Altes Ruderhaus

I chose to stay overnight at the Altes Ruderhaus in Worms on a journey south to Austria. I thought it would give an opportunity to have a quick look at this historic city. It sits on the bank of the Rhine and its website showed a very attractive restaurant. The first slight alarm bell rang on receiving an email a couple of weeks before leaving home saying that check-in at Reception was only available from 3.00pm to 4.00pm. After that my key would be left in a key safe and I was given a code number to access it if necessary. As I expected to arrive by 3.00pm this didn't unduly worry me. In the end, after a careless navigation error in Worms, I arrived at about 3.25. The lady from Reception was already putting room keys into the external key safe. I told her who I was and she extracted my key and pointed to my room. I asked if I could reserve a table to eat later on but was told the restaurant was a separate business and I would have to go to them to make a booking. The "hotel" is in the style of what I would call an "American Motel" - a two storey building with each room opening onto an outside walkway that runs along the front of the building and accessible to the public. Apart from the fact that the room opened directly into a public outdoor area, it was quite comfortable and well appointed - fine for an overnight stop - but with no inside public areas such as a lounge or a residents' bar. But by the time I had settled in and was venturing out to make a table reservation, the lady from reception was already disappearing at speed down the path to the car park to drive off. Reception was closed. There was nothing anywhere giving any information about Worms or how to get around. (I have subsequently discovered that there is a bus route that could have been very handy.) I saw the following morning when checking out in Reception that there were a few leaflets but obviously you couldn't get them when Reception was closed. This lack of information, and the very hot temperature that afternoon meant that the planned visit to the historic centre was abandoned in favour of a shorter stroll along the banks of the Rhine in the vicinity of the hotel. I did indeed eat in the restaurant that evening, though the people running it said there was no need to make a reservation, and while that was in one sense true in that there were always tables available, it meant that by the time I turned up to eat all the outside tables had been taken. The meal was good and the service was attentive and friendly; I felt welcomed. The sleeping block - I find it hard to consider it a hotel - like many others nowadays, is non-smoking. Unfortunately the couple in the next room were smokers so they left their room and stood outside to smoke, which of course was right outside my window because of the style of the hotel with every room opening to the outside. Inevitably my room filled with their smoke. So would I choose go back there? Probably not. The good p

We stayed overnight here half way through a long drive from Rotterdam to the Bregenzer Wald in Austria. The rooms are on two floors, facing outwards across a grassy area. The building is plain and characterless but the rooms are comfortable and fairly spacious, and they are quiet. Reception is only open for limited hours - we had to use a code to pick up our room key from a key box. There is a decent restaurant which has a pleasant outdoor area on the bank of the Rhine. The breakfast is outstanding - a big and varied buffet with lots of choice. The rate we paid was very reasonable. Recommended.