After a wonderful week in the Styrian Salzkammergut region, the second half of our Austrian holiday in summer 2023 took us to the Salzburg region. To fulfill a wish of our daughter, a fan of the TV series “Die Bergretter” (The Mountain Rescuers), we stopped in Ramsau am Dachstein and took some photos in front of the film sets despite the drizzle.
After a good hour’s drive, we reached our destination. Having already stayed twice at the Aldiana Hochkönig, just a few kilometers away, and having spent the previous week at the Aldiana Salzkammergut, we decided to try something new this time. With a similar price and consistently positive reviews on the usual booking portals, we opted for the Gut Wenghof.
Located in the artificially created and very touristy, yet still quite charming, mountain village of Werfengweg, the hotel complex, described as a family resort, was situated in the traffic-calmed village center. Everything looked very winter sports-oriented and not very hiker-friendly. We were somewhat surprised that we weren’t allowed to drive any closer to the hotel, even to load and unload our luggage. The limited number of nearby parking spaces also worried us a bit. However, we were lucky and only had to carry our luggage the short 70 meters from the car to reception.
The friendly receptionist checked us in and explained how to find our room. The various corridors of the horseshoe-shaped building all had names, and after just a few meters of hallway, I felt like I was on a school trip in a youth hostel – except there was no carpet anymore. This impression was reinforced when we arrived at our family room at the very end of the ground floor in the older part of the building. The room consisted of a small hallway, a balcony, a bathroom, and two bedrooms connected by a sliding door, and everything looked a bit dated.
After unpacking our suitcases, we set off to explore. The hotel was located right in the village center. The hotel garden and forecourt were a paradise for (small) children: a traffic-free area separated from the street, with countless ride-on cars and go-karts, a slide, a trampoline, a swing, a brand-new water feature, and a sandbox that made the hearts of the little children and their parents beat faster – unfortunately, ours not so much (anymore). Ideally, this meant that you could let the children play outside while you ate and take a stroll to the buffet yourself or enjoy a hot or cold drink at one of the many seating areas around the village square. But beware: if the children wander inside unsupervised, the path leads past the reception and thus inevitably past the two newspaper stands. Our youngest didn’t realize that you had to pay for the eye-catching children’s newspapers, even though it was an all-inclusive hotel. And before we knew it, we had to pay for a Fireman Sam newspaper that had already been read.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything else exciting for our children on the hotel grounds. A few meters behind the building, there was at least a large climbing frame in the fire station playground, which kept the youngest entertained for a while. Since Gut Wenghof was a TUI Kids Club hotel, we had high hopes for the entertainment program over the next few days. No such luck: the hotel was clearly 95% occupied by families with children aged 0 to 5. Despite a very friendly entertainment team, the childcare proved to be incredibly boring, especially for our third child. The teenage girl stayed in the room from the start, and the others gradually lost interest in the kids’ club as well. A completely new experience for us.
As an all-inclusive hotel, the restaurant offered food and drinks day and night. If you needed to satisfy your hunger outside of mealtimes, a selection of pizzas and sausages with rolls was always available. Drinks could be self-service at the two self-service stations – somewhat disconcertingly, this included red and white wine. Slushies were also available in the afternoon.
The daily buffet was varied and good at all three meals, but rather average. The cost of goods didn’t seem particularly high. In particular, the price-performance ratio compared to the similarly priced Aldiana Salzkammergut was rather below average. The only culinary highlight promised to be the family fondue. This event could be booked free of charge once per stay. The sauces and meat were delicious, and the service was good. Unfortunately, the latter wasn’t always the case in the restaurant. True to its youth hostel charm, the restaurant (at least in the back) resembled more of a dining hall. On the first evening, we chose one of the many tables for six and were promptly and rather rudely shown to a table for four with a fifth chair at the head. The forced table change was justified by the hotel’s occupancy and the resulting shortage of seating. We ate our meal in rather cramped conditions and waited for the promised lack of space – in vain. On the following days, we therefore made a beeline for a table for six and ignored the unfriendly requests to change tables again. Eventually, our behavior was tolerated and met with nothing more than a disapproving look.
Despite the hotel’s very high occupancy rate (which surprised us after the previous week’s experiences), we felt the effects of it on our first evening: Anyone who has ever spent a rainy Saturday afternoon at an indoor playground can imagine the noise level during meals. Not to mention the small and large amounts of food that, while the toddlers were eating independently, ended up not in their mouths, but everywhere else. However, the staff cleaned up these mishaps with lightning speed.
Still in good spirits, we wanted to end our first evening in the hotel bar. A glance at the menu gave me pause: apart from two children’s cocktails dedicated to the hotel’s mascots, which consisted of syrup mixed with Sprite, there was only one non-alcoholic cocktail: a Hugo. A real disappointment for me as a teetotaler. At least the selection of soft drinks was quite decent, so I wasn’t in danger of dying of thirst. We were also surprised by the bar’s closing time of 10:00 PM.
A new day, a new beginning – or something like that. The next morning, we were woken at 7:00 a.m. by construction noise. We had noticed a handful of large construction cranes and the extensive construction sites to the right and left of the complex upon our arrival the previous day, but naively assumed they wouldn’t disturb our idyllic holiday. How wrong we were! After what felt like four hours of continuous jackhammer noise, my patience had run out. I complained at reception, and they cheerfully informed me that we could move to a newly constructed room facing the courtyard. They didn’t seem to fully understand my frustration, though.
We entered the new building and felt almost like we were in a different hotel: a modern, bright hallway and a beautiful, newly renovated maisonette room. A glance at the website revealed that this room was in the same price category as the rather worn-out one in the old building. But for us, the difference was night and day. Crazy! The construction noise was still audible here and there, but quite easy to ignore.
The next day promised to be sunny, so the children went hiking with my husband, and I relaxed by the pool. You could also describe the small, round pool as a large, deep paddling pool. The rectangular pool inside wasn’t much better. Considering the number of hotel guests and the size of the lawn, the number of loungers—a maximum of 40—was meager. Nevertheless, I was lucky enough to snag a free lounger and set up camp as far away as possible from the pool and the swarm of children squealing with delight. With an estimated 300 children under six, my attempts at swimming were soon futile. I was constantly preoccupied with making sure that none of the non-swimmers, armed with armbands, jumped into my back or face, much to the amusement of their (grand)parents. Quite exasperated, I retreated to my lounger once more. A little later, my husband and the children returned from their unsuccessful hike. After several fruitless searches for the right way, thanks to the incredibly poor signage, the four gave up and made their way back to the hotel.
We spent the next few days on excursions, hikes, or (when there was space) by the pool. But something was amiss: the weather was increasingly uncooperative, the children’s moods were deteriorating due to a lack of age-appropriate entertainment, the meal situation was becoming more and more of a nuisance, and so, two days before the end of our vacation, we’d finally lost all enthusiasm. My husband had just returned from his longest hike when our youngest loudly announced that he wanted to go home right then and there. The girls joined in, and so, for the first time in our lives, we decided to cut our vacation short and spend the weekend at home. The receptionist shrugged off our early departure request without asking why. Two hours later, we were already driving past Salzburg on our way home.
Don’t get me wrong: even though we can’t really understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews of Gut Wenghof, that doesn’t mean the hotel isn’t a good choice for families with (young) children and different expectations. We can’t really say anything negative about the resort – apart from the table assignments and the construction noise. It just wasn’t quite right for us – not least because of the price/performance ratio. Perhaps we were simply there at the wrong time – friends of ours were quite satisfied with their skiing there.
Anyone interested in learning more about excursions and hiking opportunities in the Salzburg region is warmly invited to read the corresponding blog post.
With that in mind: Pfiat di!