Hotel & Restaurant Elephant

Magnificent experience at the Apostle's restaurant. We loved the innovative introduction to the garden with Soliman's journey. The design of the hotel could be refreshed in my opinion. Generous breakfast. The location is quiet and well placed in the center of town. Quick access on foot.

What a beautiful, comfortable historic hotel. We both loved it and hope to return one day. The restaurant is excellent, the breakfast room elegant with plenty of tasty offerings and the garden/pool area a delight. Traditional rooms are well furnished and a bathroon with top quality ceramics, taps, shower head etc. Came away with happy memories, a posh T-towel (elephant theme) and a beautiful and very stylish silk scarf ( elephant theme) at a very reasonable price.

Excellent hotel on all levels. Old World charm from moment traveler sees outside entrance wall etching of what people “thought” elephant looked like before ever seeing one; hence, excitement over Suliman 16th c. Single rooms small, twin bed, simply decorated, exceedingly welcoming. Get over needing big room; you are one person! Crisp white bedding, spotlessly clean, large sparkling bath. Room 37 (2nd fl), windows open to take breath away view of snow capped alps, green leafed trees, birds singing. Heat/AC not needed in April; mild days, cool nights. Pleasant staff. Two min stroll to downtown area.

Loved this unique and charming Hotel! The many “elephant” touches throughout the Hotel make for a most special stay. Great, quiet location just off of the main area, in great walking distance of anything you might want or need: shopping, restaurants, pharmacy, supermarket. Staff is welcoming and helpful. Style is “traditional” with very elaborate artwork throughout, antique furniture pieces, rooms that are distinct which adds to the special ambience of the Hotel. Gorgeous bar and the pastry chef is extraordinary! DO NOT PASS on the amazingly light, airy, and delicious breakfast croissant offerings…the one with the light chocolate sprinkled interior is supreme! Delightful, uncommon experience!

The public areas of the building are exquisite, full of centuries-old furnishings and works of art! My room was small and plain, but perfectly adequate for a solo traveler. It was a bit warm and stuffy, and I couldn't figure out any way to modify the temperature, but I'd always rather be too warm than too cold. I thought it would be nice to open the window and take in the view and a bit of air, but I couldn't figure out how to do that either! The panels were shut by one obvious lock, but after that was opened, they were still fastened at the bottom some by other mechanism that I couldn't access or perceive, so I concluded that maybe the window wasn't supposed to be opened? I might have put more effort into figuring out how to change the temperature or open the window, but I was only there for one night, so it wasn't a big deal. ||A funny thing happened when I was checking in. I gave the woman at the desk my passport and she handed me the key, and then we both stood there looking expectantly at one another. After a moment of mutual confusion she indicated that I was all set, and I pointed out, "You still have my passport." She indicated that they would give it back to me the next day, when I checked out. "I can't let you have my passport!" I protested in alarm, thinking about how many other borders I needed to cross in the next couple weeks, together with my propensity to forget things. I suppose that the expectation of keeping guest's passports during their stay is a sign of how old-fashioned this place is, but it's not something I would still expect to happen these days outside of a human trafficking situation! Luckily she was willing acommodate me and take a picture of my passport info—like, you know, literally every other hotel does these days—so it just turned into an amusing incident and not a source of major anxiety. ||Overall it was a pleasant stay for one night, and worth it just to enjoy the interiors of the beautiful historic building.

The hotel provides such an interesting and beautiful experience. The decor and art inside are exceptional. The pool and the grounds, garden are gorgeous. Breakfast fabulous. Why 4 stars for service ? When you arrive tired and walk to the room and there is no water offered except the one you need to buy for 5 euro... Unacceptable. At this price i expect water and a Nespresso machine at a hotel. But maybe its a thing in the area: you get lots at 120 euro/night places but nothing when you pay 300. Also, a fan in the room would be good. It was 36 C and it was a bit stuffy.

Not just an elephant, not just a historical place. We enjoyed our lunch at Restaurant Elephant very much. Easy to park and Nice to walking around in the old town before visiting the hotel. Traditional and elegant decoration in the salon, nice and knowledge staffs, delightful and delicious meals made our day. Highly recommend.

Always a joy to spend a night at the Elephant. Lovely, clean hotel with history and charm. The halls are greatly decorated with all sorts of paintings and antique installations. Great breakfast. Great restaurant with an astounding winecellar. The bar also hits the spot. Could be open until slightly later. Closed at 2300 in january. Did not test the swimming pool, nor the newly finished spa area. Surely it will only add positively to this fine family run hotel. We shall return.

First the good: The sauna and pool area is lovely - but you have to ask where it is. If you ask at breakfast, they will bring you freshly made egg dishes of your choice; and if you ask, they have fabulous gluten free apple strudel and multi seed rolls. When I asked the front desk about hiking areas, he gave me a wealth of information. Now the bad: our room was in the annex. Normally the word annex means a structure added onto another structure; however, this was a separate building and it was October and raining outside. We had to carry suitcases from the other side of the hotel, across a street and along a muddy gravel lined path and up 5 steps to enter the building. The elevator doesn't go directly to any of the floors where the rooms are so you always have to go up stairs - not a big deal for us as we are fit, but others should be aware. The carpets in the hallways were very worn, not at all 4 star. Inside our room the radiator was not working and it was very cold. They brought us an electric space heater to compensate. The room was cramped, but the closet area was huge. There was a balcony that in the summer would be quite nice as it looked out towards a garden area. The bathroom was of poor design. There was no noticeable ventilation and the mirrors fog up with the slightest amount of moisture - so very difficult to be able to see to brush teeth, etc. and the fogging doesn't go away unless you open the door to the balcony - which because there is no heat, is less than ideal. There is minimal storage space in the bathroom only a very narrow shelf above the sink. The only shower amenities we had were one small disk of soap and one small bottle of shampoo for our 3 night stay. We called the front desk and they brought more supplies. The bathroom sink didn't drain well. The bed was way too firm and wobbled when you move. There are no signs or directions on how to find the spa. When I asked, I was told take the elevator to the 3rd floor, walk to the end of the floor (Once again no signs), then take an elevator (unmarked) to the basement, then you find the spa. When I got there, I noticed everyone had nice robes and slippers - these were not provided in our room (robes required for 4 star ranking) and I couldn't have worn them anyway as I had to walk across muddy gravel to get to the spa. Interestingly, the 3rd floor where the spa elevator is located is very luxurious and contains all of the suites. It is clear to me that the hotel management is trying to keep the spa exclusive to the patrons of the third floor since everything is unmarked. I also wanted to use the advertised fitness room but couldn't find it, so I asked, and it was in the annex basement where we were staying but the sign was small and I had missed it. Once downstairs there was a teapot outside with nice teas (we didn't have a teapot in our room - a requirement for a 4 star hotel rating), and on one side was the small fitness room and on the other side was a small sauna and steam room. The fitness room had only a treadmill, bike and multi-machine, all of which were placed on top of carpets which is not sanitary since carpets can't be cleaned well from sweat drips. I did yoga there two days in a row and noticed that that floor was not clean - dirt and hair and the same dirt and hair was on the floor on the second day. The fitness room had no ventilation other than windows, but when it is cold outside it is not ideal to have them open. I noticed on our last day that the whole room smelled very strongly of sweat. In the hallway was a sign and ledge for antiseptic spray - but no bottle was present. I tried the small sauna room - there were two saunas, a traditional and an infrared plus a steam room. There were no controls or directions for the steam room or sauna and when I went during normal 5pm sauna time, everything was cold - I guess you have to ask to have these turned on! I did use the Infrared sauna and it worked well. Clearly this area is an afterthought for maintenance. The breakfast food quality was not 4 star level with grocery story quality cheese and meats, dried fruit, canned pears and other canned fruits. The tart/cake was ice cold as if it had been taken out of the freezer. There were only two hot dishes - some eggs and bacon. The muesli and cold cereals were also grocery story quality. If you decide to stay here, insist on being in the main building and ask for everything.