Well folks, it’s time for another ‘Accommodation Review’, and today I am reviewing the place my wife and I stayed when we visited Thredbo, an alpine town built for snow sports principally in the Snowy Mountains of southern New South Wales, below the peak of Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko.

It’s a town that without tourism wouldn’t exist I expect, sitting at apparently between 1365 and 1930 metres. The majority of the town is not above 1900 metres though, that is at the top of the chair lift where we started our hike to the top of Kosciuszko, a little under 300 metres higher again. The chairlift ride was only around 10-15 minutes, so I have to say if it increased our altitude by more than 500 metres, that’s pretty impressive and no wonder the hike BACK from the top of the chairlift to Thredbo was so difficult and steep!

We were there at the start of Autumn, in March this year, and in Thredbo the daytime high temperatures were around 14-17 degrees. The plus, and that’s Celsius, so not too cold and there was no snow anywhere to be seen. I investigated a couple of possibilities in terms of accommodation, but quickly settled on the Thredbo Alpine Hotel. It seemed to be the main place to stay, looked comfortable and was located a stone’s throw from the base of the chairlift, meaning we wouldn’t need to go far to get to it. Plenty of chalets and the like in Thredbo, some further up the hill opposite the chairlift and Kosciuszko, nothing particularly cheap, and I saw there were a few options on the website for the Thredbo Alpine Hotel.

I decided, as it was only week before we would be there as we took a while to decide whether we would go there on our return to Melbourne, so had left it a little until the last minute. I actually booked this on the phone – can’t remember the last time I did that! And for $260AUD we got a room for the night, breakfast and return chairlift pass for both of us – although we would only use it one way. A word of warning if you are there for hiking, the chairlift does stop at 430pm and on our way down it seemed we were the only people on the mountain!

But this is about the hotel! Actually it does feel very ‘alpine’ – if that’s a thing, the whole place is decked out with wooden walls, red carpet, you get the imagine inside that you would get if it was winter and dozens of people arrive at once with skis and huge puffy jackets. Rotating door lets you in, I guess that helps keep the cold out, and there’s a large outdoor area which wasn’t in use at the time but I guess despite the temperatures people hang out there for drinks.

The lobby did seem a little dated, there was a bar (closed) and a large space with a fire (in use!) and a grand piano. Everywhere the red carpet made it feel slightly dated I guess, but not in a bad way. The receptionists were helpful, we had to check in, dump our bags in our room and jump the chair lift as it had taken longer than planned to get there and we wanted to be back down to the hotel before dark. We managed it – with around half an hour to spare, luckily it was still daylight savings!

The room was a little small I guess. In the vlog that will appear in a few weeks (maybe 7!) I remark that it’s common in alpine settings for the rooms to be small, I presumed in my head that that was because of the lack of flat ground the buildings couldn’t take up a large space. But I’m not really sure that’s a thing now that I think about it because I’ve seen plenty of big rooms in alpine hotels before – in the movies!

Still, it was perfectly clean and well appointed. A TV with a few cable channels, small fridge, a bit of cupboard space and amenities such as a kettle and choice of hot beverages you can make for yourself. The bathroom had an excellent shower – pressure and heat! And a small bath. We had twin beds that were comfortable, it was warm overnight but not too warm that I had to adjust it, if I could (don’t know as I never tried!)

The best thing was the buffet breakfast, haven’t had one in ever so long and this served all my favourites – love a hot English style breakfast when I’m away from home with eggs, bacon, sausage etc, and I enjoyed it here, although I am proud I didn’t go bananas for it as I often do! Just one serve!

All in all, I think the price was perfectly reasonable. Considering the price of petrol in the town, not much under three bucks a litre – the highest I have EVER paid for it in Australia –  I can’t fault the price with its inclusions. I suspect Winter is more expensive. It was pretty much a hassle free stay, great location, plenty of common areas too and long corridors with red carpet and wooden finishes on the walls!

Andy’s Ratings –

Location: 4.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Value for Money: 3.5/5

Cleanliness: 3.5/5

Noise: 4/5

TOTAL: 19/25 (76/100)

Thanks for popping by! May the Journey Never End!