Visited: 6 days in January 2019
First impression: A nice looking hotel - quite big. Clean and modern - in ski-chalet style, with deer and lots of wood.
Room: We had room 415, a junior suite. Bedroom, bathroom and a small TV-room with sofa and coffee table and an extra TV. Everything was nice and clean and seemed fairly new. Very much a 'mountain chalet' style with wooden furniture, old fashion lamps, etc.
Food and drinks: This hotel has 4-5 restaurants.
- The standard hotel restaurant where you have your breakfast and your half-board meals.
- La Pasta. An Italian restaurant with a wood-fired oven for THE best pizzas :)
- La Grotta. A typical Swiss restaurant with fondue and raclette.
- Miranda. A 1-star Michelin restaurant. Only 8 tables - very good food.
- The standard hotel restaurant where you have your breakfast and your half-board meals.
- La Pasta. An Italian restaurant with a wood-fired oven for THE best pizzas :)
- La Grotta. A typical Swiss restaurant with fondue and raclette.
- Miranda. A 1-star Michelin restaurant. Only 8 tables - very good food.
Location: Right in the middle of Samnaun town. The town itself is not one of those small cozy towns, but instead just a town with about 10 duty-free shops as Samnaun is a separate duty-free area within Switzerland. The town seemed to be owned by two families, who each have hotels and shops. The only restaurants are the ones at the hotels, so only a few bars outside the hotels for after-skiing. There's no supermarket in town - but if you're after jewlery, watches, and designer clothes you might be able to find something. According to the brochures there are malls or outlet centres - but those are just normal shops who just happens to sell both clothes, perfume and jewelry - and therefore I guess you can call them 'a shopping mall'..... :)
Activities: For skiing Per liked Cortina a lot more. We were there in January - low season - and already too many people on the slopes. Lots of people from Ischgl and not enough lifts according to Per. You have to take a bus to get to the lifts. Only a kids lift just outside the hotel.
Overall: A nice clean and charming hotel in the middle of town. Lots of wood used - ski chalet style. Still Christmas decorations up - and very cozy. The owners were there most days, and the service was tip-top. Still - it's a big hotel and Per thought the hotel restaurant was a bit too commercial.... (if we had to find something to complain about :).
Best thing(s): The quality of the different restaurants at the hotel; especially La Pasta, an Italian restaurant with a wood-fired oven for pizza :) Even the standard hotel restaurant where we had our half-board meals, were good.
And a very nice spa, with lots of different saunas.
Worst thing(s). The temperature in the hotel was very, very warm. We talked to the owners about it, and apparently the heating system is too old, so it's either very warm or too cold - so they chose very warm. You could easily walk around in shorts and t-shirts inside the hotel. We turned off the heating in our room and left the door open over night - and it was still too warm....
Best thing(s): The quality of the different restaurants at the hotel; especially La Pasta, an Italian restaurant with a wood-fired oven for pizza :) Even the standard hotel restaurant where we had our half-board meals, were good.
And a very nice spa, with lots of different saunas.
Worst thing(s). The temperature in the hotel was very, very warm. We talked to the owners about it, and apparently the heating system is too old, so it's either very warm or too cold - so they chose very warm. You could easily walk around in shorts and t-shirts inside the hotel. We turned off the heating in our room and left the door open over night - and it was still too warm....