Apartament 33 Poronin

The house is clean and tidy, the food is good, and the ladies who run it are lovely.

I came to Poronin alone for ski instructor courses and needed somewhere affordable near the slopes. This place turned out even better than I expected. At first there were no other guests, so the owner offered me a bigger double room instead of my single. The whole family was incredibly kind and helpful, and the property is cozy and very clean. Downstairs there’s a nice area to sit, relax, and chat with people, connected to the kitchen. There are mugs, a fridge, microwave, tea, and even a coffee machine. I HIGHLY recommend it, it’s just perfect :D

The owner was very friendly, the place was clean, well connected, and reasonably priced. But I’m giving it only 3 stars for a few reasons. It was cold and damp in the room and house. Nights were around 6°C outside, and the radiators were only a little warm. Clothes wouldn’t dry, and it was just cold. The Booking.com description gave me a different impression. It says there are rooms for allergy sufferers, but there are three dogs in the house, and they run around the shared areas. They’re friendly and not aggressive, but anyone with allergies could have a real problem. I also wouldn’t call the shared room a kitchenette, unless I’ve misunderstood the word. It has a sink, kettle, microwave, and coffee maker, but I’d expect a kitchenette to have somewhere to cook. The under-counter fridge is small and shared by everyone, despite there being quite a few rooms, so space is an issue. And the continental breakfast listing is confusing. There’s no such breakfast, and you can’t select it when booking a room with breakfast. You can make your own breakfast.

The rooms themselves were clean, and I can't fault them for that. But they're as small as they can be, and the heating and hot water were awful. We kept running short of hot water. I understand trying to save money, but you shouldn't rush guests when they ask for it. The heating was much the same: only one section of each radiator warmed up. It was about 20°C, then fell to 7°C overnight. With all the rain on the trail, the damp was unbearable. If you don't like dogs, be aware that the owner has three fairly young ones. They run up to people, jump, nip at trouser legs, and bark, though they don't bite. That can be quite a shock if dogs aren't your thing. We asked several times for them to be put away briefly while we left, and eventually they were shut up, with lots of comments about how strange we were and how nobody paid attention to them. As long as a dog hasn't bitten anyone, apparently people don't pay attention to other dogs... One other thing about the Booking.com description: the owner seems to count just a microwave as a kitchenette. Paper towels, rubbish bags, toilet paper, and soap are listed as provided, but I'd advise bringing your own anyway. You can get much better rooms for a similar price. We were misled by the Google and Booking reviews, which seem artificially boosted.