Hotel Sternen - Anno 1769

Breakfast was decent and tasty, with cornflakes, muesli, yogurt and scrambled eggs, plus a small range of cold cuts, spreads and cheeses. There was also juice, tea and filter coffee. The owner was friendly, kind, personable and customer-oriented, and did a great job. The hotel is well located, but parking was scarce when we arrived because pallets of firewood were stacked in the spaces. The rooms were clean, but flies kept getting in. At night the bathroom smelled of smoke, though we couldn't tell whether it came from outside. Sound carries badly, so the rooms are noisy. The beds were okay, with hard mattresses and pillows so soft they collapsed completely when we lay down. The bathroom was a disaster. It was astonishing that a shower, toilet and sink had been squeezed into one square meter. The modular bathroom's shower entrance was so narrow that a shoehorn or bottle of oil would have helped us get in. The toilet was right beside the shower, leaving practically no room, and using it meant doing acrobatics. The old mixer tap gave us a choice between an ice-cold shower and a lobster shower. The shower also leaked, so there was a risk of flooding, and water kept dripping even with the taps off. It's fine for one night if you don't expect much, or if you're just passing through. I wouldn't plan a longer holiday here. This was our one and only visit.

We'd love to return for the snow, mountains and Freiburg. I stayed recently with my family and was still delighted by how lovingly the rooms were furnished. You can see the care and effort the owners put into every detail. The staff were so good with children that even the youngest guests felt at home. Best wishes, the Klemens Family

The location is handy for setting off on hikes and getting to the cross-country ski trails. That's the good part. For €132, the double room we got was nowhere near the website photos and was tiny. The kit bathroom was just as small, with a tiny sink and barely enough room to turn around. The TV reception, both picture and sound, was terrible and not what I'd expect from a 4-star hotel. The young owner was very nice, helpful and accommodating, which makes me feel sorry for her having to receive this poor review. I can't say the same about the owner. I found him unpleasant, short on empathy and not very customer-oriented. He's not someone you'd want contact with. Conversations with other guests and things I observed only made me shake my head. Take care in the sauna. It was so slippery I nearly fell, then hit a door frame backwards. The owner didn't seem to know how the sauna worked. When another guest asked if he could raise the temperature, he said, “I don't know how to do that, I don't go to the sauna myself. That's why you have to turn it on yourself.” I find that disgraceful, both the lack of knowledge and the way guests are treated. We've stayed in Todtnauberg several times, including places costing less than half as much with better service. We'll definitely return to Todtnauberg, but definitely not to this completely overpriced establishment.

At €134 a night in peak season, we felt like a burden to the owner. He and the chef were quite unfriendly. The Wi-Fi was extremely slow and only worked in the first-floor hallway, nowhere else. The room's TV was mounted three metres high in a corner, so watching it meant sitting on the windowsill. See photo. One star for the very good breakfast and the owner's lovely wife.