close to City centre, close ot bus routes, resonably priced
Disadvantages:
parking would have been a problem if driving to the hotel
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
My girlfriend and I had a week in Salzburg Austria and we stayed at a lovely hotel called Hotel Plainbrucke. I really think it merits a review to share this hotel with you and what I thought of it!
The Hotel is situated in the Itzling West area of Plainbrucke which is a small district of Salzburg. We landed at the Airport and from there we decided to take a taxi trip to the hotel which took us approx 10 -15 mins I guess. This cost us 15 euros which isn't too bad, but later on we found out the bus journey would have been free!
Upon arrival, we went to the reception and received a warm welcome from the member of staff behind the desk. We were actually an hour early for check in and we explained this to the woman but this wasn't a problem to them and we were told that we could go straight to our room as it was ready for us which I was really please about as we had to get up at 3am for out flight to Austria so I was more than tired at this point so it was nice to get in the room and freshen up.
The lady escorted us to our room which was on the first floor, and in the second building of the hotel (more about that later!). I would like to point out that we had to carry the cases to the room ourselves as there wasn't a porter available but maybe there would have been if we asked.
On first impressions, the room was clean, tidy, smelt nice and seemed very homely. As we walked into the room, straight ahead of us was the bathroom which consisted of a walk in shower, basin and a toilet as standard. Above the basin, there was a large mirror and a shelf. There was a heated towel rail behind the door which came in very handy. On the towel rail were two bath towels and adjacent to the sink were two hand towels.
Just inside the door was a large coat hook with 6 coat hooks attached which was obviously very useful with the amount of coats we packed.
The bedroom itself was spacious and consisted of a 4 poster bed (which my girlfriend had specifically ordered), a wardrobe big enough to fit both our clothes in comfortably and a chest drawer on top of which was a TV. The TV only had one channel that was in English though, which was CNN. In front of the window were a table and two chairs. Beside the bed, on either side was a bedside cabinet with a lamp on each. Unfortunately there wasn't an electric kettle so we were not able to make ourselves a nice brew when we arrived in the room, so I would recommend people to take a travel kettle if you like your tea and coffee.
The bed was two separate mattresses within a king-sized four poster but the tiny gap between the mattresses didn't really cause any problems although I do think it would have been better if it was just the one mattress. The sheets were clean and the bed was nicely made. The bedding and towels were changed on a daily basis by the maid service. There were drapes on all four corners of the bed which you could pull around the bed if you wished to do so.
The décor of the room was clean and bright which contrasted with the furniture which was of a green colour with floral displays on it. I would guess that the furniture is of a traditional Austrian theme as we saw lots of furniture like this in and around Salzburg City. I really liked the décor of the room as the walls and carpet were quite modern and the furniture gave in a homely feel really making the room feel complete.
The hotel served breakfast, which was included in the price of our stay between the hours of 7.30am and 10am. The breakfast room was situated on the ground floor of the second building of the hotel. On entering the restaurant the tables were nicely laid out with plenty of room between the tables. As you walked in, the self service breakfast area was laid out on two walls in an L shape fashion. This is where you could choose from a selection of cereals, toast with various spreads, yogurt and a selection of cold meats and cheese. The waitress straight away approached us, and asked if we would like tea or coffee which she brought promptly to our table. There was also a selection of 3 fruit juices to choose from. People arrived to breakfast as late at ten to ten and fresh food was still being put out for them to help themselves to which I thought was very efficient considering the official time for breakfast ended in 10 minutes. There was also a radio playing while we had our breakfast which made it a very warm atmosphere and it wasn't playing too loudly, just in the background!
On our way back to the first floor and to our room, there was on the left at the top of the stairs a room to the left which consisted of arm chairs and tables were you could sit and relax and enjoy a cigarette as we did. This was decorated in similar fashion to our room and was very clean and bright also.
The Hotel receptionist was very helpful on our first day after our check in, in giving us information and she did speak very good English as well which helped us immensely as we obviously didn't speak any Austrian! Here she explained the Salzburg card to us, and how it enables you to get around on public transport, and many attractions at a reduced rate or free. This can be purchased at various denominations from 24 hours -72 hours; the price accordingly was 21 euros for the 24 hour card, 29 euros for the 48 hour card and 34 euros for the 72 hour card.
Also in the reception is a stand which has an array of leaflets on attractions and site seeing tours. These tours can be booked from the hotel, ranging from 30 euros for the salt mines to 60 euros for the Sound Of Music tour.
The tour bus picks you up direct from Hotel door, and also drops you off. So this is very handy if you're not confident with using the public transport system and worrying about getting lost or on the wrong bus! We found this really useful and it was a great help the receptionist pointing this out to us as well.
As we arrived by taxi, and didn't drive by our own transport, I don't really recall a car park being located on the Hotel premises although there was a large area adjacent to our building to the rear, which did have enough room for vehicles to park.
To each side of the Hotel within easy walking distance of only a few hundred yards, was a very large Spa Supermarket selling the usual goods ,and to the left as you looked at Hotel from face on was an Italian Restaurant which smelt absolutely delicious! We never ate here so I cannot really tell you how much meals cost or the selection of meals available I'm afraid, but it is still an ideal location to be so close to the Hotel.
Between the hotel and Spa shop was a Bakery/coffee house which served up a variety of snacks and drinks from Mochas to Milkshakes and all at very reasonable prices. The food served here was snacks, such as omelettes, and toasted Sandwiches. The Bakery section had fresh sponges and cream gateau's which were solely tempting on many occasions.
In summary, it was a very clean, pleasant hotel and from the external envelope and first impressions it doesn't instil confidence. This is only I feel because of the colour it has been painted in and nothing else really. But once inside it is homely and really bright and airy, and was a lovely place to stay! I would recommend this hotel to anyone thinking of going to Salzburg as it is in easy reach of most attractions and no more than an hour bus trip to the furthest attractions out of the City centre.
