Let me preface this review by saying that my wife and I travel a lot, and have stayed in a range of hotels from high-end to not so high end.
If you want a ‘retreat’ to get away from it all then this is the place for you. It’s (reasonably) isolated, quiet and calming. There’s none of the buzz and noise of the bigger hotels. And the staff are welcoming, pleasant and helpful.
However, I have two less than positive comments. The first is that we would have expected robes, slippers and toiletries. The rooms are small and minimal, reflecting the ecological ethos of the hotel, but since they are also high cost, greater attention to in-room guest comfort would be reasonable.
The second is the restaurant. I’m happy with the idea of the chef not deciding what to cook until they know what’s available on the day. What I’m very unhappy with is not being told the menu when sitting down to dinner. Among other things, it can make wine choices challenging. As much as we tried, waiting staff would not tell us what we were about to eat.
Apart pushing guests into opting for the wine pairing, it smacks of arrogance on the part of the chef and hotel management (‘we know best and the customer doesn’t). Having said that the wine pairing (and sommelier) was good even if it makes the meal more expensive. Needless to say, we opted out of dinner for our remaining two nights and ate at local restaurants, which were good.
It’s a shame that this hotel, which was billed as the potential highlight of our Icelandic road trip, turned out not to be the case.