L'illwald - Hotel And Hostel Alsace Sélestat

This charming inn is impeccably maintained with pride and care by the owner. The hotel and restaurant are well located in the Alsace wine region. The restaurant food is excellent. Since our French is poor and we do not speak any German, we were assigned a lovely English speaking waitress both times we ate in their restaurant. ||Some reviewers have complained about road and construction noise, but we didn’t find that to be a problem. The hotel is expanding so there is some construction work adjacent to the hotel, but nothing that disrupted our stay.||There are a couple of reasons we cannot rate this place a 5. Too often, we felt more like we were intruding on the owner’s private property rather than a valued guest. For example, the restaurant closes two nights a week. One of those evenings, still daylight…we were sitting by the pool, enjoying a nice conversation. No other guests were in the pool area. The owner and his personal guests had set their dinner table on the other side of the pool fence. He and one of his guests came into the pool area….clearly to check in on us (not in the good way) and in effect, made us feel like intruders. ||Without attempting to communicate, they left their two elderly dogs alone with us inside the fenced pool area and walked away to eat their dinner. We love dogs, but we felt like the owner was either trying to chase us away or wanted us to babysit the dogs…very odd behavior for a professional hotelier. ||The grounds of the property are quite nice, but we were afraid to move about too freely. When we checked in, we found a rather specific printed list of “dos and dont’s” in our room. The hotel claims it is a 4*, probably because they technically have the amenities…restaurant, pool, sauna, gym, steam room…but the spa area is very small and costs an additional 60 euro per hour per couple. It wasn’t supervised and we never saw anyone using it. There always seemed to be one or two employees around, but other than breakfast and dinner, definitely not staff to assist the customers. We were also surprised that even on days when the restaurant was closed, you were forbidden to bring your own wine onto the beautiful grounds, but could sit in your room and drink your wine. Normally I wouldn’t think too much about this policy, especially when the restaurant is open. However, the hotel is located in the heart of the Alsace wine country and if you visited a winery and purchased a couple of bottles, you had to drink it alone in your room like some sort of sad wino. We had purchased several bottles of rather expensive wines and would have gladly paid the hotel a corkage fee to enjoy it in the courtyard or garden (on the evenings the restaurant was closed). Although there was a little bar area next to the breakfast room, the door was always closed and we never saw it open in the afternoons or evenings. We only spotted one or two beverage lists and they were in the pool area. Unfortunately, there was never a designated server. Very few options other than the 5 nights. Week the restaurant is open.||Overall, our stay was pleasant. Had there been a more welcoming and warm atmosphere, it would have been out of this world.

We were a group of 4 people spending our bicycle holidays in Alsace and made a reservation in this "Auberge" for a lunch. The host was the most unfriendly man I have ever seen in a restaurant. He did not spoke 10words in total. Our plates were just put in front of us without any info. No question if it was ok while he was having friendly conversations with local people. Food was ok but expensive relative to the quality. Restaurant is located next to a very noise big road and eating outside is not possible. Even talking the apero outside was only possible after insisting. reply of owner Dear guests. We don't understand how the man who served you could have been unpleasant if he didn't say a word to you. If we have so many regulars as you say, it's because the quality is there. If our cuisine is not to your liking, you should have told us straight away so that we could have done something about it. Sincerely, The Management reply on owners reply: If you put it like this then indeed I will need to change the word unpleasant by unpolite and unrespectful person. As a restaurant and hotel owner I would expect that you realise that going out for lunch or dinner is an experience that goes beyond serving food. There is something about communication and making people feel good. Although the food was good the overall experience was very disappointing.

An excellent country escape: half a dozen of us celebrated a special occasion together and our night and day at the hotel felt like a little holiday. When we had a dip in the pool we were brought chilled wine and extra towels. When we asked to push back the time for our dinner reservation to swim longer it was no trouble. And when I confessed to having a ridiculously long list of food intolerances, I was provided with a perfectly adapted starter and main course for dinner in the auberge, and lovely natural almond milk at breakfast. All the staff were really friendly and genuine. Couldn’t be more happy and can’t wait to go again.

The place is gorgeous and quaint. We only were there for lunch and thought the restaurant was so pretty. The food was delicious. Best escargots we have sampled. Loved the foie gras, entrecôte and pretty much everything!

We were a party of 5 adults with 3 rooms. Our stay at the Hotel de I'llwald was a standout during a 2-week trip. It's in an idyllic location, just outside of town, with easy access to major roadways. Our rooms were charming and comfortable. Dinners were delicious; waitstaff were welcoming and helpful. They made wonderful recommendations of Alsatian wines, for example. But the real treat? Breakfast. Real care had been taken in putting it together. We enjoyed the most delicious freshly made yogurts, breads, jams, cheeses -- you name it. Fresh fruit in season. Hot pot of delicious coffee. It set us up for full days of exploring. Well after our trip, folks in our party would say: "You know what was great? The Hotel de I'llwald!" And it was.

On arrival the hotel owner quickly showed us the room, but appeared rather disinterested ... no mention of the wellness area, where it is etc (normally the wellness area is the pride and joy of hotel owners). Booking was without breakfast, so we ordered breakfast for the next morning. Lovely breakfast, but at 16,-- per person we would have expected a warm breakfast to be an option, only continental, but very good quality. We didn't order brekky for the next day, but were told on departure that they had expected us for brekky... what now - room with breakfast or without ??? We weren't charged naturally as we hadn't ordered... The suite had two beds that drifted apart in the night so we needed to push them back together again several times. The air-conditioning was quite noisy, like an old fridge, we needed to switch off the fuse to get rid of the noise. The separate toilet room surprised without hand wash basin.... The bathtub serves as shower facility, but the showerhead could only be stuck into the halter in one position so the water would just splash against the shower unit and not the person in the shower... solution:like in old times- hold unto the showerhead and switch off the water when applying the soap... :-( .... The hotel is situated in a handy location just outside Selestat and was ok at the special rate, but would never be worth the 165,-- as stated on the price list in the room. Will we come back here again, NO, I don't think so...

We stayed 4 days here during a hot part of June 2019. The hotel is beautifully maintained and our room and the others we saw were elegant and included interesting stylistic features. There is a very good swimming pool and spa area which helped with several days in the high 30s. Our room had a loft (#9) which although beautiful I cannot recommend if the weather is hot, as the loft stays very warm at night. There is air conditioning, but it cannot cool the loft effectively. We actually pulled our bedding and slept on the floor below the loft level to stay cool one night. There are also a lot of stairs to reach this room. Breakfast is very good and presented in a lovely room off the "front desk". It is on the expensive given limited hot offerings. The restaurant is near exceptional and the chef is the owners son. It is beautifully decorated, and service is efficient. We had three different main courses as well as entrees and all were very good to excellent. Wine choices were very good and reasonable. On several of the nights there were organized get-togethers in the courtyard outside the restaurant. These sort of "took over" the area from the guests, but it is a beautiful setting and I can imagine its popularity for organizations. The location is outside of Selestat and on a main road, but it is very quiet at night. The owners-operators are very nice people who do all they can to help you with their stay. When we were there we appeared to be the only english-speaking guests.

Very nice, comfortable and cozy hotel with with very attentive staff. The property has a beautiful garden with a cute dog. Their breakfast is great, homemade yoghurt and jams, a variety of fresh juices and delicious fresh breads. We missed the breakfast the first morning and definitely regretted it. The location of the hotel is also nice. You’re in between Colmar and Strasbourg and very close to an interesting castle. The restaurant is an attractive dinner destination. The meat was cooked to perfection and the staff was very caring of us. All in all, definitely a great, small hotel to stay at.