The hotel is comprised of a few buildings of different vintage joined together. Although we booked really early with Inghams and requested two adjoining rooms, on arrival we were told that this was not possible and they did the best they could which meant one room was around the corner [of the same 2nd floor] in an older part of the hotel to the other room. This was slightly inconvenient at times [with two children] but had the advantage of different views. The older room had more character but no mountain views and also suffered from traffic noise, the other room was slightly smaller, more modern and had a great view of the church and the mountains beyond. The beds were very comfortable and the plumbing all worked! The cleaners did an excellent job too. The only problem we suffered really was from the exceptionally high temperatures in the eary part of the week [90 degrees] for neither the bedrooms nor the dining room has air conditioning. This was particulary unpleasant in the dining room one evening and would I think pose a problem if global warming makes these temperatures more common. I would downgrade the hotel from 4 to 3 stars for this reason alone.
Most people seem to enjoy the food. There was a fairly extensive buffet selection and in addition the chef would cook you an omlette or egg & bacon etc if you asked. We found evening meals [you have to choose from a menu that varies each day] to be a bit over elaborate with too many competing flavours but perhaps that was just us. We were not offered any alternative food for our children and in fact it was not until the last night that a new waiter we hadn't seen before asked the youngest whether he would like ice cream for pudding instead of what was on the menu. The kids plates were always too hot also.
The reception staff varied, some were more friendly than others. You should recieve a Tourist Card automatically which e.g. gives you free entrance to the nearby lakes etc but I had to ask for them [one each] and got the impression this was a chore. [At the lake they took a note of the hotel and our names so perhaps there is a cost to the hotel.]
I guess the 4 star rating arises from the spa facilities which we didn't use but the children and my wife used the pool [no jumping or shouting allowed] which they enjoyed although I understand the water was on the cool side!
There is a small games room with ping pong and table football, that's about it for kids.
On the whole we felt that neither the guests nor the hotel particularly welcomed children.
As for Igles, it is conveniently located to visiting Innsbruck either by frequent bus or less frequent tram with a need to change to get to the old town. Both are easy to do and the tram ride is fun but we had a 25 minute wait on the return journey for the connecting tram to Igls [ go across the road and look in the church if you have time to kill, there is nothing else at this point]. The scenery around Igls is spectacular.
There is a Spar supermarket, a chemist and a few small shops and cafes and that's about it. Evening entertainment apart from the hotel pianist [who was very good] and a couple of events in the church garden was non-existent, not even a cafe-bar with an outside area was open where you could have a drink [with the children] after dinner. For us, this was the biggest downside of Igls. Very pretty, but perhaps too quiet for us.
- Sporthotel Hotel Igls
- Igls Sporthotel Hotel
