Gendorf

Seriously. This is probably the nicest place we’ve ever stayed at in the Czech Republic (and we’re there quite often), and it is in particular perfect for visiting the area for a skiing trip. Let me start with the location, which is perfect indeed. It is both close enough to the center of the town, where the slopes are, for you to need only a couple of minutes to get there by car, and far enough from the center for you not to be bothered by the bustle of bars and cars. Pretty cool. The rooms are very clean, spacious, well-equipped and at the same time have a cozy feeling that you don’t get at chain hotels. It was a pleasure to come back there after a day of skiing. The food is simply amazing for a small hotel like this. For breakfast, you can get all kinds of cheese, vegetables, tasty salads, and although we don’t eat meat, we noticed there was a selection of sausages, ham, and so on, too, and that the meat eaters around us seemed to be as happy with it as we were with our stuff, that is very much. Overall, the breakfast was very varied and everything was fresh and tasty. Dinners are still another, and equally good, story. Between 4pm and 5pm you can get warm soup, which is a very good idea right after coming down from the slopes. There were different soups every day, each represented the local cuisine, and each was very enjoyable. Then, around 7.30 pm, there is the main dinner, which offers, seriously, some amazing dishes: risottos, knedliki (local specialty), and all kinds of meats and veggie dishes. Plus the dessert, which although we normally skip it, always looked so nice we would yield to the temptation. Ah, yes, if you are into beer, at Gendorf you can enjoy a selection of good local brews, and if wine is your thing, there are also some surprisingly good Moravian wines for you to taste. If you feel like letting your muscles rest a bit after a day of hiking or skiing, you can hit the sauna and the Jacuzzi, which was big enough for us to be able to play water ball there with our kids. :-)) Again, very clean and very nice. Last but not least, there is the owner, Mr. Jiři Boš, who made the whole experience even more enoyable. Mr Boš is super nice, friendly, helpful, and a fun guy to be around. Talking about helpful, on the first day he noticed we didn’t touch our meat at dinner and when he learned we do not eat meat at all, he himself proposed they could cook veggie stuff especially for us. AMAZING, right? And they did, with all this stuff being super good, including awesome zucchini on a hot plate, marinated tofu dishes, and so on. Pure bliss. One final thing, for all you history buffs out there, the hotel was named after Kristof of Gendorf, a XVI century Czech industrialist and politician, quite an interesting figure indeed. If you want to know more about the guy and his story, just ask Mr. Jiři who knows all about it. And even if you do not want to know more, and are not a history buff at all, then the very fact the hotel was named after such a historical figure, should give you a taste of how unique the place is and how much thought and imagination was put into it! Definitely recommended.