Kaiserhof Hotel Sonne

This is a 700 year old hotel. Inside there are thousands of curios in every conceivable nook and cranny. The location is excellent, right in the centre of town. Rooms large and clean. Our room at the front meant we heard the church bells but they really didn't bother us. Breakfast is a cold buffet and is fine. At no extra cost there is safe private parking at the rear of hotel. It is cash only... which is really unusual... they need to let you know that in and... but it is very reasonable cost.

I was so looking forward to staying at this property as it is authentic, traditional old Germany but a few things let it down and not all was the hoteliers fault. We arrived early afternoon and the hotel was in darkness and no sign of any staff, it took us a while to locate the manager. We were told if we needed anything just to ask but we rarely saw any staff around except at breakfast. Our room was large with an excellent shower although we had some difficulty operating it as it was very hi tech! Our room looked out on to the cathedral and yes we did hear the church bells but that wasn’t a problem, quite comforting really. The breakfasts were excellent although most mornings we seemed to be the only guests there. The Ukrainian lady who served us was lovely and looked after us well. When we spoke to the manager he told us that he had a staff shortage partly due to Covid restrictions and therefore certain amenities at the hotel weren’t available. I was disappointed that the advertised beer cellar downstairs was closed and that we didn’t have any room service. We were in Nordlingen for 4 nights and found that quite a lot of places were closed due to Covid and staff shortages which is a great shame. I just feel that the management have given up on this hotel. It was in dire need of some decoration and repair. It just felt very unloved.

We were unlucky to arrive in Nordlingen on a weekend and with a festival at the center of the town, so we could not reach the hotel by car and had to park overnight in an underground car park for E 8.50. If we had knowledge of this in advance we would have avoided going around the narrow cobblestone street in a big car for 30 minutes swearing at the SatNav. Back to the hotel and some stupid remarks made by peoples on reviews. The building is very old so it's no surprise that the hotel is old. If you take away the creaking you take away the charm. St.-Georgs-Kirche is very closed so one has to expect to be able to hear the sound of the bells. Just investigate all this before hand next time. Our room was great, very clean, quiet and big. The bathroom even better, very modern and with a shower to die for. As the restaurant was closed due to the festival the gentlemen(owner?) in reception offered to book us in a near by restaurant, which was very good. Breakfast was excellent with a good variety of food. Yes, I did hear the bell a couple of times during the night, but up to seven in the morning they are very muted and to tell the truth the sound was very comforting. All in all I would use this hotel again. Decoration may not be to everybody tastes, but then what is?