If you're looking for somewhere to stay in the heart of Klagenfurt then the location of this hotel is perfect as it's literally seconds from the main sites. If you're more interested in the lake I don't recommend booking accomodation at Hotel Sandwirth unless you speak good German. The hotel is just a few seconds from the main bus station; buses run to the lake on a regular basis but stop fairly early in the evening. There are no ticket machines at the bus station and the staff in ticket booths do not speak any English. On the other hand; staff at the hotel speak fantastic english and are always happy to help... providing you don't mind waiting!

On our first night there we decided to eat in the Hotel restaurant but we didn't return during our stay as the service was extremely slow. Don't get me wrong, the staff were fantastic... when around! The waiter was a young guy who was more than happy to keep us entertained with his jokes but his very relaxed attitude also meant waiting 30 minutes to get the bill, which I could understand if they were busy but there were only 2 other people eating in the restaurant and even they seemed frustrated by the waiters constant disappearing!

At first glance the hotel room looked to be very clean and was of standard size. Don't look under the bed! I happened to drop something and it rolled under the bed... when I looked under the bed there were empty crisp wrappers, bottles and enough dust to suggest that no one had cleaned under there for a number of months! It was disgusting, certainly not what you expect at a so called 4 star hotel! There was no excuse as the bed had high legs which you could easily get a hoover under! The air con didn't work at first but reception staff resolved this on our 3rd night.

The breakfast room was rather small, luckily it was rather quiet when we stayed so there was plenty of seating. There was a good selection of food available for breakfast, I was slightly amused to see spicy chicken wings in the cooked section instead of sausages... perhaps left over from the previous nights conference / party?! Certainly wouldn't have surprised me given my experience!

This is supposedly one of the best rated hotels in Klagenfurt and yet I was not impressed and will not return. There must be better in Klagenfurt... or maybe i just had a bad experience and usually it's fine... who knows??

If you're wanting somewhere to relax by the Lake try looking at nearby Velden, gorgeous little place and only a short train journey from Klagenfurt. The main train station has ticket machines making it very easy to purchase tickets for this town.