Pros: The hotel is located in a dream location. The landscapes are beautiful, the mountain air is clean, everything is green around. The staff is very kind and helpful. The rooms are spacious, nicely furnished and clean. As for the food, I recommend the vegetable tempura. Cons: Despite the beautiful scenery, outdoor walks outside the hotel area are risky due to the multitude of bears in the area. The sunbeds in the area of the indoor pools are permanently occupied, tourists leave their towels and go to their rooms, the staff does not release the sunbeds. There is no cleaning staff in the pool area, so there is quite a lot of dust and dirt, especially in the outdoor pool area. The water in the jacuzzis is miserable, and the outdoor pool has greenish deposits all around. As for the food, while it is tasty, it is unreasonably expensive and the menu is not very varied.

I must honestly address some significant issues I encountered during my stay. While I had hoped for a pleasant experience, I faced several challenges that affected my overall impression of the hotel and, of course, the quality of my vacation. Here are the key points I'd like to share: 1. Customer Service Concerns: Upon my arrival, I noticed a lack of warmth and hospitality from the reception staff. They appeared disinterested and somewhat unfriendly during the check-in process. Despite my attempts to engage with humor and kindness, their demeanor remained unresponsive, leaving me feeling rather uncomfortable. This initial encounter left a negative impression, impacting my mood for the rest of my stay. 2. Lack of Communication: Another issue arose when the hotel's restaurant unexpectedly closed for a private event during lunchtime. Regrettably, this information was not communicated to guests in advance, and I found myself in a situation where I had to dine at GastroLab, a venue with a menu I personally do not enjoy. It's important to note that I have diabetes and was scheduled to have my meal at lunchtime as part of my dietary routine. However, due to the closure, I had to delay my meal until dinnertime. A simple advance notice of the restaurant's closure would have allowed guests, especially those with specific dietary requirements like myself, to plan accordingly and avoid any inconvenience. 3. Overcrowded Spa and Pool Area: My attempts to relax in the hotel's spa and pool areas were hindered by overcrowding. The sunbeds were consistently occupied, and the pools were often filled with noisy children, making it challenging to find tranquility. It was disheartening to learn that individuals not staying at the hotel were also allowed access to these facilities, exacerbating the issue of overcrowding and diminishing the quality of the experience. 4. Hygiene Concerns: Upon returning home, I discovered I had developed a skin condition, diagnosed by a doctor. It was suggested that this condition might have been acquired from pool or spa facilities. Given my recent visits to the hotel's pool and spa areas, this revelation raises concerns about the overall cleanliness and maintenance of these amenities. In conclusion, while I had high hopes for a pleasant vacation, my experience at this hotel was marred by several disappointments. The combination of unresponsive customer service, communication lapses, overcrowded facilities, and hygiene issues left me feeling frustrated and dissatisfied. I also noticed that the prices charged by the hotel were notably higher than comparable establishments in other locations. I hope that these concerns can be addressed to enhance the overall guest experience in the future.

I stayed at Balvanyos Grand Hotel in June 2022. The hotel rooms look nice and clean, nothing to complain there. Issue was when we discovered at the hotel's restaurant (the one close to the lobby) that customers are expected to pay twice for services: > 10% service tax automatically added on your cheque. No one tells you about it, not at the reception and not the restaurant staff either > Tip for the waitress because "the 10% just goes to the restaurant owner, we get nothing" - said the waitress. Of course we felt bad and tipped the guy, despite having already paid for services.. May I say, the restaurant is NOT cheap to begin with... Not only that we left with a bitter taste but I am not sure that is even legal, which now I will investigate further. PS: on the upside, food was good. Also happy to see crepes suzette on the menu

Has potential but needs to urgently address some issues: - the SPA is very crowded, seems like the Hotel extended beyond its limits - you can't find a place to sit at the pool, regardless of the time of the day, people come and "reserve" their spot by leaving a towel on all of the benches and leave the SPA. the hotel doesn't do much against this practice which happens every year - the Smart TV has a faulty/unusable internet. when complained about this, the receptionist told us the Smart TV cannot be used yet - rather short schedule for the restaurants All these cannot be justified at the rather big prices, the hotel being in the middle of nowhere with bad roads where uncivilized drivers put you in danger while going for walks/cycling Good parts worth mentioning: - a very nice guided sauna session - good and ok priced selection of wines - nice fine dining restaurant with a good price for the quality

Went there for a few nights with 2 months old baby and friends. Pros: nice design, good food, beautiful scenery Cons: - not ok with the baby because the cleaning was not made right. Lots of dust coming from the air conditioning system. - air was very dry, both me and the husband also our friends started to have blood on our noses. Couldn’t open the window because it was too cold so humidity was not good. - very crowded and given the pandemic both personnel and clients were not wearing masks. Almost sure we will need to test ourselves back at home.

Really good breakfast, cozy rooms, friendly staff, and probably the best spa in Romania. Very close to Lake St Ana, but otherwise it's a bit far away from everything. Saw 4 bears nearby in 24 hours. Good gym facilities. The restaurant inside the hotel is much better than the Gastrolab outside, which is pretentious but not that good. Tried both Disliked: Rooms are not properly equipped with AC, there are some old devices that can blow hot and cold air but they barely blow cold air. We had to leave it running all night as it was too hot in the room. There are bird nests at almost every window. At Gastrolab the service was bad. They are building an extended hotel in the backyard, so there's literally no more yard left at the hotel - just the parking - so there's nowhere to go for a walk. It's not advisable to go without guides nearby for hiking as it's full of bears.

Fake it till you make it . A great location (5 * location ) with 2 star services. Very rude personeel at reception. I could see the logic in restricting the pool access to the kids after 19.00 and asking for a breakfast time (although I have experienced bigger hotels not needing to do this). I cannot see the logic of having to make a reservation for fitness - this is the first 4*+ hotel I have ever visited to do so and the justification for doing this is plain stupid. Office staff is very rude and inflexible. Food at the Forrest restaurant was ok as in you could eat it and not die but not something to tell stories about, it took a while to place the order but after that the food was delivered relatively fast. The spa quietens a lot after the children leave, I do not like that Monday it starts later in the day. If you like chilling in a hot tub or saunas it is quite good. I guess it is worth it for the instagrams you would make with it. All in all I regret the amount spent on my stay, but I also see that the business is going strong there given the cornucopia of exotic SUVs belonging to the hotel and the building of the new wing.

Fantastic location and top notch SPA facilities. Staff is very helpful however I was disappointed with the level of service in all three restaurants(gastrolab, Forest, Fork). Most of the waiters are very amateur and they really lacking proper training on how to present and serve wine/champagne, and also it is a must they know the actual menu… and can answer elementary questions… There were a few very good waiter but 90% are way below the prestige of the place. The quality of the food was good, and they have a great wine selection.

Totally recommend this location if you search a place where you want only to relax that has a spa, good restaurants, calm and with a nice view all in one. The food was great at the restaurants and also the breakfast. The Spa was clean and well stocked, but it can get really crowded at night. Try to book also in the morning as the light is beautiful and it’s quiet. The surroundings are also beautiful.

Cool staff, good food, nice rooms, beautiful scenery - rare combination, right? It’s true you never find all 4 boxes ticked but this place has them all, at least when we visited in Oct 2022. The spa is top and I must admit they have the most equipped hotel gym I have used until now. I will definitely come back and recommend this place to my friends.

The hotel is nice, has 3 restaurants and the Spa is nice. Anyways, for the price tag the rooms are poorly cleaned. Like they hold a lot of dust and the daily cleaning means something close to making the bed, but not like it should be done in a 4 star hotel. Also, when we have arrived we couldn’t help, but notice, the large amount of dust in the closets. The Spa could be way nicer with some rules, since the people just leave their towels for the whole day, but not using the Spa in the whole period of time. Maybe having access for a limited time slot, would be better. Also I have some concerns about hygiene in the Spa, since everyone just brings plastic flip-flops probably wore to the beach before and taking them into the sauna, showers etc. Usually a Spa should not allow plastic, including swimming suits and flip flops in the saunas.

Me and my wife had a great experience at the SPA and at the Fork restaurant. At the SPA they have even a snow shower (literally snow falling from the ceiling). The food at the restaurant is delicios. I've ordered a blue-rare beef steak that was flawlessly cocked, just the way I expected it, beside a very tasty truffle puree. Also, the breakfast was very delightful. We had a double room with a balcony and a great view over the forest. The queen bed and the sheets were super comfy. Overall, we had a great stay and a very nice experience. I recommend it, and we will be back for sure! P.S: After we left, I realised after hundreds of kilometres that I forgot a valuable item in the room. I called them to let them know, and they found it right away and called me back to ask the address so they can ship it. Big thanks again!

It is pity for this great location, great facilities. Pity because the spa area is not managed well. Usually, it is overcrowded. Children are running around, entering the sauna area, some guests are quite uneducated, they don’t know how to behave and don’t let other people enjoy. They left their towels on sunbeds entire day but they are not around, their children are disturbing people, management does not warn such people and they do whatever they want. Entering saunas without towel, disturbing other poeple in some different ways.. It is full in many aspects. We wanted to have massage and some treatment options but no way! They are always full. But, the hotel is just great. Up to date, location is amazing, rooms are perfect, we liked the teras area also. View was just amazing. Spa area is very well, nicely designed. Restaurants are perfect, food is delicious. Breakfast is nice. Another thing was the water is dirty in the rooms. It has brown color. Hopefully, once they finish the other spa areas for family with children, it will become much better here. In the end, if you know how to make your way around, it is still possible. You need to make effort, while people are eating and after 7:30, spa area is usable, not crowded. You can make treatment appointments 4-5 days before to make sure you have it.

The good: the view is amazing, all rooms have lage windows with amazing view. The rooms are clean, with a nice decor and have all you could ask from a 4 star hotel, including a nespressk coffemaker, with free capsules, and a stacked minibar with decent prices. The spa is nice, but the outside pool is a bit too cold the sah between 29-36celsius, the day i was there it was more towards 29 a bit too cold especially for a colder day. The gastrolab restaurant is really nice with a great view ans terrace. I just love it. The breakfast was nice with all you could ask of for a 4 star hotel breakfast. A lot of traditional meats and chesses, eggs cereal juice, coffee, milk etc. But read at the end of the review the ugly part. The bad: when i arrived the water in the shower was not hot, it was warm but not hot. Went to the reception to report they said they will take care of it. An hour later still the same problem, went again to the reception and they sent someon up to look into it. A plumber came to our room and said that the temperature is normal and that the water is set to 45C. I asked if he can do anything about it and sais that he will add a few more degrees. That fixed the problem. The normal hot water temperature is about 50-55C. The food at The Forrest restaurant is just plain, nothing extraordinary with a kind of a boring menu but decent prices. The ugly: After i finished breakfast i wanted to sip my coffee outside of the restaurant in front of the main entrance where the is a glass smoking place with a great view to the forrest. I was told i was not allowed to take the coffee cup outside the restaurant without any kind of explenation, i asked if they have any kind of plastic cup or something in which i can take my coffee outside, but i was answered with a sharp NO. I left without my coffe and went to the lobby bar. There i asked if i can buy a coffee and take it outside and they said yes. So basically you cannot take the coffee that is included in the breakfast which ia not free. It's included in the minimum of 150euros you pay for one night. So to conclude i like the place, is beautiful but a bit overpriced and you simply cannot have rude staff in a 4 star hotel, more you should allow the costumers to take a glass outside especially the smokers. This happens in almost every restaurant since the no smoking inside, people take their drinks outside for a smoke. Please review this policy.

food ok but definitely overpriced, dirty rooms, beautiful scenery and surrounding, horrible, rude and arrogant staff. when you sell a night for 650 Ron, the minimum is to have trained staff, it felt like staff from Macdonald's or kfc not staff from a 4 stars. some management issue I suppose.

Used to be better, services starting to lack but most affected are the rooms. At this price point, for a 4 stars hotel it is just unacceptable to have a rusted heating radiator and damaged sealing panels wrongfully installed.

Overall a nice experience. We stayed for 2 nights in a smaller room without balcony and back view. I noticed small things that shouldn’t be in a 4* hotel. I was expecting a better mattress in such hotel but it was quite unconfortable, I could feel the wires inside it and it had a feeling of water bed. If the other person would move there would be waves waking you up. Another thing was the tv which was fixed on a side wall of the bed making it hard for the person on that side to watch confortably. The last bad thing I noticed was how dirty the courtains were at the bottom (sign that they were not raised during floor cleaning).

5 stars for the staff and the service provided. The view is not something wow and the hotel is ok. Be careful on the bears, it is something that is going around there.

One of the best vacations in Romania. Great location, delicious food, excellent service! Suggestion: change the towels and bathrobes! they are bad....

Unsere Junior Suite war sehr schön eingerichtet und geräumig. Für unser Baby war ein kleines Bett liebevoll vorbereitet. Es war angenehm ruhig. Im Bad gab es kleine Annehmlichkeiten. Alles wäre rundum gelungen, hätte das Bett nicht geknarzt und hätte nicht die Preisliste für die Minibar gefehlt (die leider trotz mehrfacher Rückfrage nicht gebracht wurde). Das angeschlossene Spa ist wunderschön und eine absolute Empfehlung. Weniger gut ist das Restaurant "FORK", welches ich aber gesondert bewertet habe und hier nicht berücksichtigen möchte.

Pros: - Smooth check-in / check-out - Comfortable bed - Breakfast variety Cons: - Bathroom is a bit outdated - Room was not that clean - People leaving their stuff on a chair in the spa the entire day, even if they were out for lunch. So there were times when you had no place to sit. Also at times the spa was too crowded, you would have to wait in line to use the saunas/other facilities.

Clean and nice rooms. Good food . Great spa area (indoor pools, outdoor pools, indoor jacuzzi, outdoor jacuzzi, multiple saunas) and amazing surroundings. Plenty bears near the road.

Excellent place to relax and enjoy a great time be it with your family or friends or with your significant other. Packing several pools and saunas in a pitoresque setting in the mountains it is a beautiful setting to relax and unwind. Great food, great music and very friendly staff, especially the girls from the spa Kincso and Leda who spoiled us with a great massage every day of our stay. One of the best places in Romania to spend a winter holiday.

We stayed in the Eco tiny house, and it was delightful. The breakfast was excellent, and the staff were commendable. Special mentions to Alexandru and Andreea, who provided the best Deep Tissue massages my partner and I have ever experienced.

Es war eine sehr positive Überraschung. Alles geräumig, sauber, elegant. Das Hotel bietet Ausflüge in die Umgebung an. Die macht man mit ganz tollen Elektroautos. Man langweilt sich hier nicht. Natürlich ist es nicht billig. Wenn man es sich leisten kann, kann man hier einen wunderschönen Urlaub verbringen.

Great place for family vacation! The hotel as well as the apartments are clean; comfortable beds as well; if you are a family of four when u book ask for apartment in the villa - more space The apartments some have kitchen as well and a little nook area! The are two pools; one outdoors and one indoor; There is sauna, gym, jacuzzi Very clean the entire resort

One of my favorite places in the country. I usually go for a superior room for a more spacious balcony. The SPA is very clean and it offers a good variety of experiences. The staff is lovely and the food is very good and cheaper than what you would expect from hotel restaurant (3 restaurant options). They are building a separate space for families with kids next to the main hotel which will allow for more relaxing dinners for couples. Also, regarding the SPA that gets some bad reviews, the spa is fine, some guests make the place unconfortable (they drop a towl on a sunbed and leave), they let kids run through the no-kids allowed areas, and they bring phones and food to places were this is not allowed despite staff asking nicely to respect the rules.

Amazing place to stay and enjoy nature and a spa. The food in both restaurants is amazing though we found the Gastopub to be the best for service and quality. Great hikes and the volcano lakes are great to hike. If you are in the area I would definitely recommend staying here.

Hotel and rooms are very clean. They ask you every morning if you want your room to be cleaned or not. The food is delicious, breakfast is good, is quite the same every morning, but you can choose different things every day( for example, there are boiled eggs, scramble, benedict and fried). We had also dinner in Forest restaurant twice and everything was great. We also had lunch twice in Gastrolab restaurant and it was absolutely delicious. The prices are correct. The spa is small for the size of the hotel, but if the weather is nice you can go outside on the beautiful trails in the forest around the hotel and go to spa after 8pm when it is not crowded and you can enjoy all the facilities. The views and the location are very nice.

Pros: rooms, food(great variety of traditional food at GastroLab and hotel restaurant, breakfast is also fresh and you find plenty of stuff to start the day as good as possible), spa variety(jacuzzi, saunas, different types of pools) Cons: the spa schedule is different from the one in the reservation confirmation (in our case it stated that is closes at 10PM but we were invited to leave the spa at 9PM), gym was supposed to be opened at 8AM, but at 8:15 the door was still locked.

Pro: The hotel is located in a beautiful location sorrounded by trees. The interior is cossy and nicely decorated. Spa area was ok with a nice forest view, the spring water very pleasant. Breakfast was diverse and good. Con: The matress are terribly cheap, they should put more accent on good sleep. Some surfaces had dust, the windows not cleaned well. The spa area can get a bit crowded. I think it should be put more accent also on the ventilation because the air inside is very humid and it gets unconfortable to stay there after a while. The menu at the restaurants is very poor in options and quite expensive, and the service fee of 10% is mandatory which should be optional.

The rooms are new, clean and spacious. The beds are very good and are king sized. The food from restaurant is very good, breakfast beeing amazing. The price is a little more expensive comparing with others hotels which look the same and the cause might be the SPA. The problem si that the SPA is not a relaxing area, beeing over crowded, with water all over the floors, kids yelling and without enough sun beds or chairs. So the SPA became a ,,strand''=communal bath. The solution might be to give acces for the guests to SPA between specific hours, with reservation before, so that the SPA will not receive more guests than its normal capacity and people could relax there. Because of the the SPA problem, I would not go there to pay so much for a room. The money is not worth it

We had a nice experience in here starting with the location which is great, on top of the mountain with an amazing view. The rooms were pretty nice and clean and the staff is very kind and helpful. The spa area is nicely designed with inside and outside pools, but it can get a little too overcrowded. At the spa area there are people who left their towels on sunbeds the entire day but they are not around. The breakfast was really good and you had a lot of things to chose from and they also have good food at Gastrolab restaurant. A not that nice thing is that the restaurants have a 10% tip already included in the final check but nobody let you know about this. At Gastrolab the service was bad.

Secluded area, but you have everything you need. Two restaurants to choose from, both with some great dishes. The spa is not too crowded in the early hours, and everything feels clean. The staff is friendly and helfpul.

Oh well, I have to admit that this was the best vacation I had so far. Only if I would have more than 5 stars for this place... Everything is awesome, the superior room was great, cosy and clean, with a nice view over the forest. The food was very tasty (except the burger and the schnitzel) - you can see in photos the most tastier dish I've eaten here (Taglioni with shrimps and vegetables). Even though I've read some 1-star reviews regarding this topic, I want to say that the staff was very nice and well-mannered (although I think they work a lot, during the day and during the night also). The spa is a 5 star spa...I've never been so relaxed in vacation until now.

Such a great experience. We booked a standard double room and we couldn't ask for more ! We had an amazing window wall facing the forest in front of the bed...so just imagine how waking up with such a view in the morning is like. The SPA was great as well. Lots of options to choose from.

Location: 5.0 Facilities: 5.0 Food: 3.0 The location is really amazing being placed within the woods and the view with all the fir trees is outstanding especially during the winter. The facilities included within the price were several pool types, jacuzzi, sauna, ping-pong and tennis or adventure park (last two during summer). They also make short trips to a nearby cave, to the lake Saint Ana, etc. (the only vulcanic lake in Center and Eastern Europe), with a price around 50€. Regarding food, there are 3 important mentions to make: 1. Breakfast overall is quite good including fruits and coffee. 2. For dinner or launch (at GastroLab at least) the food is coming really fast (less than 20 minutes whatever we ordered). 3. The food is pretty bad, I tried several types of food and two of them I couldn't even finish. Overall, is a 4.5 for me, but I will round it up to a 5. :) If food would be better, it will be easily a 5.

Everyting was super OK! Staff very friendly and profi. Excellent food! The room very clean (daily cleaning). The location is excellent, in the middle of the nature! Very comforting!