Castel — Hotel in Râmnicu Vâlcea

First of all and before anything else that has to do with the hotel itself, behavior of the staff is what makes a place cozy and inviting, no matter the comforts and facilities it has. ||Form the very first moment, immediately after arriving at the hotel, during our arrangements for room, dinner time and everything, at the reception, bad attitude started hitting us... not only it was very difficult to communicate because of lack of English language knowledge of the staff, but as we were trying to get into every detail for our staying, it was getting worse as the time was passing. I don’t want to get into further details about our dialogue that evening cuz what matters is that they weren’t willing to help and invite us properly at all.||After leaving the reception in order to establish in the room, we realized that there was no elevator, for the second floor we were supposed to go. Many steps and long corridors, every time somebody wants to go either to the room, or get downstairs even for a cup of coffee.||At the restaurant, staff doesn’t speak English at all. They couldn’t even understand words like “spoon” or “bread”. That was quite frustrating, simply because everytime we wanted to ask for something, they had to call the receptionist to try to find out what we wanted. Only one lady, very kind one, speaks English and has the proper professional attitude there. She was the one that I found to give our complaints and the answer we get back from her, being quite honest and clear, was that our arrangements depends on whom we are talking with in that hotel, due to lack of English language knowledge.||Rooms are ok, good air cindition and comfortable enough beds. Bathroom is not something special. Typical shower, no special decoration or character in it. Detail: the room doesn’t have enough number of wall sockets if two persons want to charge their electronical equipment during he night.||Breakfast is ok, not something special, but you couldn’t call it inefficient. It is bad that in order to have coffee you have to order it at the bar, you are not able to have it from a coffee machine as much and whenever you want. No cappuccino, only espresso.||Dinner at the restaurant is good. Very big portions, and well cooked. Decoration inside is good, wooden one, outside the place is spacious, with comfy chairs. Music is not loud, being able to have a pleasant conversation.||Parking place is on the road, in front of the hotel, sharing it with a restaurant and a pub which is at the opposite side of the road.||Over all, the hotel is lacking of the most important thing, which is professional attitude of the staff, consisting of a warm smile, English language, and will to help the visitor feel that he is treated with respect on his needs. We visited 5 other hotels in Romania during our journey around that time. This one was the worst in hospitality. If you are looking for a clean place to stay, without elevator, a proper food to eat, without having the need to communicate in English, then that could possibly be a place to choose. Foreigners though, may have a hard time to...

Stayed here for 2 nights (once before a 3 day walking trip to cover the Buila Vântyraita Ridge Traverse and once after). The staff were all very friendly and reception staff spoke good English. The rooms we had were very spacious, both had lovely balconies and aircon that worked too. ||The hotel is in a great location, within walking distance of bus/train station (if coming from Bucharest would recommend bus as we took the train and this took nearly 7 hours, so on the way back when we got a bus this was only 3.5 hours) and very near the town centre and lots of restaurants (we found D’Amici’s which is only a 5 minute walk to be very good). ||The complimentary breakfast was delicious, a great selection and lovely to be able to eat outside in the morning. Checkout wasn’t until 12 so plenty of time to pack etc. would return if we came back to the city!||Photos include photos of front of hotel and some pictures of the Ramnicu Valcea town centre (5 minutes walk!). Then a picture of the bus times to go to Baile Olanesti (we couldn’t find them online!) which if you have hiking shoes and time for a trip take you into the mountains pictured after. Baile Olanesti would still be worth a visit to see the rivers and is quite touristy even if you can’t head up into...

Let's face it: Ramnicu Valcea is not the city you would choose to spend your summer holiday. I asked the woman at the reception what the highlight of the city is and she said, from the bottom of her heart: Nothing! But it's good enough to spend the night on your way to the Transalpin route through the mountains.||Castel Hotel is pretty nice and decent. Rooms are spacious, bathroom is good; so nothing to worry about. Breakfast is ok and meets the demand of the average tourist. There are only a few restaurants downtown. After a long walk around the city centre we chose for the Sports Pub, opposite Castel Hotel. In fact it also belongs to the Castel Hotel-chain in Romania. Food is not outstanding, but good enough. Prices are reasonable. Staff in both pub and hotel are...