I booked this hotel at the very last minute, having decided on 29th December to celebrate New Year's Eve, with my partner and my daughter, in a ski resort somewhere! Having first checked the snow reports, Saas Fee came out on top with over a metre of snow and is a good resort for both skiers and snowboarders. Next step I booked the flights to Geneva with Easyjet from Gatwick, then I started the search for a hotel, my priority being one which was as close to the ski lifts as possible, as walking long treks to ski lifts in the morning, or back to the hotel in the evening after a tiring day, in awkward ski boots, with a pair of heavy skis on one shoulder, is not my idea of fun! The Saaserhof came out on top of my search list based on location and room availability. Finding 2 rooms still available for 31st December, it being the 29th already, was not easy and there was therefore little choice. I went ahead and booked, before the rooms disappeared and read the reviews after.
Having read some mixed reviews I was a little apprehensive, but I needn't have been. The Saaserhof far exceeded our expectations. My partner and I had a comfort double room, with bath/shower and a balcony with lovely views, room no 105; my teenage daughter had room 109 opposite us, a single occupancy rate, standard double room, with shower only and a balcony with a less attractive view of the next door hotel. We all loved our rooms. Both rooms were large, with plenty of wardrobe storage and coat hooks for ski jackets etc. Both rooms had a coffee table and two chairs, a desk and a colour tv, though finding an English channel was a mission, however, with free wifi at this hotel my iPad came into play instead and my daughter had a portable DVD player with her. Mine and my partners room had a recently updated, very modern bathroom, with shower over the bath and a separate loo, which was lovely. My daughter's room had a smaller, slightly dated bathroom with shower cubicle only and the loo was not separate, but, I have to say, it was fantastic, no complaints whatsoever, it also had a huge mirrored bathroom cabinet for all her toiletries, with electric socket for hair straighteners, both bathrooms had hair dryers . We both had heated towel rails and plenty of fresh warm towels every day, endless hot water and the rooms were kept immaculately clean.
I only booked us bed and breakfast, to give us the option of venturing out of the hotel in the evening. We did book a table for the new years eve, 5 course gala dinner though, (having spent most of the day travelling), which was absolutely superb and the chef replaced the meat dishes, with vegetarian alternatives for my daughter, at very short notice. The restaurant at this hotel is truly outstanding, if you are a connoiseur of good food and wine, you should definitely stay here. If, like my daughter, you prefer pasta and pizza, there is a fantastic pizzeria literally next door. We also went to the Mandarin Chinese restaurant, with a set 4 course menu for 59 Swiss francs, best Chinese we've ever had. Be warned, eating out in Switzerland is VERY EXPENSIVE! Especially up the mountain, where you pay a premium for food and drink, we had an extortionate lunch one day, (not to be repeated), 2 spag bols, one plate of chips, 3 soft drinks and a couple of chocolate bars came to 65 francs! We decided to ski back down to the resort for lunch after that.
The breakfast buffet at this hotel is fabulous, the choice of meats, fish, cheeses, kellogs cereals, fruit, yoghurt and bread is outstanding. There are also a hot buffet of cheese topped tomato halves, curly streaky bacon and sausages, which are all lovely, with eggs cooked to order. Service is prompt and the staff are so friendly here, you have the same table each day and Morris, our waiter, always remembered what we liked to drink.
There is a great ski/boot/board storage room at the hotel with a back door which leads you straight out onto the snow and a short walk to the nursery slopes, take a room key card with you, as you need it to get back in later. We hired our skis from Inter Sport, which is also conveniently right next door to the hotel. You can buy lift passes at the nursery slopes. We liked to take the T bar lift from the bottom of the nursery slope up to the Felskinn cable car and ski/snowboard down from there on a choice of reds and blues.
There is a fabulous spa at this hotel, with steam rooms, saunas etc, but be warned, it is a strictly NAKED zone. You are allowed to keep your towel wrapped around you if you prefer, but most people don't! Call me a prude- but not for me!! The zacuzzi though is in the kids zone, next to a small swimming pool with slide for the children, this is obviously not a naked zone, but can be noisy with kids playing.
We only stayed for 4 nights, which wasn't long enough! We didn't want to leave this hotel or this resort. Fabulous skiing and everyone is so friendly here. The staff cannot do enough for you and since Saas Fee is a car free resort, they will send their electric buggy to pick you up from the bus depot when you arrive and take you back when you leave, for free. Travellers tip: take the train from inside Geneva airport direct to Visp, approx two and a half hours, then the bus right outside the train station direct to Saas Fee, which takes about 45 minutes, you can buy combined return tickets that cover both train and bus at the train station in the airport, fantastically simple and efficient, if only our public transport was a well run! There's also a supermarket in the airport terminal to buy provisions for the journey.
My only requests of the Saaserhof would be: kettle with tea bags, coffee & hot chocolate sachets etc., in the room please and swimming costumes in the spa for us prudish Brits!
- Golfhotel Saaserhof Saas Fee
