I Have Confidence (I'll find my way round Salzburg and spend lots on Christmas Stuff!)

Stayed here for four nights with my Mum in December 2007, and would HIGHLY recommend it. The hotel is the oldest Inn in the city and full of charm, character and traditional details, and it's also in a fabulous location. It has 49 rooms and 13 suites.

We had a lovely room on the third floor overlooking Judengrasse, directly opposite the Salzburg Christmas Shop, which was over 4 floors!!

The room was huge, with two large single beds and a three sweater sofa, large arm chair and coffee table, a desk and huge TV unit in the bedroom as well as two dressing tables, another corner chair and a very large traditionally carved old wooden wardrobe. The entrance hall of the room had a fabulous coat stand with a mirror and two umbrellas you were welcome to borrow from the hotel if the weather turned bad. The bathroom was an alright size, with a double sink unit, a toilet, bidet and bath/shower. Ours had a slight problem with the shower that water shot out from the join of the hose to the taps and made showering without soaking the whole bathroom a bit tricky but we got used to it. There was always lots of piping hot water, and the shower pressure was great, a big plus in my book! There were also scale, slippers and bathrobes provided. The beds were very comfortable, and had duvets, although they were almost a little too small for the beds, but if you curl up it's OK! You also got a Mozart Kugeln on your pillow each day...yummy! The rooms are all very traditionally decorated and are all unique, according to the hotel's pamphlet. The rooms all certainly looked different sizes from the fire escape plan, with ours seeming to be one of the biggest on the floor. We could look up to the Fort from our room and got lovely views at night with the fairy lights in the street.

We were there on a bed and breakfast basis, and the breakfasts were great! Served in the Symphonie Restaurant, there was a full range of cold cuts, cheese, bacon, sausage, tomatoes and beans, fruit, cereals and tomatoes and olives. There was also an Egg Menu, but we didn't have the eggs - the rest of the food was wonderful, lots of fresh fruit juice, Evian and san Pellegrino water and Prosecco for drinks. All very civilised!

We ate dinner in the hotel on our first night as we were too tired to trail around looking for anywhere. The menu was quite restricted, with around 3 or 4 choices per course. I'll be honest...I was absolutely shattered and really didn't eat much, but the green pea and asparagus soup appetiser was lovely, with a proscuitto wrapped stick crouton, and I think it was lamb I had for my entree, which was also lovely.

The hotel's location is its biggest selling point. It's smack bang in the middle of the Old Town, on a pedestrianised shopping street, very close the Dam St Peter's (St Peter's Cathedral). as a result it was very near the Christmas Markets in Damplatz, and there was another on the other side of the Cathedral. We walked pretty much everywhere and never felt threatened or unsafe. It's surrounded by nice coffee bars, cafes and restaurants, walking to the Mirabel Gardens took about ten minutes (brisk pace). Mum and Dad stayed near Mirabelplatz the previous year and Mum says the Altstadt is in a much better location.

The staff were all friendly in a Germanic way...they seemed a bit blunt at first, but I think that's maybe just the way German/ Austrian voices speaking English comes across! They booked us onto the Sound of Music tour and the Obersalzberg/ Salt Mine tour as soon as we arrived, and pointed us in the direction of a local Italian restaurant one evening too. They also booked our taxi for our journey back to the airport.

Now, a couple of little downsides...I don't know if it was because of the side of the hotel we were on, but there was a lot of noise from a nightclub in the basement of the building, although it wasn't owned by the hotel. The first night we noticed it but were both so tired we fell asleep anyway. The second night (Friday) it was very bad, and continued well into the night. That and Mum's snoring made for an unpleasant night for me! The next night Mum called down to reception around 1.45am, and they said it usually goes on until around 3.30am, but it lasted well beyond that. It wasn't so bad on the Sunday night, but the bass was still very audible. Also because of that we couldn't open the window to the street on the Friday and Saturday because revellers in the street were a bit noisy, but it merely amplified the base. We had to have the windows open in January because...there's no air-con in the rooms and they were stifling at night. I ended up taking the duvet out its cover and just sleeping under that although I was still too hot. We also asked reception about the heat as there was no climate control in the room and they said if they turned the system off it'd be freezing. I think because it's such an old stone building there's no way they could install air-con.

When we checked out Mum mentioned the problem of the noise to the receptionist...she said if the noise was keeping us awake the clerk should have called the police, but this didn't happen. She apologised most sincerely for the problems. We also heard the garbage truck collecting rubbish twice at around 4am, not the most pleasant of noises!

The only other minor grump was that the only English speaking TV channels were CNN and MTV although it had German subtitles. But we didn't come to Salzburg to watch TV!

All in all this is a charming traditional hotel with comfortable beds, good breakfasts and in a great location. I'd definitely go back, but perhaps ask for a room overlooking the internal courtyard. I've seen from reviews on tripadvisor.com that the room overlooking the river can be bad for traffic noise.

But as I say, still really nice!

The Austrians know how to 'do' Christmas! The Salzburg Christmas Markets are amazing - you can get everything from tree baubles to caramelised nuts to Sheepskin slippers to candles, bowls, table cloths and hat and scarves.

The main market is in Domplatz, outside Dom St Peter. The neighbouring market is run by the same company, in Residenzplatz. There are also a few others, in courtyards off Getreidegasse, and out at Hellbrunn, Mirabellplatz and up at the Fortress.

You can find websites for the others at this link... http://www2.salzburg.info/veranstaltungen_484.htm

And apart from all the material things you can buy, there's also lots of Gluhwein stalls, hot dog sellers, and sauerkraut vendors. You could easily spend two hours wandering around the St Peters market, stopping for munchies on the way. There's also lots of shops around the markets, selling - again - everything from clothes to festive decorations to food.

I'd have loved to be there when it was snowing - it would really have made it seem Christmassy, but on this occasion it didn't snow in Salzburg itself.

The choirs which sing in the square on Sundays really add to the atmosphere, and the nativity scenes, Christmas trees and all round jolliness of the vendors helps too.

A word of advice though - if you can visit the main city markets during the week rather than Friday through Sunday I'd advise it. It was so busy at the weekend it was almost unpleasant - especially when buggies were run up your ankles! Some of the markets - such as Hellbrunn - are only open at the weekends so they're always pretty busy, but for Domplatz especially - go during the week!

PS: I've rated this free because you don't have to pay to get in, but obviously the price of items for sale varies!