Logierhaus Lehde

The best part is how peaceful it gets after 5 pm, once the tourist crowds have gone. You wake to birdsong from the forest, and we’d love to return. The house, once an artists’ residence, is a venerable log building in the typical Spreewald style, right beside the Hechtgraben/Gigliza canal. Every room with a balcony looks out over the water. There are several places to sit outside, including by the canal, though mosquitoes tend to swarm there. The old dining room or the terrace at the "Fröhlicher Hechte" (Happy Pike) are where breakfast is served, and it’s quite decent. The rooms have been partly and subtly renovated. Each has a sleeping area and a living area, a modern bathroom, comfortable box-spring beds, a sofa, table, and armchairs. All three rooms we rented had a small fridge and a coffee station with tea and coffee. They have flat-screen TVs and Wi-Fi, though the connection was unreliable. The light-colored upholstered furniture was comfortable but a bit stained. The old single-glazed windows are fitted with insect screens, essential with so many mosquitoes. There’s no central heating, and rooms cool down quickly without much sun, but a few space heaters and electric radiators are available. The main drawback is the very poor soundproofing. It’d help if guests were reminded to keep the noise down at night. We were woken at 1:30 am by the upstairs neighbors banging and crashing so loudly it sounded like they might come through the ceiling. There’s no proper room service during your stay. You can ask the housekeepers for fresh towels or get them yourself, but the rooms aren’t cleaned and the coffee supplies aren’t replenished. That’s more noticeable on a longer visit. The house and bathrooms aren’t wheelchair accessible. From the parking lot at Fröhlicher Hecht, it’s about a 100-meter walk over a stair bridge and unpaved paths.

You can rent a kayak for a great price. The house is noisy because it’s made of wood, and there’s a lot of chatter, so sitting on the balcony wasn’t really an option. Still, it’s quiet and beautiful in the morning and afternoon once the tour boats have left. The staff are very friendly and clean.

There’s no service at all, and getting luggage to the house is a real ordeal. It has to be carried about 300 meters over bridges and steep steps across forest floor, which would be tough for older people. The reward is a beautiful room with a separate living room. Mosquito nets are provided for you to put up yourself, and breakfast is adequate. The setting in the middle of the forest is beautiful.

We came away feeling completely relaxed. Nothing to complain about at all 😉