MAVIDA Balance Hotel & Spa

Spent a week at this hotel during August, great location, just a couple of minutes by bike (which the hotel provides free) to the lake.

The suburb itself is not greatly attractive, although a great location to go skiing (5 minutes walk to the ski lifts, and from the bus stop that brings you to the glacier of Kaprun for free).

The hotel is in an excellent location for skiing - a five minute walk from one of the main resort chair lifts in the Zell am See area.

All transfers from the airport of Salzburg was arranged by the hotel, and here I would highly recommend the shared taxi option: very convenient but more affordable that a private taxi (29Euros per person instead of 120Euros per car).

Zell am see is located 1h20 from Salzburg airport par car.

Our room, was big by Austrian standards and was furnished to a high standard, comfy bed, large wardrobes, high-spec bathroom, flatscreen TV, CD player, balcony, proper pillows (rare for Austria), but strangely, no blinds.

Indoor pool, two saunas, steam room, Kneipp foot baths and relaxations rooms.

Not sure whether these were missing from all the rooms (there were fixings where presumably they had once been), but it did allow for a beautiful view of the sunrise over the snowcapped mountains while still in bed in the morning.

The hotel spa is great with swimming pool, relaxing water beds, a selection of saunas and steam room,all part of the package except the massage treatments (to pay in supplement: and I recommend the balance massage although a bit too short (50 min)).

In addition, the rooms were not sound proof - so you could hear the people in the next room's conversation and water running upstairs.

Staff were very friendly, after a day on the slopes the trendy bar was welcoming and the breakfast was pretty good.

Pleasant treatment rooms, after a day on the slopes the trendy bar was welcoming and the breakfast was very delicious.

We were therefore very disappointed to find out that while the restaurant is non-smoking, the other main public area - the bar - allows smoking.

The decor is very modern, the soundproofing between the rooms could be a little better and the restaurant is very good both in terms of food.

The bar was packed sophisticated and the food was very enjoyable.

Upon arrival we were given a guided tour of the hotel faclities by the reception staff.

In fact every member of staff was on hand to make our stay as comfortable as possible.

This hotel’s service is defiantly up there with the top hotels, which I have stayed, such as the Ritz Carlton Berlin ,Rey Juan Carlos Barcelona, Kempinski Frankfurt and The Paris Paris.

I have only ever experienced such an excellent level of service at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin.

The Spa gets 5 stars & the pool area was superb, fresh water.

Jacuzzi The gym was modern and the food was good - could be a little bit simpler.

Jacuzzi The gym was modern and the breakfast was pretty good.

Service was friendly and the room was spotless.

Very polite waiting staff and relatively clean rooms.

Since the food was definitely the high point of this hotel, staff were very friendly and the room was spotless.

The room was spotless and although we just stayed in the standard room it didn't disappoint.

Each day the cleaning lady came 5 minutes later after we have entered our room, so we were to negotiate with her, which time she should come and clean.