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We wanted to have a "nature experience" near the Heidi-Dorf, but it might not be the kind of experience we were looking for.
To make sure you make the right decision, here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
+ it's clean and nicely decorated
+ it's near the Heidi-dorf (approximately 20 minutes away on foot)
+ the products you get are good quality products and regional products
+ you have enough quantity
+ you have cows not far away, so it's nice to greet and hug them
Cons:
- for the experience it is, it's very expensive. You pay above all for products you wouldn't have bought otherwise anyway (at least for us), for example: liquor, a bottle of wine (so if you don't drink alcohol, you would pay way too much for what you get)
- you don't really have privacy (you are literally in front of a big farmhouse, cars are sometimes leaving the property or arriving in the property; you can also feel the vibes of the everyday work next to you; a man comes sometimes really next to the barrel probably to check the electricity or something; that's certainly not the right spot for a romantic stay!)
- you have the toilets approximately 100 meters away from the barrel. You might think like we did that it's not a problem, but actually it is, because you spend the evening drinking tea in the barrel so you have to wake a couple of times during the night to go to the toilets in the cold. Not agreeable at all, given that each time you go out to go to the toilets you wake up your partner.
- as you might have seen, there is no shower (so paying 270 frs for little comfort is very much even in Switzerland). When you have the fondue, you pay 50 frs per person (very high price also given that you have no service - so here again you pay for the alcohol and you waste money if you don't drink alcohol).
- you have to pay right away when you arrive (no possibility to pay in advance) and if you forgot that, they will look down on you until you have paid. We were disturbed in the middle of the breakfast to go fetch the money. We really felt they were suspicious and no trusting at all, which was not agreeable at all.
So, all in all, we had the impression to have paid too much for the experience and we did not enjoy it very much.
It's whether a nature-experience nor a comfort experience. It's a bit like expensive comfort-camping in front of farmhouse.
Here are our piece of advice:
- if you want a nature-experience, rather wait until May or June and go sleep on the straw somewhere in the region (much less expensive and more nature-like)
- Maienfeld is overpriced for almost everything and not very well connected with public transports, rather go to Bad Ragaz (much better connected, it's 5 minutes away with the train, so you will be able to come easily to Maienfeld for the day, either by train or by bus) and consider sleeping somewhere else than Maienfeld (if not on the straw).