.

All the staff we encountered were warm and friendly and the bar staff in particular were great fun. Some of the guests had a very detailed late night discussion with the bartender about the joys of Facebook! (How much he actually understood we don't know!)

~Meals~

We stayed full board and so had both our evening meal and breakfast included in the price. The restaurant was large but still managed to keep that cosy feel about it. Breakfast was a buffet, with a large variety on offer. You could have fruit, breads and croissants, cereals and muesli or a traditional Austrian cooked breakfast. They also had fresh salmon and cheeses to choose from. I'm very unadventurous when it comes to food and stuck to my muesli and orange juice but the rest of our guests tried pretty much everything and really enjoyed it.

The evening meal was always very sophisticated and really well presented. Amongst other things we had venison, veal, fish dishes and chicken. It was perhaps a bit too sophisticated for my simple tastes (I was half expecting my husband to ask for chips!) but still it was very good. Each night there were five courses and a choice for each. The deserts in particular were delicious.

~Price~

Our four night stay was included in our wedding package but as I said we paid an extra Euro160 for a suite upgrade. However, our guests paid approximately Euro240 a night for a double room, half that for a single.

In terms of children staying, babies under the age of 2 go free and children from 2 to 12 stay in additional beds in their parents' room and are charged at Euro5 for each year. Young people under the age of 25 in their own room get a 25% reduction.


Would I recommend?

Definitely. It was beautiful and picturesque in winter but we'd also like to go back to see what it's like in the summer time. It wasn't too busy and the atmosphere was cosy and friendly. We noticed on the photos they had up on the wall that Jude Law had stayed there previously. I was very excited to think I could have slept in the same room as Jude Law! If that's not a selling point, I don't know what is!

Summary: Perfect location for a dream winter wedding