4 Stars for a fabulous location, great deals on the hot springs/sauna next door, and top notch…read morefood!
This Dorint hotel is situated right next to the Keidel Mineral-Thermalbad in Freiburg. It's so close in fact that it is connected by an underground tunnel (no need to freeze your recently-relaxed body walking back and forth!). This alone is why the hotel is worth visiting. The Keidel facility is really wonderful (more on that in another review!).
Check in was simple and we had the ability to reserve a seat for the buffet breakfast any of the days we were there. At €17/person the buffet includes German favorites including all kinds of salads, sliced wurst and meats, breads, yogurts, fruit, eggs, bacon, potatoes, and finally an omelette station. We had the buffet twice and though it's a bit steep a price for me (I'm tiny and don't eat a ton for breakfast), my fella was in heaven!
Be warned- finding your room can be a bit tricky given that one of the elevators uses letters for each floor and another uses numbers (but our room in the 400s was on level 2...). Once you get the hang of it the room itself is lovely. Clean, updated, and very warm. I couldn't find a thermostat anywhere but after a tad-too-warm night we left the window cracked and the temp was perfect.
The bathroom had a built-in hair dryer (yay!) and looked newly renovated. I was pleasantly surprised by the little box I found in the bathroom with a small array of toilet needs you may have forgotten (cotton swabs, q-tips, a nail file, etc).
I'm told that the beds are German-style, but they took some getting used to. We were sharing a bed that was essentially two twin mattresses- each with it's own set of sheets- pushed together and placed in a queen sized bed frame. My fella is of the Deutsch persuasion and loved having his own set of sheets. The mattresses themselves were hard as rocks though! I'm not sure if it's a cultural preference, but I was hoping for a big, comfy bed with tons of pillows and big sheets. Again- my German fella was disagreed and was in heaven.
I'd highly recommend taking a seat at the hotel bar on a Saturday night for some great drinks (cocktails are $$$) and a music channel projected on the wall. We saw that folks from outside the hotel were even meeting up there.
Overall, great hotel! I would absolutely stay again!