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Member since:20.06.2004
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WHY DID WE BOOK THE HOTEL WILDBACH in BRIENZ?
This is a more complicated question than usual to answer. For more years than I care to remember I have dreamed of returning to Switzerland, specifically to the Bernese Oberland region of central southern Switzerland.
As a child, travelling with my parents, we used to stop in a small town called Brienz overnight on our way through to northern Italy. The last time that I was here would have been as an eight year old in 1970. So beautiful is the area that it left a lasting impression. When the idea of driving to Switzerland for a weeks' holiday cropped up back in the summer, Brienz almost chose itself as the logical place to stay.
Having decided that the Bernese Oberland was to be our destination, we narrowed the search for a base - or hotel - to the Brienzee, the large lake surrounded by mountains to the east of Interlaken. Switzerland was never known as a "budget" destination and when researching hotels, this was quickly reaffirmed, indeed even booking through internet sites there were no bargains to be found.
Our short list came down (as usual) to two hotels - plus one that I last visited as a child - the Hotel Baren in the centre of Brienz. Fortunately, as it turned out, the now very dilapidated Baren appeared on no websites whatsoever, a straight choice then between the Strand Hotel in Iseltwald on the southern lake shore, or the Wildbach on the opposite shore in Brienz.
The Strand was a rather larger, grander three star hotel, with modern "international" style rooms. Its setting looked idyllic however and, at around £80 per night - this was October and therefore off-season - comparable in price to the two star Wildbach almost opposite on the lake. However, one thing put us off, unnecessarily as it turned out, there was no hotel; car park, merely "parking nearby in a public car park".
The Wildbach not only had its own car park, but also appeared much more genuinely authentic SwissChalet style in its appearance, we do like to sample the local flavour if possible when we travel - and know that the car is safely parked at night!
HOTEL DESCRIPTION / OUR PERCEPTION FROM HOTEL PUBLICITY
Leading on from the above, we researched the Wildbach thoroughly and decided that, according to the website, it was just what we were looking for, a small, homely, hotel with a proper Swiss atmosphere about it.
This, verbatim, is what the hotel's own site has to say about it: "The rustic 2-star-hotel is located on the panoramaroad in the direction of Interlaken, 1km away from the city of Brienz. The location on the shore of lake Brienz is unique - just in front of the door of the hotel you have the possibility to swim in the most cleanest lake in Switzerland. The amazing view will hypnotize you - the beautiful, green Alps fall steeply into the lake, broken by the thunderous waterfall".
There are some none too great photographs shown too, a little hazy and out of focus, strangely at odds with the Swiss reputation for precision and accuracy in all things. What did make us just a little suspicious was the fact that there was no picture of the hotel from the front. Those who read my reviews regularly will be aware of how much store I put in photographs - especially when it comes to hotels!
Switzerland is a nation renowned for hotel keeping, although, to be honest, many of the ones we had investigated on the internet appeared to be grossly over-priced, even compared to the rip-off tariffs charged right here at home. The Wildbach by comparison appeared to be a refreshingly authentic and honest hostelry, even if, for a mere two star establishment, £80 per night for the
room (B&B) did, still, seem rather steep.
"Appeared honest"……keep that thought in mind as we approach the First Impressions category!
BOOKING PROCESS 10 / 10
A surprise here, although we booked the Wildbach through Booking.com, one of very many booking sites - all offering the same room rate (I did warn you that there were no bargains to be had!) - when we checked out, the hotel actually charged us in £ Sterling. This very neatly avoids the FOREX commission charge which appears against all of our usual European MasterCard payments.
The actual checking-in process was faultless, we assumed that we must have been the only couple checking in that Friday afternoon as we were referred to by name upon walking into the Wildbach, a nice touch bearing in mind our first, very alarming, impressions!
LOCATION 5 / 10
There are two entirely opposed ways of looking at this one. On the hotel publicity material it looks totally idyllic; facing Switzerland's cleanest lake, separated only from it by a none too busy and very scenic road. It is less than a mile away from Brienz, in the summer a gorgeous walk along the lake shore, or indeed a short hop on one of the lake steamers, which stop at the Hotel's very own pier.
And all of that is absolutely true……providing you are standing with your back to the hotel, facing the beautiful lake and mountains above it……oh and make sure your iPod is turned up VERY loud too…….
FIRST IMPRESSIONS 3 / 10
……"Pardon? Sorry, didn't catch that!"........
We had, so far, spent a wonderful day driving down through Switzerland from Germany, the weather was beautiful. Deliberately I had left the motorway at Thun in order to take the scenic road along the northern lakeshores, firstly of the Thunnersee and then the Brienzersee. There was very little traffic on the road, even stopping every ten minutes to take photographs of the ever more beautiful unfolding scenery, it was still only two o'clock as we approached our hotel.
We were impressed to find that the little Hotel Wildbach actually featured on Beckie, our German GPS system, as we rounded a blind bend she piped up with the reassuring message that: "you have arrived at your destination". The Wildbach was not in site, but a very large, impressive, metal railway viaduct was!
Parking on the large car park we looked back to see that the attractive looking, traditional wooden, Swiss Chalet style hotel had been built directly UNDER a stone railway bridge leading onto the metal viaduct to its right. The reason for the slightly dodgy photographs was all too painfully obvious; any picture of the hotel from the front would show the railway line going straight over the top of it.
Mrs R looked at me in horror! "Oh my GOD, you're never going to sleep……" an express train at that very moment thundered over the top of us completely drowning out the rest of her sentence.
Her next sentence was along the lines of 'do we really want to stay here?'
By sheer and happy coincidence a lady leaned out of the car parked next to us; "are you English?" she asked with a slightly Brummie accent. She and her husband owned a holiday flat further up the lake, above the same railway line. They reassured us that the trains did not run after 11.00pm and started no earlier than 6.30am - not a place for a lay-in then!
During our conversation several trains passed overhead, the slow ones were even worse, the noise they made drowned out the conversation for a much longer period!
CHECKING IN 7 / 10
We did not really get off to the best start at the Wildbach, having looked forward to this holiday for a very long time, my wife was really concerned about my being able to rest sleeping "under the arches". The fluent English speaking hostess - no name or title was offered at all - seemed very put out when Mrs R asked her directly if the trains were a disturbance "we have never had any guest complaints" came the curt reply.
In typically efficient Swiss style all of the details were correct and she issued us with a rather tatty looking plastic key-card, which she said could be replaced if we "have a problem with it". The owner, the following day, actually replaced this for us with a new one.
We had been driving since 9.00 and wanted something to eat, unfortunately, at 3.15pm this was a problem, the lady actually intimating that this would be a considerable inconvenience, but that if we insisted she would see what was available in the kitchen. We did not insist, booked an early dinner for 6.30 in the non-smoking area of the restaurant and hastened into Brienz in order to grab a snack from a supermarket.
ON THE WAY TO THE ROOM i.e. how easy is it to find your way around? How accessible is if for less able persons? What condition are the public rooms and passageways in? 8 / 10
Inside, this is a small, homely hotel with just six rooms of varying size and comfort. The key card allows you 24 / 7 access through the back door, which, although on the second floor, is approached up a steep driveway under the railway arch to the rear of the hotel.
Unless in some way physically disabled, there is no problem with orienteering your way around the Wildbach. There is no reception or bar as such, the ground floor being taken up by the kitchen and two rooms of the restaurant, the smaller of which is non-smoking. The staircase rises through the middle of the house, opening onto a landing on which all six rooms are located, the three at the front having en-suite bathrooms, the three to the rear - directly under the railway, having a shared bathroom - also on the landing.
The general impression is of a very well kept B&B rather than of a hotel as we would recognise it. The general décor throughout is clean and bright, practical rather than luxurious.
Those who are less able on their feet should not consider the Wildbach as a base. It is totally unsuitable for wheelchair users, there are steep steps approaching it from the car park at the front, a rough and bumpy track from the back.
The public area downstairs - this establishment is primarily, as it turned out, a restaurant with rooms - is very rustic in flavour, all stripped wood and bare wooden tables. In the centre of it burns night and day a log stove, this proved uncomfortably hot if you were too close to it.
THE ROOM 10 / 10
The room, in its way, was perfect. We had been given the best room in the house, situated at the front on the eastern corner of the building. The owners are justifiably proud of this room and it is shown in the publicity material.
Rather in the style of the restaurant downstairs, it was all plain wood, the eaves having been used as decorative architectural features; some were even painted with alpine flowers. Unusually the room was approached down a small flight of stairs having entered the door. The en-suite was tucked discreetly away beside the stairs which were at an angle, giving both room and bathroom an interestingly irregular shape.
The furniture was pretty much standard, as you would expect; a double bed with built in side tables, a desk come dressing table and a television on top of its own side table. Slightly less usual perhaps were a large arm chair and a small bench seat filling the gap between the wardrobe and bedside table.
Outside however was to be found the piece d'resistance, the balcony was almost as large as the room! A large
Pictures of Wildbach Hotel - Brienz
A typical wooden Swiss Chalet in appearance - it could all have been so much better!
dining table and four chairs were provided here, along with an easy chair. Naturally the balcony faced the superb view and not the railway viaduct!By any standards this was a delightful room, one of the best in which we have stayed anywhere indeed, as well as being comfortable, well appointed and attractive to look at it was also immaculately well kept - so clean indeed that we could have been the first guests ever to have slept here.
THE EN-SUITE 9 / 10
I know that for many the lack of a bath would be a black mark here, but there simply was not room for one and the very best use had been made of the space available. The toilet, shower and hand basin were all spotlessly clean too.
Only the very most basic of toiletries i.e. unbranded liquid soap in dispensers by the basin and shower were provided - the Swiss certainly do not believe in giving anything away!
DID WE GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP? 7 / 10
Oh so tricky to answer that! Maybe the Swiss high altitude air agreed with me, or the stop-watch accuracy of the rail timetable just happened to fall into my regular sleep pattern, but yes we both slept well enough at the Wildbach.
The trouble here is though, that if you want a late night, followed by a lay in, this simply isn't the place to provide it. Those trains are very noisy - I hate to think what sleeping in one of the rear bedrooms here would be like, they are directly below the tracks.
Judging by the sheer lack of traffic in the evenings on Swiss roads, the Swiss people appear to stay indoors and go to bed early. The hotel and railway tend to force you into adopting this rather rigid routine, which, when you are on holiday and not having to get up in the morning to go to work, becomes rather tiresome after a couple of days.
FACILITIES ON OFFER - No score here, different grades / prices of hotel understandably have different facilities.
Given that this is only rated as a two star hotel, and that there are only six rooms, the lack of facilities is only to be expected. You will not find a bar or lounge of any sort here, indeed the only guest "facility" that I could find as such amounted to a little library situated on the upstairs landing. There were plenty of English books too - but then everyone in Switzerland appeared to speak English anyway!
As with many Swiss hotels the Wildbach is set up for al-fresco dining, a large terrace outside the front of the restaurant is not only popular in the summer, but also it would seem on fine autumn days. The fantastic view can only partially make up for the rather disappointing food……
BREAKFAST / OTHER MEALS, FOOD & DRINKS 5 / 10
Bearing in mind the prices charged, even by inflated Swiss standards, I can only say that in a culinary sense the Wildbach was disappointing. On that first evening we finished up paying almost £50 for a single course meal with an apple juice each. My wife very much enjoyed her locally caught fish dish, my wild game on the other hand was distinctly lack-lustre and certainly worth nowhere near double the cost of a far superior, but similar, dish that would have been served in most German hotels.
It almost seems churlish to mention the size of the portions here…..smaller than in any other place which we ate over the following four days.
After the dinner experience, we had no great expectations of breakfast and were not surprised at the sheer lack of choice and mediocrity of the fare on offer. A continental breakfast, the best part of which was the excellent coffee, it amounted to little more than bread and jam with some of the worst, most highly processed slices of meat that I have ever come across.
The contrast with much cheaper or similarly priced establishments over the border in Germany was stark indeed. We were wondering just what German or American guests would make of breakfast at the Wildbach!
OVERALL VALUE FOR MONEY 4 / 10
Having visited and really enjoyed dinner (£49.75 for three courses) at the Strand Hotel on the opposite side of the lake, we had come to the conclusion that, beautiful as our room was at the Wildbach, we had definitely made the wrong choice of hotel. At the Strand we had a superb three course dinner for the same price as the meal we had on the first night at the Wildbach. The Strand also had far better facilities, a bar, a proper reception and a much better appointed dining room.
Initially we had formed the opinion that Switzerland was just an extremely expensive place to stay and that the Wildbach was probably par for the course. That was until we visited Grindelwald, famous mountain resort and location of hotels large and small - all offering better value rooms and much cheaper food. Grindelwald is no more than thirty minutes from Brienz.
Our total bill for the four night stay, including that over-priced meal, came to £428.90. There were no "extras" at all on the bill. On hindsight, even by Swiss standards I do not think that represents very good value for money - by any standards in any other country in which we have stayed, it represents downright poor value.
HOW LIKELY AM I / ARE WE, TO USE THIS HOTEL AGAIN?
Regrettably we would not use the Wildbach again. An aspect not touched on was the coldness and near hostility of the one staff member who was there most of the time. Guests appeared to be an inconvenience, very simple, and we thought reasonable, requests were met with the kind of cold distain that makes one feel thoroughly unwelcome. An example of this was requesting not to sit adjacent to the log burning stove at breakfast - the table which she had prepared for us was unbearably hot, we very politely requested to sit away from the stove by the window where we had dinner the previous evening. This was met with an alarmed "but THIS is YOUR table". "I'm very sorry bet we are not going to sit there. Instead of quietly laying up the other table with fresh crockery, they were noisily removed from "our" table and slammed down onto the one by the window.
Even had the Wildbach offered a warmer welcome, we would not return to it on value for money grounds anyway. The Bernese Oberland is not short of hotels, you just need to search a little harder in order to find one offering more for the same money - do not expect any to be cheap though!
RICHADA'S HOTEL RATING 68 / 100
In order to put that score into some kind of perspective, here are my current hotel rankings - all reviewed and scored using identical criteria:
Ringhotel Friederikenhof - Lubeck - Germany - 92% Hotel Traube - Offenburg - Germany - 88% Swallow Bower Hotel - Chadderton - 83% Grand Hotel, Torquay - 83% Innkeeper's Lodge, ChesterNortheast - 83% Innkeeper's Lodge, Stockport - 83 % Innkeeper's Lodge, Hull - 81% Preston Swallow Hotel - Samlesbury, Lancashire - 74% Hotel Drei Schwanen - Hohenstein-Ernstthal - Germany - 72% Hotel Viktoria, Cologne - 70%
Hotel Wildbach - Brienz - Switzerland - 68%
Innkeeper's Lodge, St Albans - 65% Hotel Piast, Boleslawiec (Poland) - 64% Chadwick Hotel, St Annes - 63 % Innkeeper's Lodge, Lichfield - 39%
CONTACT DETAILS:
Wildbach Hotel 1149, 3855 Brienz Am See Berner Oberland Switzerland
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Another fantastic hotel review. Always do get a good picture in my mind of what its like when reading through.
DarkDave 18.01.2009 21:43
I love reading your hotel reviews (and your motoring reviews, and all your other reviews!) Loads of information delivered in an easy to read format with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour thrown in for good measure! Excellent stuff... D
The rustic 2-star-hotel is located on the panoramaroad in the direction of Interlaken, 1km ... more
away from the city of Brienz. The location on the shore of lake Brienz is unique - just in front of the door of the hotel you have the possibility to swim in the most cleanest lake in Switzerland. The amazing view will hypnotize you - the beautiful, green Alps fall steeply into the lake, broken by the thunderous waterfall.
Information: :Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked......
exceptional by (76%):
very helpful by (24%):
