A Comfortable Bavarian Gasthaus at Hotel Zur Post in Altötting

The Hotel Zur Post in Altötting is a large and comfortable 4 star Gasthof hotel that is perfectly located on the main town square of Altötting, right opposite the shrine of the Chapel of Mercy for which the town is famous. With 60 rooms, I imagine that this must be one of the largest hotels in Altötting and there are many different public rooms and eating areas to accommodate groups of different sizes, although the overall impression is comfortable and homely.

A gasthaus has been on this site since the 13th century although the current building dates back to the 17th century when it was redesigned after a fire, in Italian baroque style, by the same architect who designed the Nymphenburg castle in Munich. We enjoyed our 2 night stay at Hotel Zur Post in Altötting as part of a short break to visit the Oberammergau Passion Play and the hotel would be an ideal place to stop for a night or two if you were touring Bavaria and wanted to visit the attractive pilgrimage town of Altötting.

Restaurants and public areas

For sitting out in fine summer weather, there is a bar terrace at the front of the hotel for drinks and light meals, adjoining the grass and gravelled Kapellplatz square, where you can watch the world go by. If you want to eat al fresco with a little more privacy there is another courtyard restaurant terrace at the back of the hotel as well as a large dining room, an even larger function room complete with stage and several other dining rooms which could accommodate larger groups like our tour party. Facing the side street façade of the hotel is a shop selling clothes and accessories in traditional style including the pretty Bavarian dirndl dresses that are typically worn by hotel staff and by locals on special occasions.

On the same side, facing the street is the Bistro Gabriel delicatessen and coffee bar where you can buy local speciality produce and eat a plate of cold meats and salads or drink an expresso or glass of wine. We ate our breakfast and evening meal in an internal dining room with pretty red checked clothes and furnishings, hunting trophies on the wall and a tiled stove in the centre. It was very cosy and attractive room and perfect for a chilly winter’s evening although a little dark in the summer, so we ate in the main Post Speisesaal restaurant on the second night. Judging by the large reception room and the photos of the winter ball held there, this is a hotel that regularly hosts weddings and celebration parties although the overall feel of the hotel was of a traditional and family run establishment with many personal touches.

Dining Room in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Dining Room in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Bedroom and bathroom

Our room was on the first floor accessed from a wide corridor with antique pictures and furniture. The good sized bedroom had a slightly old fashioned feel with dark wood fitted bedroom furniture, headboard and side tables. There was a pretty glass chandelier and on the walls were a crucifix and some traditional prints, photos of porcelain ornaments and an oil painting of a floral arrangement – the sort of pictures that I’d expect to find in my granny’s house but wouldn’t be giving wall-space in my own (apart from the crucifix being a good Catholic girl).

The duvet covers and square continental pillows had white self-striped cotton covers and the bed was extremely comfortable. As seems to be common in European hotels, the double bed was made of twin mattresses placed side by side, and whether you ask for a double or twin beds, you usually get the same arrangement. There was a dark blue carpet, green patterned unlined curtains and a small table with a couple of red seated wooden chairs, as well as a fridge and large (as in bulky, not flat-screen) TV. Our bedroom had French windows which led up a couple of steps to a small balcony adjoining an internal roof terrace with plant pots and a small fountain which could be accessed from one of the upstairs reception rooms in summer. The overall effect of the bedroom was clean, fresh and comfortable if a little dated in décor.

The en suite bathroom was also freshly decorated in a modern white and grey theme. The sink had a grey mottled granite surround that was echoed in the black and white speckled floor tiles, with a large inset mirror above and a wired in hair-dryer. There was a deep bath with a powerful shower and a glass shower screen and the plain white tiles were edged in a grey and silver patterned border. At the side of the sink were the typical small bottles of shampoo, body lotion and soaps in a glass jar. The whole bathroom felt clean, fresh and modern and efficiently Germanic.

Bedroom in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Bathroom in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Hotel Staff

We didn’t have a lot of contact with the staff but the waiting and reception staff we met were friendly and professional and some spoke a little English. Having met so many Germans on my travels who speak excellent English I was surprised that many locals working in shops and cafes spoke limited English (although better than my German), so this is the perfect place to pack your phrase book and try and brush up on your German. We were able to pick up some tourism leaflets about the town from reception and the helpful receptionist gave us directions to the bike shop in town, where we hired bikes for our afternoon cycle ride to the Badesee.

Breakfast and evening meal

For breakfast our group was served in a separate room with a buffet selection of muesli style cereals, fresh rolls with jam and butter, the typical German spread of cold meats, cheese and boiled eggs and juices, and all the food was good quality. As we were part of a tour group, our evening meal was from a set menu that was included with our tour cost, and normally consisted of a home-made soup starter, a meat, fish and vegetarian option of typical Bavarian food specialities and a desert. The food was generally good although the vegetarian options were a little insubstantial for a main course – for instance my husband had a mozzarella salad that would have made a light lunch choice and left him feeling hungry. When you’re eating from a set menu that has been put together with cost in mind, it’s difficult to judge the best of what’s on offer, but I’d certainly be very happy to eat in the Hotel Zur Post restaurant again for a range of European and Bavarian dishes

Courtyard in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Reception in Hotel Zur Post in Altötting, Germany

Facilities

I’d spotted on the hotel website that Hotel Zur Post at Altötting had a small swimming pool and sauna and had packed my costume in anticipation of a trying it out. In the event we did get some swimming in the badesee (swimming lake) nearby but the early starts meant that we didn’t get the time to try out the pool, although others in our group did and enjoyed their swim. I don’t expect that most of the pilgrims coming to Altötting are as wedded to their laptops as me, but there was free WiFi available from the café that I could also pick up in our bedroom and I also borrowed a cable at reception to access internet in the room. I didn’t see any parking facilities at the hotel and none are mentioned on the website, so if you are travelling by car, I would enquire about this when you book.

Prices

As I stayed in the Hotel Zur Post at Altötting as part of a tour package, I can’t tell you the exact price that we would have paid for the room we stayed in and the meals we ate. However, the price of a double room, in the main building where we stayed, as published on the hotel’s website is €105-129. There do appear to be cheaper rooms at €88 available in the Gasthouse part of the hotel although I’m not sure where these are located.

I’d recommend the Hotel Gasthof Zur Post in Altötting as a great choice to stay if you’re visiting this part of Bavaria. The Hotel is traditionally and comfortably decorated, with pretty details throughout and while it’s a big hotel it is family run and seems to have a personal touch for its guests.

Hotel Zur Post Altötting, Kapellplatz 2, 84503 Altötting, Germany

More tales from Bavaria to enjoy

Wiener Schnitzel and cherries from Bavaria – Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play
A cycle and cool lake swim in the badesee- in Bavaria, Germany

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Wiener Schnitzel and cherries from Bavaria – Germany

If you like hearty home-style meals and plenty of meat, then Bavaria in Southern Germany is your kind of place. I visited this part of Germany recently on a short trip to see the Oberammergau Passion Play and here’s a taste of what you might expect when you eat out in a typical Gasthaus or Biergarten.

Meat, especially veal, pork and sausages feature prominently on every menu in Bavaria and you’ll find plenty of roast meat dishes on the menu typically served with potato dumplings and salad or vegetables. I did find that practically everything came with lots of sauce or gravy, so if you prefer your sauce served separately, you’d better mention it when you order, if your German’s up to it. A very typical dish is the Wiener Schnitzel, a thin fillet of veal that’s coated with breadcrumbs and fried, served with a wedge of lemon and any chicken dishes would often be served with a wine or mushroom sauce.

Wiener Schnitzel in Bavaria, Germany

Salmon in herb sauce in Bavaria, Germany

When it comes to fish, the river fishes, such as salmon, trout or pike are often served with a herby cream sauce and rice.  After I’d had a few too many slices of meat swimming in gravy I decided that the fish was a more reliable choice if you prefer something lighter. I did enjoy the mixed salads, which in Germany seem to be more of a compilation of other salads, unlike the UK where you’ll get an uninspiring mixture of lettuce, tomato and cucumber. You might find that within one bowl you get a small serving of any of the following; sliced peeled cucumber in a vinegar dressing, mixed salad leaves, creamy potato salad, grated carrots and sliced red onions. One of my favourite lunchtime meals was a large plate of this mixed salad topped with deep fried potato pockets filled with soft cheese – as there was so much colourful salad to work though I didn’t feel so guilty about eating those crispy deep fried potato croquettes.

Roast Veal with potato dumplings in Bavaria, Germany

Cherries in the market at Altötting in Bavaria, Germany

When it comes to fruit and desert, cherries are the undisputed fruit of Bavaria although you’ll also find red and black currents, raspberries and strawberries in season. We bought a large punnet of raspberries in the market at Altötting for a picnic lunch before our cycle ride to the badesee,  but the dark, glossy cherries looked the most beautiful. If I’m honest, I found that when eating from restaurant set menus, the dishes all start to look a bit the same, but I think that we were hampered by a limited knowledge of German so we possibly missed some of the more unusual dishes. I found that when we shopped from a farmer’s market for our picnic, we were able to point out some more interesting things including small fried potato rosti cakes, a soft cheese flavoured with paprika and some little savoury pastries.

Of course, all of this hearty Bavarian fare should be washed down by a large beer, served by a waitress wearing the traditional dirndl and seated in a pretty biergarten with a view of the Alps in the distance. Prost!

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesday – for curried flied rice and other foodie delights head over to Wanderlust and Lipstick

More tales from Bavaria to enjoy

Painted houses and wood carving at Oberammergau – in Bavaria, Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play
The latest Dirndl fashions from Bavaria – in Munich

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Germany – food photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Painted houses and wood carving at Oberammergau – in Bavaria, Germany

On our recent trip to see the Passion Play at Oberammergau, we strolled around town admiring the painted houses or Luftlmalerei for which this small Bavarian town is renowned. The famous Oberammergau Passion Play only takes place every 10 years and in the years in between, the town is still a popular place to visit with picturesque, painted  Alpine houses with carved balconies fringed with pink and red geraniums.

The town has also been known for centuries as a centre of skilled wood carving, as farmers needed to find ways to earn extra income through the long hard winters, when the village was under snow. Wood carvers from Oberammergau were renowned for their skill, some specialising in crucifixes, others in wooden painted religious figures and crib scenes, others in brightly coloured toys, using locally grown linden and alder wood. As the industry grew, street traders or Kraxentrager would travel all over Europe selling these carvings from wooden frames or Kraxe on their backs and in the 18th and 19th centuries residents left the village to set up successful retail businesses selling the wood carvings.

House Georg Lang in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

Painted house in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

The house paintings originated from the 18th century and started when the houses were given painted window surrounds to embellish the simple facades, and later religious and fairy tale scenes became popular. The term for these painted houses or Luftlmalerei originated from one of the earliest local artists ‘Franz Seraph Zwinck’ who lived in the house called Zum Luftl. He also designed one of the local parish churches and painted the well known Pilatus house which is now used as a craft gallery with wood carving demonstrations and has an attractive small formal garden. In the 20th century the religious themes were extended to fairy tales and some of the houses are painted with scenes from Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel using the same traditional style.

Painted house in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

Painted house in Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany

If you’d like to learn more about the history of wood carving in Overammergau you can visit the small local history museum in the centre of town with displays of modern and traditional carvings and objects – the craft is very much alive today and you can see demonstrations in locations such as the Pilatus House. There are plenty of shops selling the carved,  painted wooden figures and crucifix and others selling wooden toys and Christmas decorations. The town is well worth a visit in the summer with plenty of beautiful walks in the surrounding mountains and is a good base to see local cultural attractions such as the decorative Royal Palace and gardens at Linderhof and the Benedictine Abbey at Ettal.

More information about the Oberammergau Passion Play is available on the Official Website

This article is posted as part of Photo Friday hosted at Delicious Baby – head over to check out all the other Delicious Friday photos.

Enjoy some more articles about Bavaria in Germany

A cycle ride and a cool lake swim in the badesee
Passion, music and drama at Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany
Tips for seeing the Oberammergau Passion Play

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Germany – Oberammergau in Bavaria photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home
Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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