Neuschönau is a quiet (except for the very loud church bells nearby!) Bavarian village, very well located to make the most of the adjacent Bavarian Forest National Park. The Vitalesca hotel is nicely appointed and very clean. The staff (in low season, it's basically the owner/manager and one helping lady) is knowledgeable and very helpful. English is spoken here, which is a major improvement over the rest of the village, where German is the only means of communication (plus body language, of course). The room I had (260) is described as a "suite" and I selected it because of its own kitchen facilities: being there for a week and with my non-existent German, I thought it could be nice to have the option to prepare and eat meals "at home", so to speak. Well, the "suite" in question not only boasted a nice-sized bedroom with walk-in closet, but also a second bedroom, slightly smaller, and a very spacious living room/dining room/kitchen with a small balcony on the side. The apartment sleeps 4 people and I certainly had plenty of room to spare, for a very reasonable price. There were downsides, however: aside from the already mentioned church, the place is located just under the roof, and the bathroom, which looked very spacious at first, was in fact quite limited: even in front of the sink, I sort of had to remain hunched so that my head would not hit the...Neuschönau is a quiet (except for the very loud church bells nearby!) Bavarian village, very well located to make the most of the adjacent Bavarian Forest National Park.

The Vitalesca hotel is nicely appointed and very clean. The staff (in low season, it's basically the owner/manager and one helping lady) is knowledgeable and very helpful. English is spoken here, which is a major improvement over the rest of the village, where German is the only means of communication (plus body language, of course).

The room I had (260) is described as a "suite" and I selected it because of its own kitchen facilities: being there for a week and with my non-existent German, I thought it could be nice to have the option to prepare and eat meals "at home", so to speak. Well, the "suite" in question not only boasted a nice-sized bedroom with walk-in closet, but also a second bedroom, slightly smaller, and a very spacious living room/dining room/kitchen with a small balcony on the side. The apartment sleeps 4 people and I certainly had plenty of room to spare, for a very reasonable price.

There were downsides, however: aside from the already mentioned church, the place is located just under the roof, and the bathroom, which looked very spacious at first, was in fact quite limited: even in front of the sink, I sort of had to remain hunched so that my head would not hit the very low ceiling, and taking a shower in the tub was a very cumbersome affair (I'm 1.85 meters, a little over 6 foot). The bathroom towels were also a little too thin and decidedly not fluffy at all, and the little complimentary bottles of hair/body shampoo were too small, and the staff (which diligently cleaned the place every day) seemed to forget to replace them: I had a complement of 3 which was never topped up, even though I stayed 5 nights, and so the last two days, I had to use the little soaps... This is not acceptable.

The last complaint regarded the wifi network: it was VERY temperamental, not working, then working, then not working again... The owner/manager was very helpful but a bit baffled I think. As I was the only guest in the entire hotel, he ended up allowing me to use his private network, which worked fine and was reasonably fast for such a remote location, but I have a feeling that such a facility would not be made available to just about everyone if there happened to be any number of guests present.

The breakfast (included in the room's price) was plentiful in quantity and adequate in quality, with very good French croissants (defrosted of course but still very light and tasty).

All in all, a nice place to stay, which I would recommend without reservation, were it not far that much too low ceilinged bathroom, and the on-and-off wifi.More