danielm0408
Google
I took my wife and two daughters, aged 2 and 6, to the Strandhotel Fischland for the German holiday weekend of "Himmelfahrt." Although the hotel must have been close to completely booked, it didn't seem overly crowded in the restaurant or beach. I suppose the staff speaks English, but if you expect to communicate with other guests, it's best to speak at least a little German, as the hotel caters overwhelmingly to a domestic clientele.||||Rooms: We had a duplex with two bedrooms and a living room (with an small, integrated kitchen of sorts). Very spacious and clean. One of the German reviews here from 2010 complains of mold, but there was no trace of anything like that in our room. No wi-fi in the room, unfortunately, but I think there may have been in the lobby. (I used my cell as a "hotspot" and made do with that.) The walls were thin, so noise in the adjacent rooms was a bit of a problem during daytime naps for the kids, but I didn't notice it in the evenings, frankly. Maybe we just conked out at night from the ocean air...||||Food: The breakfast and dinner buffets were good, although the dinner buffets were overpriced and had limited offerings for vegans. And if you're a vegetarian, you'd best be one who eats fish. I think the a la carte offerings were superior to the buffet -- if you don't want to spend too much, the pasta and Flammkuchen on the a la carte menu are reasonably priced and filling, though not particularly memorable; the more expensive (much more expensive!) monkfish entree was superb. ||||Facilities: The large pool was very well-heated when we were there, and we used it a lot. (The Baltic was too cold for my tastes, and the stretch of Baltic waters by the hotel had a two-to-three meter-thick stretch of algae extending all along the beach. Made me long for Bermuda...) They have a closet full of "swim noodles" by the pool, but for some reason they keep them mostly locked up. Whenever the door was unlocked and we took some out, a staff member would come around, collect them, and lock them up again. It was a bit bizarre, really -- why are they there if the guests can't use them? Anyway, next to the large pool, there's also a small, circular, shallow pool for toddlers. There are also tennis courts -- outdoor and indoor -- and a sauna. The grounds of the hotel are verdant and well-gardened.||||Kids: The caretaker for kids seemed a bit overtaxed that weekend. The playroom near the dining room is small, but good enough -- our only regret was that they wouldn't take care of our two-and-a-half-year old during the meals: The 3-year-old minimum was strictly enforced. Instead, we took toys from the kiddie room into the dining room and let our younger one play with them on the floor. No one objected. The place was full of kids and the atmosphere among staff and guests was tolerant of that sort of thing. There's a nice playground near the beach, and, unlike many hotels where I've stayed, the playground is actually shaded pretty well, so you're kids won't melt. There was a brief little mini-disco outside in the mornings, not in the evenings, which our kids enjoyed, but not as much as some of the more elaborate evening mini-discos we've experienced elsewhere. We didn't use the kids' club, so I can't comment on it. ||||The beach: Aside from the aforementioned problems with algae and water temperature, the beach is wide and long and the quality of the sand is fine. It's quite beautiful, actually. Pity about the algae in the water, but there's nothing the hotel can do about that, and I imagine the problem is not confined to this establishment.||||Other notes: Take insect spray, as the mosquitoes are voracious after about 6 pm. During the day, they're not an issue. The hotel is set back from the road (which isn't very busy anyway), so it's a very peaceful environment. On our weekend, the hotel experimented with a multi-tent buffet stretched out over a wide swathe of beach -- a tremendous logistical effort on their part; the weather cooperated, and it was really a fantastic, idyllic scene. Not sure if they'll make it a habit, but it would be good for the guests if they did! ||||We would definitely return to this hotel and recommend it to (financially privileged) friends.