It's actually not easy finding a hotel in Colditz on the internet; I don't know if that's because there are not many but it seemed that there was only one hotel right in the centre of Colditz, and close to the castle.
Because we knew that we would have to do a lot of travelling to get there, we did want something right in the middle of things, especially because once there, we would be walking wherever we wanted to go.
Lots of searches later, I came up with this hotel, and duly telephoned the given number. The gentleman who answered the phone was fortunately excellent at English and very helpful (this was fortunate because my German skills are sadly lacking).
I explained that we wanted a twin room, and this was duly reserved for us, although he required no "up front" payment, not even credit card details. I was a tad concerned that the booking may not have actually been made, but went ahead with it anyway, and since he appeared to be doing things on good faith, decided to do the same.
**GETTING THERE**
After
a long day, travelling by train from Berlin, and then the local bus, we arrived at the village, without a map (typical), and started to trudge our way through heavy snow, asking people along the way how to find the hotel.
The journey was not especially onerous because although it was snowing, the whole area is very picturesque and the snow was that lovely heavy snow "proper" snow, not the wet sludgy type.
At last we got to the town square and as we walked along a narrow road a man appeared from the snow storm us, asking for our name. It turned out that he was the owner of the hotel and had come out looking for us- that's what I call service.
Talking to him later, it appears that most visitors are in the town later in the year when the weather improves.
**THE HOTEL**
He led us to a large house, exactly as I imagine the older style German houses, with shutters on the windows and a small balcony next to the front door. Everything about it was almost timeless and it just seemed as though it had been there at the bottom of the village square for ever.
Inside it seemed to go on forever, with lots of corridors and stairs. We were led upstairs, along a wide corridor, with doors on each side, and told to chose our room. A quick look in each room indicated that they were all beautifully maintained and clean, and each with it's own shower room.
We chose a room with two single beds, both of which had crisp white sheets. There was also a pine wardrobe in the room and bedside tables, and the shower room had toiletries, packets of tissues and again was clean and well heated.
The owner of the hotel emphasised that should we need anything, we were only to ask, so we settled down for a talk with him about the town, and the castle, and he really knew his stuff!
We were given a key for the main hotel door and our bedroom, and went for a walk, and when we returned after eating in one of the restaurants, all was quiet and still.
It is in fact the quietest place and the darkest I have ever been to. The view from the bedroom was amazing, because we could see the castle perched on the hill, and with a blanket of snow, it looked spectacular.
**THE FOOD**
The next morning, we were again greeted, and taken to breakfast, and what a breakfast it was. We were the only people eating in the small dining room, and the four tables were set with white table cloths, and cutlery. The table to the side was absolutely laden with things to eat, and our "guide" told us that he had bought extra because he knew that people from England like to eat cereal in the morning. There was every type of cereal, several meats, cheeses, pates, lots of different breads, sauces and cakes. There was no way we were going to get through it all but we did ourselves proud.
**VERDICT**
For all of this- huge amounts of food, excellent friendly service, a clean and perfectly placed hotel, we paid the princely sum of 55 Euros, for the two of us. This was, I thought, an incredible bargain. The hotel is about 5 minutes walk from the castle, close to the shops, and at the bottom of the main square in Colditz. There could be no complaints about the location.
The food and service were excellent and whilst the rooms were basic, they were clean and well maintained. This is in fact the only down side to the hotel. If you want all mod cons such as satellite tv, internet connections in the bedroom, etc, then this is not the hotel for you. However, these were not what we needed so it suited us perfectly. We were offered use of the telephone and computer in the office had we wanted to send e mails, so I don't think the owner could have been fairer than that
I think we were spoilt because we were in fact the only people there that night, but somehow, I have a feeling that all the guests receive this warm welcome and superb service.
For anyone visiting Colditz, I would more than highly recommend this small hotel…you will be hard pressed to find better service.
**WEBSITE** There is actually a website for the hotel-www.colditz.de/pension.
The majority of this is in German apart from directions which are in English, but they give detailed instructions of how to get to the hotel.
There is also information on the hotel, including telephone numbers and prices, but for availability, you have to phone.
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exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (93%):
