Set in the immediate vicinity of the Kieler Förde bay, this modern, 3-star hotel is just a ... more
5-minute walk from Kiel's railway station, main pedestrian area, and old quarter.The privately run Hotel an der Hörn boasts bright, spacious rooms with free Wi-F...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Advantages: Great food, good service, location Disadvantages: Service a little too over the top and food a little cold
*Please note ? this is a review of the restaurant part of the hotel*
A few weeks ago Mr Tart and myself headed to his parents? for a family gathering. We were all going out for a posh meal on the Sunday and the French Horn was chosen as the location for the event.
LOCATION:
The French Horn is in Sonning-on-Thames. Sonning is not a big place and the restaurant is on the main road so you can?t miss it (sorry I can?t be more specific ? it doesn?t even give a road name on the website!). It?s not the easiest place to get to as the approaches are all through small, busy roads. There is plenty of parking in the French Horn?s car park opposite the restaurant. The restaurant?s location is what really makes it. It is right on the Thames with the gardens leading down to the river. We went on a beautiful sunny day and the setting ...
Advantages: good location with ample free parking Disadvantages: a bit spartan and threadbare
Kiel is not the most conducive place for a winter holiday so it has to be reasoned that anyone wishing to stay there then would either do so on business or in transit.
Being the main centre for U Boat construction during WW2, Keil was then a favourite destination for RAF Bomber Command and was badly damaged; the reconstruction is about as imaginative as some similar city centres in the UK such as Plymouth - in other words a quick-fix urban monstrosity.
The Best Western Hotel in Kiel rose up out of an existing office block and despite some attempts to disguise the fact, it shows. In terms of four star status it doesn't deserve it if you compare what you get in most four star hotels in the rest of Europe.
I stayed there for four days in the middle of January 2009.
It was comfortable. No frills, no pretty soaps or shampoos - no ...
Advantages: Location, spaciousness Disadvantages: Food. Some bathrom fittings not up to scratch
. It sits down below the level of the railway and motorway so any noise tends to pass over it. The trains, though frequent, are fairly quiet. All the rooms are double-glazed (and air-conditioned) so you can keep the windows closed and not hear a thing. There is a Chinese-style garden at one side, full of shrubbery, ponds, paths, little bridges and gazebos where no noise seems to impinge at all.
**Who runs it?**
It is part of the Van der Valk chain (da-da-da-DUM for those of you who remember the eponymous 1970s Dutch detective series; for those of you who don't, you didn't miss anything). I feel a shudder running through those of you who dislike hotel chains. Agreed they can be soulless and you can feel processed, but equally I have often been disappointed in attractive-looking independent hotels, not usually by the public rooms ...
The hotel ‘An der Horn’ is situated centrally, just 600m from the station and a short walk from the pedestrian area. The location also provides an excursion to the Navy Museum or the aquarium of the institute for oceanography with outdoor seal basin .
