Ferienhaus Benneckenstein

We spent New Year’s Eve 2023/2024 here with 14 people. The place was very clean, the kitchens were well equipped, and although the furnishings were basic, they were adequate. The living room worked for eight adults and six children, but any more people would make it very cramped. The first-floor apartment had a very unpleasant sweetish, musty smell. We aired it constantly for three days, but it didn’t go away, and all the clothes in our bags absorbed the odor and had to be washed. The ground-floor and second-floor apartments weren’t affected. On top of that, the old water heaters and heating systems rumble loudly enough to seriously disturb sleep.

We spent the Whitsun weekend at Haus Benneckenstein with eight adults and six children. It gave us a chance to get together, and the amenities were functional. There was plenty to keep us occupied even in bad weather, including a barbecue, well-equipped apartments, board games, a ping-pong table with accessories and a foosball table with different attachments. The damp smell in the bathrooms and unpleasant air, especially in the first-floor apartment, made it hard to stay without airing the place constantly. The floors are very noisy, and the wallpaper is peeling where it was pasted over older wallpaper. All in all, we wouldn’t book it again.

We rented the whole house for a Friday-to-Sunday weekend with four families. Two families shared the third floor, and my family stayed on the first floor, which is the ground floor. The value for money is excellent. There’s plenty of room in the living room and bedroom, and the house has Wi-Fi throughout, all free-to-air TV channels, and lots of card and board games in each apartment and the common room. There’s only a dishwasher in the second-floor apartment, presumably because that’s where the common room is. The kitchens have very few power outlets, so bringing power strips is a good idea. The house is on the main street, but it’s a quiet one, and we could hardly hear outside noise. We visited in winter and mostly kept the windows closed, so I can’t say how it is with them open. There’s no parking out front because the bus stop is right there, but you can park in the courtyard. The driveway is narrow, so a large car takes an experienced driver. The garages are too low for vans, though normal-height cars fit, and we parked three vans in the courtyard without trouble. It’s an old half-timbered house, clad in wood outside. You notice its age inside, with doors of different heights, especially low ones on the third floor. I bumped my head a couple of times before I learned. The furnishings are all there, but the place isn’t especially cozy. The ground-floor bathroom is so cramped you can wash your hands while sitting on the toilet, and the second-floor bathroom is reached only through the shared hallway. The kitchen has six chairs around a small table, which is full once everyone has a plate. The children’s room is narrow and cramped. The bedroom mattresses felt too soft to me, though that’s personal preference. What bothered me was hearing the kitchen boiler from the bedroom, clicking and whooshing each time it fired, every few minutes. The Wi-Fi measured just over 10 Mbps, but it was often overloaded and we had to reconnect. The router is on the ground floor with repeaters plugged in upstairs, and the signal is barely available in the common room. The motion-sensor lights in the shared halls and entrance gate switch off far too quickly, so it’s easy to end up on dark stairs while taking off your shoes. The ground-floor apartment has a little hallway of its own, but when winter coats are on the inconveniently placed rack, there’s barely room to get to the bathroom. The second-floor apartment’s coat rack is in the shared hallway.

Benneckenstein is peaceful and relaxing, while still being a convenient base for outings. We could reach everything we wanted to visit within a half-hour to an hour’s drive, and every trip was a highlight. This was our third holiday here, and we’ll definitely return. The apartments are clean and comfortable, and we’re already looking forward to coming back. All the best and warm regards until next time, Regina and Lutz Doll.