Cortisen am See - Adults Only

If you are travelling by public transport in st. Wolfgang, then this is super convenient as bus 546 is right there. The manager didn’t charge us although we were 2hrs late for check out.(embarrassing)

I am really struggling with writing this review… the Cortisen has a lot going for it as other reviews have pointed out, not least its wonderful location by the lake (although the view of the lake is sadly obstructed by the monstrosity which is the Scalaria Hotel on the left). However, it was difficult to find it likeable for numerous reasons… Our room was on the second floor with a lovely balcony. It was not overly big for €300/night and lacked basic facilities such as a coffee/tea-maker (I acknowledge these often seem to be lacking in Austria for some strange reason when they are standard in most other countries in much cheaper hotels). The hot water took ages to warm up each time. We were pleased to learn that the hotel offered late breakfast (until 11am) but the walls are paper-thin and a lot of noise started before 8am with housekeeping staff thumping our door well before 9am (we did find the “do not disturb” sign at the bottom of the wardrobe on day 2). The thinness of the walls also meant that we got to enjoy the full sound effects of our neighbours’ romantic get-togethers (we did applaud a couple of times at particularly energetic moments). The pillows were extremely thin and limp and there was no pillows menu to request different ones (or at least more). The breakfast is marketed as a “seven-course luxurious alternative” to the common hotel buffet breakfast. It did indeed consist of seven “courses” – drinks (coffee, tea, juice), cereal, breads, a meat/cheese plate, Prosecco, a cooked egg dish and cake. In other words, this is exactly the fare you would find at a breakfast buffet – only less variety and in smaller quantities. The breads were limited to two dry rolls per person; cake meant one dust-dry slice of madeira or cocoa cake. As heavy rain was forecast for one day of our stay, we decided to enjoy the wonderful pool and spa facilities and have a pamper day. Unfortunately, Wednesday was the masseur’s day off (we had thought that there was more than one treatment room and thus more than one staff member). Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time swimming and enjoying the saunas. My absolute favourite was the lake-view sauna in the boathouse building, not only for the view but also for allowing me to be brave enough to walk out of the sauna and jump straight into the lake (even on a cooler, rainy day this was absolute bliss!) We did note with concern that the whole pool area was extremely slippery (to be expected) – unfortunately, the slippers provided by the hotel were like ice-skates and we both slipped repeatedly in the puddles. Maybe the hotel could provide rubber-sole flip-flops for the spa area? The hotel’s interior décor is definitely… unique. In our opinion, it was a horrible mish-mash of styles and colours in what can best be described as “gaudy”. The public areas mixed Victorian-style prints of hunting scenes with art deco table-lamps, pink sofas, oriental rugs, plastic-looking chandeliers and what looked like primary-school kids

The hotel owner Roland and his staff are cheerful, friendly and helpful. The hotel was spotlessly clean. Every detail had been thought of in advance - I needed nothing extra to make the stay superb. We would definitely visit again and I have recommended it to several friends. We did not eat in the restaurant as wanted to sample the local restaurants.