5 Fingers — Attraction in Obertraun

If I could give it 0 stars, I would.

We stayed here for 2 nights as part of a 15 day euro-trip across Switzerland, Austria and Germany and this was the worst experience despite paying exorbitant prices for the nights here. The only reason for the steep price is the location by the lake and that is the one advantage for staying here. Now let me tell you about everything else.

To start off, no one is there to check you in or help guide you around the place even at 4pm in the evening. If you need help with anything, you’ll have to a call a number listed. If you call the number, you’ll get rude one line responses. The listing has been conveniently changed to “self check in” recently. But you’ll be left to yourself for everything in this property. We couldn’t even get through to the hotel to edit our reservation before the designated cancellation period since no one answered our calls.

Moving on.. We got a room on the second floor and we had to carry our heavy bags up the stairs since the place does not have an elevator.

The room had a weird layout with a lot of wasted space and not enough room for your bags. The walls are super thin and you can hear footsteps and people talking through the night. Be guaranteed to wake up multiple times in the night. And to top it all, the WiFi is very spotty too. You’ll end up using your data quite a bit instead of the WiFi.

The bathroom deserves a separate paragraph on its own. The bathroom is incredibly small with one person barely able to fit inside the shower room. You’ll barely get any hot water. We mostly had to shower in cold water. The bathroom sink is extremely small and you’ll see water splash everywhere. And of course, no bathroom mats were provided.

Let’s talk about parking. The listing says “parking available” but it is very hard to find parking in front of the property. You’ll be charged for parking for every night but no parking guaranteed. The best way to go to Hallstatt from here is by car because the buses and ferries stop every early in the evening. The host himself said that he doesn’t recommended going late in the evening since we won’t get a parking spot when we return. But he’ll promptly charge you for parking every night regardless.

Some reviews mentioned that the breakfast was great. The breakfast buffet is very minimal with some bread, scrambled eggs, plain vegetables, apples, oranges and coffee. The buffet is looked after by a person who constantly keeps staring at you for some reason. The host will insist you pay for the breakfast even if you don’t eat it because you “ordered” it. He calls it “ordering” as if he is creating something custom for you while it is a standard breakfast buffet. We argued that we did not like the spread and did not pay for it.

To summarize, please find another place to stay near Hallstatt. Don’t let the location by the lake entice you into staying here. I’m sure there are better places with friendly hosts, decent rooms and a decent...

I hope this review isn't too long, but I had an experience similar to those who gave this hotel a lower rating, and I thought I'd share why. The Positives: The location is perfect! Obertraun is ideal for accessing the train, the bus to Hallstatt, and even the ferry. With two boat options on either side of the hotel, you're spoiled for choice. The hotel is right on the lake, and we paid for a lake view, which did not disappoint. We had a lovely balcony overlooking the lake and Hallstatt—honestly, I'd rather stay here than in Hallstatt itself. Hallstatt is so busy, and parking is a nightmare. While you will pay for parking in Obertraun too, it's more manageable. The hotel was spotless—squeaky clean bathrooms and windows so clear you'd forget they were there. The Negatives: Now for the tricky part. The room was tiny. We had two large bags and backpacks (because we're on a 30-day vacation), and this was just an overnight stop. But where to put the bags? They ended up on the bed because, well, there was nowhere else. The bathroom was also small but manageable for us. However, if you're on the larger side of average, things might feel tight. There's no elevator either, so I can only imagine the struggle if we were staying higher than the second floor. Prices in this touristy area are high, and yes, this place was expensive for what it was. But let’s face it, you're paying to be in a beautiful part of the world. The breakfast? At 20 euros, I'd skip it. Now, the awkward bit... We received an email on the 7th of September suggesting we were expected on the 8th (even though our reservation was for the 9th). The e-mail requested that we come to pay for our room in the morning (the 8th) and confirm whether we'd be having breakfast by 8 pm that evening. I quickly replied, pointing out that our booking was for the 9th, not the 8th, and asked for confirmation. No response. So I followed up. The reply I got simply telling me to refer to the "self check-in" email from the previous day. Still confused, I sent another message asking for clarification. I got a kind of snarky reply "You already got a self check-in mail as already mentioned! Please read it!" Now, call me sensitive, but those exclamation marks felt a bit much. When we arrived, the manager was at the desk but didn’t look up, didn’t say hello, and certainly didn’t offer any help. Imagine this scenario: you're in a foreign country, not sure about the process, dragging heavy bags, and the only thing standing between you and a friendly experience is a quick smile and "Welcome to Obertraun, your room is just up the stairs—sorry, no elevator." It would have made all the difference. Instead, we got radio silence until we figured it...

I’m okay that google has a one star minimum in this case, for the view from the balcony, it’s breathtaking. BUT - there is a ferry station next door where you can experience that for free, just stay somewhere else…trust me.

Front door of the hotel was locked upon arrival before 8pm. I called the hotel phone number and after he ranted angrily about the booking site I used (how would I know?), the man gave me a code and I was able to get in. There was no a/c, fan, or ventilation, and the room was muggy and hot. I called the number back about 5 mins after my initial call to ask for a fan and he didn’t answer. Thankfully we had a balcony but could not keep the door open overnight because of bugs. My wife and I were traveling with 1 small suitcase and 2 medium sized backpacks but somehow the space was too tight and poorly laid out to open our suitcase besides on top of the bed.

After a rough night of sleep because of the uncomfortable bed, temperature in the room, and thin curtains that fail to block out the 4:30am sunlight, I went downstairs (with an injured knee + brace on) and asked to buy a coffee (I passed on the 18 euro breakfast as I don’t eat breakfast and it looked mediocre at best). I was angrily dismissed by who I assume was the same guy I talked to the night before. My wife went down a little later thinking he might be more accommodating to her, and he refused to sell her a coffee or even hot water to use our own instant coffee packets. He just said „we don‘t support self-service here“. Refusing to even SELL hot water to someone when there aren’t any other places around is sadistic, people need their coffee, tea, etc. for various reasons. And asking someone to pay 18 euros for breakfast who only wants a coffee is predatory.

This was our second time to Austria, everyone has been great, but this guy seems like his mission is to torture tourists for being in the Hallstatt area. I get being annoyed with tourists, particularly American tourists, I live in New York, but this guy should be fired if he’s an employee or forced to shut down if he’s the owner. Awful representation of the country/area, and a huge contrast compared to the typical fair and non-predatory prices and business practices elsewhere in Austria.

Stay somewhere else, this place has the potential of ruining your trip. After reading other reviews I’m surprised he didn’t refuse to answer the phone and leave...