Review of Goldener Hirsch, by Jamie Dunford Wood

Another addition to Starwood's Luxury Collection, the Goldener Hirsch will hopefully be here in another 500 years as it was 500 years ago, when the Luxury Collection will be long gone. This is an ancient (1407) Austrian coaching inn in the traditional sense which has been preserved and upgraded for the modern traveler. It has more the feel of a hostelry or an inn than a hotel in the modern sense. The staff all wear traditional dress, antlers adorn the massive stone walls, and many of the rooms are adorned with priceless medieval hand-painted and hand-crafted furniture. The ground floor area is a succession of vaulted spaces up and down stone flagged steps - a small, intimate galleried bar where you might find the cream of Salzburg society; a simple and unpretentious restaurant - deceptively simple, because the cuisine is award-winning. The stone floors are carpeted in a hunting green carpet, a colour scheme which continues upstairs in the rooms, alongside simple floor rugs. The hotel is right in the heart of the old town in the pedestrianised district, and has the feeling of being a real social hub.

The rooms

The rooms have low ceilings, pretty but simple central lampshades (no chandeliers here), and rustic furnishings, with landscape oils on the walls and sculpted pine bedheads. The deluxes and suites have Austrian 15th/16thC antique furniture. Colourways are in pale yellow and pink, with pink marble bathrooms. Most deluxes and some of the standard 'classic' rooms have separate showers. Of the 69 rooms and suites, just 9 are the standard classics - a ratio which undoubtedly adds to the contented 'feelgood' factor evident thoughout the whole hotel. Prices rise sharply during the musical festivals of April and late July/August, but at other times it is, relatively, a bargain. For real romance, come for New Year when Salzburg is blanketed in snow.