Boutique Hotel Vila Planinka — Hotel in Jezersko

Vila Planinka:

Where to start with this gorgeous property full of personality? If you’re looking for great food, a scenic atmosphere, and staff who truly want you to enjoy all that Slovenia has to offer, this is the place for you. This property was perfect for what we were looking for, so I’ll outline its unique traits below. I truthfully can’t give enough positive praise - this place was truly impressive.

Unique aspects: (1) Food/wine pairings are offered as a chef’s menu without printed selections. Each course was delightful and we found dinner at the restaurant to be a fun way to end each night. Other restaurants aren’t plentiful in the area, but the food here was truly high-quality if you’re open to a tasting menu without set prices. Staff is happy to accommodate restrictions and answer pricing questions, but we went into it knowing dinner with wine pairing would be ~€90/person/night and found that to be a reasonable expectation. (2) The hotel is in a small town, with beautiful views of the glacial valley and across from a roadside restaurant. Other reviews have noted that the restaurant/gas station nearby spoiled the view or were loud into the night, but we found neither to be true. The restaurant was quite fun to frequent for a quick beer (great views from their back patio!) and our view from the room was undisturbed. We had no issues with noise, and I find it hard to believe the area is ever particularly noisy at any hour. (3) Staff - I can’t say enough positive things about Vanesa, Val, and Miha. All have personality, love to make local recommendations, and bring so much to the atmosphere of this hotel. Vanesa is the sommelier, but also makes a great cappuccino or whiskey sour. They’re all the life-blood of this place, they’re what makes it special, and they’re a large part of the reason we’ll likely be back sooner rather than later. (4) Location - this hotel is a scenic drive from Ljubljana. It’s not particularly central to the typical tourist sights, but we visited Lake Bled, Piran and Portoroz, Postojna, and Triglav. All were within a one to two-hour scenic drive that was unproblematic and enjoyable. (5) Room - the room is nice, but not the star of the show. Saunas are offered on each floor, though we didn’t personally use them. The focus of the hotel is wellness and sustainability, so knowing that beforehand shapes your view of the amenities offered (e.g bikes/sauna on-site, no plastic bottles offered, etc).

Overall, I encourage visitors to understand the unique aspects of this hotel and embrace them. It’s a fun, wine and food focused place with people that make the experience noteworthy and special. We’ll be sure to...

My daughter and I spent 4 nights at the Villa Planinka in June 2022 for our 35/70th birthdays. It was certainly the most memorable experience I've had in a hotel stay of this sort. The villa is newly built, stylish and "green"; very comfortable, with beautiful cozy public spaces and lovely rooms. We had a balcony that looked up to the glaciers and mountains East of us. Their spa is serene and comfortable, with two different kinds of saunas, lounges, and an energy spot . Fresh fruit and tea were always waiting. Every night we had the whole spa to ourselves. During the days we hiked or took E-BIkes on logging roads. Now for the food!! The chef is superb; meals are both healthy, delicious and innovative. The food was so exciting and satisfying that we never wanted to eat anywhere else. It's hard to adequately describe such a complex cuisine, but it includes local products such as cultured butter, yogurt, salami and cheeses, wonderful local dumplings, beautiful vegetables, crunchy things on top, fermented dairy and vegetables, berries and fruits. Sauces were not simply butter and cream based--one night we had a tomato water broth that was delicious. The wines are first rate, starting with their champagne, world class whites, orange wines, fresh wines, and delicious reds. A special mention to the wine somms, Marko and Zan. Both were have a sophisticated and deep knowledge of wine and the viniculture of the country as well as gastronomy. And botht are both born story tellers that made the whole evening a delight for diners. Marko's superb wine tasting included local cheeses, and special (venison, pork, and bear) salamis. Equally interesting were his stories about the viniculture, the effect of geography on their gastronomy and the 20th Century wars and politics that so affected Slovenia. All this loveliness was augmented by the villa's excellent staff in addition to Zan and Marko. From the moment we came in and were greeted by Jasmine, to the daily interactions with Kim and others, we felt how natural they all were, how friendly and easy everything was. The experience felt singularly genuine. ...

Generally nice hotel. Nice clean rooms with a comfortable bed and staff were friendly and helpful. The hotel manager was lovely. |There is a large relaxation room with saunas which was great. The hotel is well designed/decorated. ||There are very limited options for good food in the area, so you may find you will be stuck eating at the hotel every night for your stay. |One particular frustration was the lack of printed menus to be able to know what was planned for dinner each night and how much it would cost. Each night you can choose to have the three/five/seven course menu with pairing wines however they won’t tell you what is on the menu and how much the drinks cost. It felt awkward to ask each day. My suggestion to the hotel would be to print menus each day so your guests can choose whether they want to dine in, how many courses and decide if they want to order certain drinks depending on the price. We had a surprise when we got the bill to see some of the sparkling wines are charged at €15 per 0.1L per glass. They also had some repeat items from the previous day on the menus. We asked to swap items on the set menu due to allergies and intolerances and they were accommodating, however we did find it a bit awkward to ask. ||I would also suggest clarifying if breakfast is included in your stay on arrival, we were surprised to find on checkout that we were charged €29per person per day which felt expensive for what we had. The breakfast is nice but choice is limited compared to other 5 star hotels. ||Other suggestions for improvement - there is no kettle provided in the room or bottled water each day which would have been nice to have. The remote control for the TV also did not work. The hotel also does not have AC, which wasn’t a problem for our visit in May however I can imagine this would be a consideration if you were visiting during the summer months.||Overall, a pleasant stay but with noticeable areas for improvements|Overall a nice stay but definitely some room for...