Grand Hotel Toplice

“Wonderful Hotel Right on the Lake.”

The hotel is exactly like the name…one of the old style Grand Hotels Overall, I liked our stay at the hotel, and would stay there again, but the rooms, and particularly the bathroom, needs updating and better plan of where they put furniture, and the tub, sink etc in the bathroom. We were told th… more

The hotel is exactly like the name…one of the old style Grand Hotels Overall, I liked our stay at the hotel, and would stay there again, but the rooms, and particularly the bathroom, needs updating and better plan of where they put furniture, and the tub, sink etc in the bathroom. We were told that they are doing a remodel in 2025 so hopefully they will note some of my concerns, below. The common areas are old-fashioned but gorgeous. Each one was huge. The room they use for breakfast looks like it used to be their grand ballroom. Its huge, with big picture windows looking out on the lake . Wonderful having breakfast there . if the weather was a bit warmer there were tables on the patio just outside the room. Speaking of breakfast, the breakfast buffet was one of the best I have ever had, and I have been to hundreds of hotels throughout the world. Tables and tables of just about anything you could think of. One table had a dozen kinds of cakes, pies, parfaits and other goodies. And if you did not find enough on the buffet, order an omelet or waffles (like I did) or other items (no extra charge). My problem was , too many things I wanted to try or eat! Service at the hotel was top notch everywhere. Front desk , valet, breakfast etc. Parking at the hotel was easy. They have spaces on the street and a parking area. Valet or self park. Of course there is a fee The hotel is easy to get to as its right on the main road that goes around the lake. The walking path around the lake goes right by the hotel so easy to get to Short walk to restaurants and the town (5 min) . We walked around the lake in about 1.5 hours. And walked to castle, although that does involve walking up the hill. The rooms are old fashioned and dated. Definitely needs a remodel, which we were told was going to happen in 2025. We did not have dinner at the restaurant as it was only a set (expensive) menu, and nothing appealed to us. But, we found a lovely place down the street that we liked so much we ate there both nights. Bed was comfortable, and our room, one of the deluxe ones, was large, with a terrace on the lake, but several shortcomings that I hope they will fix in the remodel There was no desk to work from. I ended up using the coffee table. Plugs were hit so so, and not in good locations. .Fortunately I bring an extension cord with me. There was in my view space to put a desk, just they had to rethink the other furniture (some of which was for show not use). The big shortcoming was the bathroom. And this was a result of trying to make things look nice, vs function. In particular the lack of real shelving and the bathtub/shower design While the bathroom is a good size, the layout, with a tub, bidet, toilet, small sink, and no counterspace (but there was a small glass shelves above the toilet, intended mostly for the free toiletries, not so much for practical use for you to put your stuff on (see the photos of the bathroom on their website). These small narrow shelves were filled with all kinds of soaps and shampoos…that you could move and then use for most of your stuff.…but make sure the toilet cover is down as your stuff will fall in because of how small the shelves are) could have been done a lot better. The sink is small so no real room to put anything on it. The shower that is part of the bathtub was dangerous and frankly not unusable. It’s a very narrow bathtub (due to its fancy design with wide lips and sloping sides) making it impossible to stand other than sideways in the center of the tub, and even then due to the narrowness and how the sides slope, I did not feel safe. And the location of the comb shower is in the middle of the tub, but the glass partition to keep the water from going all over the bathroom is at the narrower back of the tub. Since the back of the tub slopes, you stand more center in the tub…so the water sprays all over (unfortunately for me, that meant getting the towels all wet). Could really improve the layout instead of going for the look Wifi was fine. Website photos fairly represent the hotel and rooms. Overall, I would highly recommend staying at this hotel, mainly because of its location right on the lake, and its absolutely gorgeous, and numerous, common areas (library, sitting area, lobby, bar, breakfast area etc), which I hope they don’t change in the remodel. Just update and redesign the rooms and bathrooms.

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“Lovely, but not 5 star.”

The lakeside location and views from our room were outstanding, and we were lucky to have one of the recently renovated rooms, which was lovely, but still had a few faults. The shutter doors could not be secured open and will be subject to paint damage unless rectified. No phone had yet been inst… more

The lakeside location and views from our room were outstanding, and we were lucky to have one of the recently renovated rooms, which was lovely, but still had a few faults. The shutter doors could not be secured open and will be subject to paint damage unless rectified. No phone had yet been installed in our room, which caused considerable inconvenience and the room should not have been made available without it. When we checked in, there was no porter to take our luggage and we had to take it in ourselves, not a a good start. The breakfast was very good but service in the breakfast room was sub-standard and the staff need a lot of training to be of a 5 star standard. I'm told that a large percentage of hotels in Slovenia are state owned, which may explain why standards are low. I would not class this hotel as 5 star, as lovely as it is, because of the faults outlined above.

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“Stunning but not 5* service”

We paid for the most expensive room view, which was an incredible view of the lake and mountains. The feel of the hotel is lovely, with an old-fashioned vibe which we loved. The views from the lounge and restaurant are breath-taking. We loved our stay here and the area is absolutely gorgeous. W… more

We paid for the most expensive room view, which was an incredible view of the lake and mountains. The feel of the hotel is lovely, with an old-fashioned vibe which we loved. The views from the lounge and restaurant are breath-taking. We loved our stay here and the area is absolutely gorgeous. We had a great time on the rowing boats which you can use for free from the hotel. It has a private, quiet feel to the area by the lake as you have a private hotel lake-side area, which is great as the lake can get very busy. However, I must say that it felt like we really had just paid for the view and not for a 5* service. The receptionist who checked us in was amazing but the service for the rest of the trip was poor. Breakfast listed as 7am - 11am, we went at 10.30am and there was no one in sight, barely anything out, and when we finally found someone by walking to the kitchen they had to get food back out for us. Don't advertise as until 11am if you don't serve until 11am! Very unprofessional. We also couldn't get in to the Michelin Star restaurant so had dinner at their other hotel restaurant. We paid 200 euros for a tasting menu between two of us with drinks and it was some of the poorest food I have eaten. The first course was a piece dry stale bread with a dry puff pastry. I would not recommend eating in this side of the restaurant, I can only assume the other restaurant is better. The restaurant setting is gorgeous and it's a shame that the food did not reflect this. Also please be aware that the Thermal Pool is not warm - it's a cold plunge type pool. It's beautiful and I appreciate the excellent health benefits, but just want to make people aware that "Thermal" in Slovenia is anything over 20 degrees I believe, whereas in the UK a Thermal pool would indicate a warm, relaxing pool. The look, feel and views from the hotel are incredible but we did not receive a 5* service to reflect the hotel ratings and the food was terribly disappointing.

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“What choice do I have?”

Wonderful Soviet-age hotel - but, as we are no longer in the Soviet age, it might be nice for the hotel to bring the hotel into modernity. The location is right on the water's edge and excellent and the rooms thus have enviable views, but boy oh boy is everything - and I mean everything - dated. Th… more

Wonderful Soviet-age hotel - but, as we are no longer in the Soviet age, it might be nice for the hotel to bring the hotel into modernity. The location is right on the water's edge and excellent and the rooms thus have enviable views, but boy oh boy is everything - and I mean everything - dated. The furniture is old, the floors are dated, the bathrooms seem from the 1970s (though sizable), the wood in the rooms screams rec-room, etc. A very large investment is needed to bring this hotel up to what it could be. Sadly there isn't much competition in Lake Bled, so this hotel perhaps hasn't yet felt the need to update.

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