Gränsö castle — Hotel in Västerviks kommun

Let’s start with the positive impressions: we booked a bit off season and took one of the nice seaside suites - first impression: fantastic! Spacey, elegant but still cozy. Worth it! The Spa area was also pretty good. Plenty of pools, jacuzzis, saunas with different views and temperatures. The sauna at the sea needs a bit of a renovation if they continuously want to charge these kind of prices. It was not so crowded so we easily could switch spots and enjoy the facility.

So, let’s talk about the 3 course supper at the castle building. The dinner unfortunately was basically a joke considering the prices they are asking. (Fish (Halibut) 395kr,Steak (strip) was 530kr, starter 205kr, dessert 195kr) The starters were the only thing that somehow could meet expectations but the main dishes and dessert was not worth the money and especially the main dishes made us doubting whether they actually have a professional chef in the kitchen. Quality of the ingredients (meat and fish) was very low and sauce (red wine sauce) were bought pre-made. Our beef steak (Ryggbiff) came instead of medium-rare well done - after making them aware, they honestly came back with the same piece of meat and even more well done. According to them, a misunderstanding but the meat quality was crazy low - especially considering the price of 530 kr (we suspect they bought it plastic packed in a regular supermarket or even worse: deep frozen). After a short discussion they let us switch to fish and…. Once again the fish was over-cooked and also the fish quality was quite low (Halibut). The service was friendly but unfortunately incapable - the atmosphere in the castle didn’t match at all with the delivered quality and service - the personal didn’t have a clue about wine selection and made many mix-ups when serving with other guests. Dessert was also quite low quality and once again - you can buy the same stuff at ICA for 20% of the price. (195kr for the dessert was a complete rip-off) Breakfast was served again at the castle - absolutely ok but nothing special, so no experience to remember.

Positive: we got a small discount (300kr in total) for the inconvenience at the dinner - I really hope that they manage to hire a new chef and step up at the restaurant - we observed guests at other tables and we didn’t have the impression that anyone was happy with the food quality served. So plenty of room for improvement. Was it because we had dinner on a Sunday and the regular chef had a day off? If so, they need to tell the guests and serve a reduced menu or lower the prices.

Next time we will book a room & spa but will stay well clear of the restaurant. Was among the worst, I have experiences in the...

The room was definitely the highlight of our stay. We enjoyed every bit of it and I really liked the fact that they had a Marshall bluetooth speaker in the room. As you can see from the images and the video. It's definitely a top tier Suite. They also have a floating sauna which was also good and a terrace with seating to have a complete view of the surrounding.

The customer service provided by the staff was also excellent apart from one person who served us at the bar and didn't even get us water while we ate. The sandwiches at the bar were also great. But unfortunately this is where the positives end.

The location is good but the beach is not right out of the hotel. There's a lot of green seaweed in the water that the hotel is facing. Not that appealing to dive into. No beach sand but just pebbles and rocks around.

The breakfast spread was below average compared to all the other hotels I've been to. Some of the bread served there wasn't fresh and felt hard and dry. The waffle maker looked like it was never cleaned since it was bought. The waffle that it would make didn't even look like waffles. On a positive note though. I did report this and they said they would make changes. So, I really hope they do.

The dinner was good but for a hotel of this standard I would expect great food. The appetizers were good, my wife and I both liked it. The crawfish soup was flavorful and her beef was tender and delicious. The main course was no different. We enjoyed the main course over the appetizers and they were delicious. Unfortunately, I cant say the same for the desserts. These were disappointing. The raspberry soup was just meh and the strawberry dessert was just OK. I've had better desserts at similar kinds of hotels.

This is a pet peeve for me but I think for the cost of staying here they should offer free AC car charging. I have been to similar kinds of Hotels and they offer free car charging at around 3kwh. At least this should be offered for people who book the suites and above.

I would have recommended this hotel if they had great food and an average room but unfortunately they have focused too much on the quality of the room and forgotten about the quality of the food. If I would choose I would rather stay at a hotel with an OK room but great food than a hotel with a great room but OK food.

So unfortunately I wouldn't recommend this hotel if you are looking for a...

Absolutely amazing. We came here for our first year wedding anniversary and we came away with beautiful memories. Its such a calm relaxing place with the water, nature and the spa. The food is also really good - we had the relax spa package and stayed for 2 nights. However the first night we got there was a wedding happening which we were first only away about by the loud music and shouting during dinner (they were in the room above) and then our room was very close to the dance floor so was difficult to sleep however after speaking to the team they were understanding we got upgraded to a room in the main beachhotel and it was fantastic. Would just have liked some prior warning or acknowledgment that a wedding was going on and may be disruptive and to pre-empt rather than for us to have to complain. Nevertheless would highly recommend...