Villa Plassenburg

We spent our mornings having breakfast and planning the day on the covered terrace, while the kids had a swing set in the grassy garden. The villa is clean and spacious, if a little dated, and its three bedrooms with three beds each could have accommodated three families. For our two families, it was perfect for a few days exploring Kulmbach and nearby areas. It's quiet and surrounded by nature, yet the town's restaurants and cafes are about a 10-minute walk away. Kommunbräu is well worth the 25-minute walk through town. You can also take a private path behind the villa, though it's somewhat overgrown, up the slope to a footpath above the house. From there, Plassenburg Fortress is only a few minutes away. If you don't fancy the walk, there's a paved route through town and up the hill to the fortress. The hosts were careful not to disturb us. They let us know the day before about mowing or gardening and scheduled it for when we were out. Email and WhatsApp worked well, and the door code made arrival and departure flexible without needing a key. Parking was the one thing I missed, but we always found a space on the street below the property.

The view was the only good part. The furniture and apartment felt cheap and poorly put together, and the furnishings were very basic, so it wasn't a comfortable place to live. It wasn't clean either: the coffee maker still had a filter with grounds from the previous guest, or perhaps the guest before them, judging by the mold. The heating couldn't be adjusted, leaving the apartment at 27°C the whole time. I wouldn't recommend staying here.

Getting up to the top with a suitcase takes some effort, and coming back down is harder, so be ready for a bit of a fortress assault. It's a nice place to stay, though the heating switches off overnight and that isn't very pleasant.

The path to this lovely holiday apartment has a lot of stairs, so it won't suit anyone with mobility issues. Still, the villa on the castle hill is enchanting, and the grounds have a lovely wild, romantic feel. The owners were very nice and gave us a friendly welcome and farewell. They also let our dog stay. There were two couples, one adult, and a Rottweiler in our group, and we enjoyed our stay a lot.