Hotel Höhengasthof Grüner Baum

after the heavy snow earlie rthis year we decided to go to Feldberg, and found a room with half board in Höhengasthof Grüner Baum, 10km from the main ski area. Nice place, friendly people, helpful (though you need German to communicate comfortably), and the half board formula comprises the breakfast buffet (and it is more than the standard thing you find in international hotels of 3 star range), the 4 course dinner (which we enjoyed every night) and the card that gives you access to all ski areas. The place has this warm charm of mountain lodges, a sauna, solarium and ski room (with ski boot heater). We put this place on our list for next year's short ski (it's only 6 hours from Antwerp)

We spent a week in this hotel, but would not go there again. Its location is quite romantic, but for skiing not very practical. Due to the school holidays in Baden Wuerttemberg parking at one of the ski resorts was absolutely hopeless after 8.30 am. There is a direct bus from the hotel to the skiing resort Feldberg in the morning, but in the afternoon we could not find any bus to take us back. Apparently we would have had to change buses somewhere which is a bit difficult with a 5-year old not being able to carry her skis etc. Besides, at around 4 pm there were at least 150 people waiting for the buses. In the end we called a cab and paid 25 euros for a ride back. The owners of the hotel seemed friendly, but we felt their friendliness was not sincere. Our room was just big enough, but really nothing special. Our daughter was sleeping on a hard and uncomfortable sofa. Our bed, pillows and duvets were great. The tap in the sink in the bathroom did not work properly and needs replacing. Also, there is a draft coming from the windows in the bathroom, so with cold air coming in it is not very nice to have a shower. In general, we found the bathroom too cold. Breakfast was good although we missed some pastries for a change. The owner seems to be the main chef, but we did not like his cooking. On top of that it took us ages every night to get our dinner. Even though we arrived early (6.30 pm) to avoid the long waiting time it usually took us 2 hours to finish our dinner that was included in our half board. Sometimes we got our starter (a soup) only after 1 hour! So if you have half board as well make sure to take a book/games or something else to do while waiting. I found the staff (apart from the owners) friendly and helpful, but clearly they need some more people in the kitchen. We did not dare to book a massage since Mrs. Dietz (the owner's wife) is doing that as well and frankly we did not trust her massaging skills. We prefer a professional to do it and not the person who will be serving dinner in the evening. We did not even check out the sauna in the cellar, so I can't comment on that. All in all, we were lucky with the weather, there was lots of snow, but next time we would prefer to book the Feldberger Hof which is right next to the ski slopes. That would save us a lot of trouble with the transport. And I bet the receptionists don't do massages there. :-)

A very nice place to stay, very friendly owner/personnel; it was very clean, , the breakfast was excellent. very nice view from the balcony. good restaurant for dinner but a little expensive the beds were screech and not so comfortable.

good hotel, very clean, with very friendly and helpful staff; they were booked up but gave us a holiday flat at the price of a hotel room. good breakfast (german style). the interior is not luxurious but new and clean and very good overall. recommendable for both families and couples. a positive experience.