Hotel Ferienwelt Kesselgrub Altenmarkt / Ski Amade — Hotel in Altenmarkt im Pongau

I was little concerned by some of the reviews before travel having booked this for a party of 8 of us, we travelled with our 3 children ages 6,5 and 3 plus grandparents. My son has Downs Syndrome and I emailed ahead to ask if they would be ok to take him in the holiday club, yes no problem was the response. ||We had booked the lowest cost family room in the landhaus. Having seen some reviews I was concerned the room may be disappointing on arrival. This was not the case, we had a two room apartment linked, 2 bedroom 2 bathrooms, a balcony, plenty of room for all of us. The bedroom was perfectly lovely. ( I did sneak a peek at one of the higher cost family suites in hotel and do have to say it was absolutely lovely) The room suited us as a family with young children. We were happy. ||The kids club was great, so accommodating and after my sons escape (he is very good at this) they kept such a close eye on him, the kids loved going to kids club, they loved the activities especially the animal ones. The ponies made my daughters holiday. I have recommended they move the handle to kids club higher out of reach of the children as for the escape artists it is too low and these would make it fully secure and easier for the team to manage in busy times. The fact the older kids can be authorised by parent to come and go as please though is a wonderful gift of freedom for the kids and the hotel is very safe. ||The food is out of this world. We had a Gluten free and Dairy free dietary requirement in our family and the hotel catered for it so well, they really were fabulous. Fresh gluten free bread cooked every morning. ||The outside area for children was fabulous, go karts, bikes, trampoline, mini golf, soft play, animals, games room etc etc. The children loved playing out there in the evening following dinner while we relaxed with a drink watching them. ||The swim lake is beautiful and great toys and floats for the kids to use. The bottom of the lake is slimey and hard to grip on but I guess thats because its a lake. So cant really complain. The pony riding is fab for the kids. Sandpit by the lake and other play area. The views are out of this world and it really was breathtaking each way you looked. ||The staffing team are all lovely, friendly, attentive and lovely friendly faces to see each day. Catharina and one of the male waiters who's name I've forgotten (sorry) were just wonderful as was smiley Gisi. ||We arrived late evening and they pulled a wonderful late of food together for us in the ar, make sure you message them if arriving late so they know to keep food for you, I didn't but they still were able to which was well received. The Austrian house wine was lovely, we drank quite a lot of that!!! ||As a parent it was invaluable for my kids to request to go to kids club for an hour in the afternoon, as soon as they'd finished their dinner etc. It meant I could relax for just a short valuable period of time knowing they were happy and enjoying them selves. They couldn't wait to go down for the evening and this meant we had a mostly adult meal each night, it took me a couple of days to adjust but once I realised all were happy, then it worked for everyone. Perfect. ||Everything is all set up so well for families. Kinderhotels are the only way for us know. Especially...

This was the first time I chose a family run traditional Bavarian hotel over the well renowned hotel chains just because I was too curious to check out all that fuss about what the Kinderhotels had to offer. We booked a four night stay mid July at Kesselgrub which is located in a small village called Altenmarkt on the outskirts of Salzburg. The weather was a crisp sunny of 20 degrees during the day and chilly 14 degrees at night. |Why Kinderhotel? Kinderhotel as the name suggests is a hotel that caters for families with young children. lf you want to spend quality time with your children or your partner or a mix of both the choice is yours. |Kesselgrub has the Bavarian charm in all the minute details of the building both inside and outside including its staff that are dressed in traditional outfits. After checking in at the resort we were excited to explore the out-of-doors and the whole world of nature. The hotel is located amidst a valley of Alpine trees with a picturesque backdrop from every part of the property. |The environment has been designed in a way that is conducive for older children to move around independently in the resort whilst young children have lots of opportunities for free play in the courtyard that boasts a petting farm, a horse stable, a trampoline, mini golf, cycling tracks, swings, slides and a beautiful lake amidst of all.|Staying at Kesselgrub brought back memories from my childhood when we stayed at our grandmas house where all our needs were taken care of and all that was asked of us was to have fun. My son aged 4 yrs was of course in paradise exploring his new surroundings with curiosity and making friends along the way. |Considering this is a hotel full of young families on an All Inclusive board basis this was far way more civilized than any other all inclusive resort that I have ever been to. The hotel provides ample opportunities for keeping young ones occupied. Every morning we were given the days program for children with organized activities and also areas of interest that could be ventured out as a couple whilst the kinder staff kept children busy while parents were away. We were spoilt rotten with the choice of traditional Bavarian meals during meal times. The entrees were to be picked from the buffet but the mains and the desserts were made on order and each dish they whipped out for us was beautifully presented and appealing to the senses. |This resort turns into a ski resort during winters and boasts a Spa and Sauna for the same reason which is also functional during summers. Sauna is a good place to hangout after a run or a bike around in the mornings around the nearby scenic villages. In summer you can rent out bikes from the hotel for a small fee. They offer both winter and summer programs to keep guests entertained. One of the summer activities they offered was horseriding lessons for children which my son thoroughly enjoyed. |Thank you to our hosts the Thurner family for looking after us so well and giving us the opportunity to create memories in harmony with living beings and nature on our trip to Austria...

We flew into Salzburg and took a taxi (Taxi Jaeger - google them, great service, highly recommend. We contacted them a month or so in advance and their return rate, for a van to fit a family of four with three big suitcases, was the best.). We figured we wouldn't need a car of our own this time, and it turned out the right decision - we never missed not having a car while staying at Kesselgrub. You can walk anywhere in town, a bus runs from the hotel to the slopes, and a few times we needed a taxi we could easily have one ordered by hotel's reception.||The things we loved about the hotel:|- Everything is incredibly clean. Just really couldn't find a fault with anything anywhere! I don't think we've ever stayed at a hotel which was as impeccably clean - this was a first one for us.|- Food was very good. Lots of options for kids. Everything seemed and tasted fresh. Loved the scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages were excellent - just what we needed in the morning before a full day of skiing.|- kids' play room had the best selection of toys for all ages|- we tried spa a few times and loved it. Very reasonably priced and lots of options (they even have a kids' treatment package, which our 8-year old loved)|- Good sauna. In fact two of them - one, which is kid-friendly (more on that later), outside, and one for adults, in the spa.|- Just overall very well-kept hotel with a family feel to it (in fact the owners are always around).||What can be improved:|- Pillows. Very comfortable mattresses and incredibly uncomfortable, thin pillows.|- We were a bit (a lot actually) surprised to find that adults go naked in the children's sauna. Nothing wrong with going starkers in a sauna, when it's an adult one, but not where kids are around. I asked reception, they said oh no, they shouldn't, we'll put a sign on the door. I think they did, but we didn't risk it any more.|- room temperature can't be controlled, so it's one-size fits all for all rooms with central heating. You can of course shut off (or turn down) radiators, but you can't turn it up. When we arrived, first couple of days, we could do with a bit warmer temperature in our room. Also water takes ages to warm up. They say it's because it's winter and pipes get cold, but really - takes ages. And it wasn't Siberia-kind of cold, -2/+2...||A couple of other things to mention: getting to the ski lifts takes about 15 minutes by ski bus, or 10 minutes by car. We used Ski School Happy for our 8-year old's skiing lessons and she went from zero to skiing down from the top of the mountain, in 6 days.||There's also a tobogganing slope that goes from the top to Radstadt. They say it's c.6km long. Good fun for those who don't ski.||A 12-15 minutes' walk from the hotel there's a big swimming complex, Altenmarkt Thereme. We went once and liked it. There's an indoor and outdoor pool, water slides, waves etc.||Other than that - we loved our stay and would...