Hotel Am Kurpark

I visited this hotel some five years ago and have been hankering to go back ever since. The Harz is a beautiful area where the Germans go on holiday . . so its' got to be good. Hotel am Kurpark consists of two main buildings set 40 yards apart, one with a well kept set of generous apartments. The other with large (usually two room) bedrooms. This year Lucy and I had a bedroom in the main building where breakfast and dinner are served on the ground floor. It's a family run business, with Baerbel (Barbara) definitely in charge. Babs (and the rest of her family) are wonderfully welcoming and friendly and the look on her face when she finally recognised me was an absolute picture . . . well I didn't have a beard the first time . . or a Wife. The apartment building is set higher than the other and has some lovely views of the North German plain to the north, but looks onto a wooded slope, the other side of a road, to the south. The apartment rooms are wonderfully kept with interesting decoration. Cooking and dining facilities are standard in each apartment. The apartments are very popular with visiting workers and are almost continually occupied. The room which we had consisted of two rooms one with the usual double bed with single matresses and duvets. A shower room with toilet and hand basin, and another room complete with a second bed and spacious living area . . perfect for us. All of the rooms are spotless and well maintained, any issues are speedily dealt with by Babs or her husband Peter. Breakfast is served in the main building and consists of a substantial Continental style breakfast, supplemented with home baked cakes and biscuits, and is a self serve arrangement. Dinner is served in the same area and a word with Babs in the morning guarantees a table for the evening. The menu is typically German and on occasion includes Wild Boar which the Chef shot that morning . . . we were shown photographs to prove it too ! I made sure I stayed on the right side of him :) We stayed at Hotel am Kurpark for four nights and enjoyed every one of them. There are other restaurants within five minutes walk of the hotel so choice of restaurant was not an issue. The area is not often frequented by the British, forest walks and winter skiing being the main leisure activities, but the whole area is picturesque and well worth a visit, especially by steam buffs who will delight in the narrow gauge steam railway which climbs up to the highest point in North Germany called the Brocken (pronounced Brokken). I can thoroughly recommend this hotel, and would happily return to Hotel am Kurpark, . . . both Lucy and I feel that we have made some very firm friends in Babs and Peter . . oh . . . and the Chef . . . Odo ! (that was close !)