Bastion hotel deluxe - Amsterdam airport 4*

This 4* hotel is located in Hoofddorp which is the business center close to Schiphol airport.

Hint: you can book this hotel if you're looking for a cheap hotel to enjoy the city centre of Amsterdam. It is only a 15 min drive and you have a free car park during your stay.

Room:

The twin beds are both 'boxspring' with a good matress. Unfortunately the pillows are of a very poor quality (filled with foam), which caused me neck pain.

There's is a big flat screen in front of the bed at the wool.

Also a mini fridge is provided (empty), 2 small bottles of water are provided free of charge and a water cooker with some tea and coffee facilities.

A small safe is free of charge in the wardrobe (no laptops can be inserted)

The windows are twice double glass windows which isolates the room from the frequent passing by airplanes (it depends the airplane and wind direction).

Unfortunately the curtains do not make the room dark during the night, which is a pitty for a hotelroom.

Bathroom:

The bathroom is not that spacious, but there is a large walk-in shower with a very good water pressure!

There are 2 sinks, which takes to much space for this small space. As the toilet is in the bathroom, you really need to stand next to the toilet to reach the 2nd sink.

There is 1 small bottle showergel per person and a small soap bar, 2 small and 2 large towels.

Hint: there is a Mc Donald next door who is opened 7am till 3 am and 24h on friday & saturday.

Advantages:

- high pressure and large shower

- several plugs next to the beds

- modern bathroom 

- free parking space around the hotel + free airport shuttle (sometimes its cheaper to book a room than paying the airport parking fee)

Disadvantages:

- front desk not very friendly - no hospitality

- 2 twin beds only  (2 * 200 * 90)

- WiFi not strong enough to charge movies

- curtains don't block the daylight, which is a pitty.

- pillows are of a very poor quality (foam) and no spare once foreseen.

- the double windows do not entirely stop the noise of the airplanes going up (but is pretty normal when you sleep right next to the airport :-))

Into my opinion this hotel should not use 'deluxe' in it's name. Because this is a standard 4* airport hotel. 

Therefor I would rate this hotel 6/10. It is correct for the price we've paid (big discounts - only 61eur for the room on a Sunday night). 

We did not take the breakfast (which cost 14eur pppn), as we wanted to have a long sleep and late check-out (which is free off charge till 1 PM).

But when we checked out the receptionist told us 'well, that's right on time (check out is normally at noon)' which gave me a very bad mood just been awake.... So I would advice her to check the system before she starts her conversation this negative. 

Hotel Meneer Van Eijck - Oisterwijk/Tilburg

This 3* hotel is situated in the forest at a 15 min. drive from the city centre of Tilburg. We stayed here to enjoy a famous party 'Roze maandag' (pink monday) called which is a big party spread over the city centre of Tilburg.

This hotel has a very typical style which is hard to define. I would say it seems to be an american range in the middle of the woods. The building is set up with a lot of wood and also the garden is totally in line with the building.

View from our room

Room:

We called the day before arrival to make sure we got a nice room and as promissed they gave us a corner room (nr 10). This was great to have all the windows, as the room was rather small.

But the room is very nicely decorated and clean. It is totally in line with the whole atmosphere of the hotel in general, where you have the impression to be at a range in the middle of the woods.

We had a double bed (160 cm) with a very soft topper, which made us enjoy the (rather short) night.

The TV is just above the bed, which is a good location. But the satelite systeem was not working properly.

A big plus where definitely the black curtains who ashored you your nightrest in the dark.

Bathroom:

The bathroom is small with a toilet, sink and a big shower (the glass construction is almost half of the bathroom), which is a plus and the most important.

The shower has a very good pressure!

I have to say that the automatic tab is not  a plus as the water stops rubbing all the time and it does not always work properly. There where 2 big & 2 small towels and 2 small bottles of shampoo & showergel each.

There is no hair dryer provided in the room, but you can barrow the one in the closet of the hallway (only 1, so you must be lucky). Unfortunately there is only a raisorplug provided in the bathroom (low voltage). So you can only use your hairdryer in the room (where no mirrors are provided).

Breakfast:

The breakfast is served from 7 to 10 am (which is early after a night out ;-))

HINT: there was the possibility to have a late breakfast with a selection of the buffet for 10eur pp extra.

The breakfast buffet seems to be small in your first impression, but there is a lot of food in small portions:

- small croissants

- small breads with meat

- fresh white and brown bread

- Nutella

- strawberry jam

- cheese

- ham

- chocolate sprinklers

- fruit

- yoghurt

- booked eggs

- pancakes

- water & orange juice

-...

Which is a large selection for this 10-room hotel.

Coffee and tea are served at your table and they ask you to serve fresh scrambled eggs.

We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel which gives you the calmed you need when you have a day off, but as the hotel is close to the city centre of Tilburg you're having plenty of options (walk in the surrounding woods, shopping, party,...).

Positive points:

- this hotel offers a good price/quality (we paid 90eur per room incl breakfast & tax)

- nice, fresh and broad breakfast

- friendly staff 

- nice and unique atmosphere due to the location and how the hotel is set-up.

Negative points:

- rather a small room (but ok for this price /definitely when you have a corner room where you do not have that narrow feeling due to the different Windows)

- shortness of plugs next to the bed for mobile and in the bathroom.

- WiFi is not working properly - none of our Iphone's could be connected.

I would rate this 3* hotel 7,5/10. This as the staff is very friendly & helpfull. Everything is well prepared and clean, but there are some details missing.

Hallstatt - Hallstätte See - Upper Austria

Hallstatt is the most famous village in Austria and his a large history. With it's superb location next to the lake the view is just stuning.

The Chinese people have build a copy of this city and it was finishes in 2011.

So a lot of them that come to Europe pass by the real version.

There is a protestant 

and a catholique Church in this small town.

All houses are build on the rocks directly at the lake and so the rocks are really the walls of the back of their houses (not even covered).  

The main square of the village is beautiful. Normally the city centre is car free except for deliveries in the morning 😀

One of the hidden secrets of this town is not mentioned largely, but you have to go down in the cellar of one of the shops where a Roman bath house was discovered. This shop is a jewelry at the corner of the Hallstatt museum and just just have to walk down.

An other highlight in this city next to the great history of the houses is the scull house which is situated at the graveyard of the catholique Church. These sculls are from the Hallstatt citizens that mentioned in their testament to have their scull and bones in this 'chappel'.

I had a great lunch in the city center directly at the water, called: 'Brauhaus'

The food is of high quality for a reasonable price for such location.

The terrace has one of the most perfect views overlooking the lake with a direct view over the castle.

HINT: you can go by train to Hallstatt, there you can take the shuttle boat that awaits you to go to Hallstadt (railway station is at the other side of the lake).

Hallstatt is named after the famous salt mine on top of the city. You can visit this mine as there is a lift to the top. Calculate 2,5h to go up, visit the mines and go down again. This as you will get special clothes as there is a slide of 60 meter to go from one space to another. 

Next to the visit of the mine and the city centre you can go by lifts to go to the top of the mountain (5-fingers called) where you have a stuning view overlooking the lake and the mountains.

Because of lack of time I was not able to go to the top neither to visit the mine, which was a pitty. But I wanted to mension there is a full day of activities to do in and around Hallstadt.