Strandhotel Balka Søbad — Hotel in Bornholms Regionskommune

We spent 5 nights at the Balka Sobad and we enjoyed it very much and would return there.||It needs to be remembered that this is a 3 star beach hotel not a 5 star city one.||||The staff are incredibly friendly, welcoming and helpful and all have huge smiles all day long.||||The breakfasts are rather bland and samey - there's no hot food just meats, cheeses, cereals, jams, yoghourts etc and boiled eggs. There were quite a few flies hovering about at breakfast.||||We ate in the hotel one night, the Sunday buffet. It was ok, not a lot of choice at all and the knives need replacing for some that can cut meat.||We didn't eat again at the hotel as the choice was very limited with set menus and no a la carte. We went and ate mainly in Snogebaek.||||The rooms were a bit tired and dated but perfectly comfortable and adequate. The bed was extremely comfortable. There was sufficient space and the TV was good quality. I liked the balcony with decent chairs and a clothes airer.||||The bathroom was rather small with hideous orange/mustard decor - but clean and acceptable. There is no shower tray so the floor gets extremely wet.||||The towels were rather hard and had clearly been washed many times over the years and are due replacing. The rooms need decorating. ||||Location is good very close to Balka beach and the gardens and pool area are delightful. I particularly liked the swimming pool.||||Most guests appeared to be German and elderly and were in bed early at nights. Some were on a coach tour.||||We will definitely return to Bornholm as we fell in love with the island. I would certainly stay at Balka Sobad again despite there being no restaurants (other than the Balka Strand hotel) within reasonable walking distance. Car (or bicycle) hire is really essential although there's a good...

We looked at a lot of places on Bornholm and this seemed to have the best access to a sand beach. We thought it was a good choice. The rooms are good sized, a bit worn but comfortable. The shower has only a curtain and is hard not to get the entire floor wet. There is a nice pool surrounded by well kept grounds. The dining room is airy and large and the breakfast was good but they did not provide a toaster, the only time we lacked one. We had a kitchenette but there is no stove or microwave which somewhat limits it utility. The hotel is actually in Balka, about 4km from Nexoe. The old railway grade is paved into Nexoe and is now a bike/ped route. The hotel rents bikes. There is not muck in Balka, one other hotel (not as close to the beach) some house and the bus stop. There is a good grocery store 2km south in the small town of Snogebaek. This village also has the Restaurant Aeblehaven which has had excellent reviews but is little pricey for our tastes. We ate diner in the hotel dining room twice. The service was excellent and the food well presented but pretty basic, okay for the price. The best thing about this hotel is the people that run it, all of whom were top notch, really caring and helpful.||||It is easy to get to Balka from the ferry terminal in Ronne using the #5 BAT bus. It and all the other buses for the island leave from just outside the ferry building. The fare is 40DKK and it takes 53 minutes. The Balka bus stop is about a five minute walk to the hotel. As soon as you walk from the bus stop you will see a sign for the Balka Strand Hotel, that's the other place. Rather than walking straight ahead turn right and go about half...

The Balka Søbad is mainly a tour bus hotel. We seemed to be among the few guests who were not over the age of 60 and not on a package holiday.||On the plus side, it is in a good location a short walk from the lovely Balka beach. The hotel also gets customer service right; the welcome was warm, and the team really went out of their way to help us, for example making us a special breakfast when we had overslept and missed the buffet. The breakfasts were good too - lots of choice, fresh fruit and delicious breads.||However, none of this completely compensates for the fact that the hotel is dated, tired, and badly in need of investment. We had the impression that this place is being run on a shoestring.||We were disappointed to discover that the family rooms consisted of 2 narrow bedrooms, each containing 2 single beds. They were very clean, but quite dated and shabby. ||The swimming pools are very nice, but due to lack of staff aren't cleaned often enough, so we paddled among leaves and dead bees in the toddler pool. The best example of the condition of the hotel was the tennis court, which was eerily derelict, with tree roots pushing up through the all-weather surface.||If the prices reflected the condition of the hotel, this hotel would still have earned a good recommendation from us; it does have its merits. However, it was actually the most expensive stay of our trip and definitely not the best value for money. Worth considering if you can get a great deal, otherwise very overpriced...