Hotel Zur Goldenen Sonne in Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg is absolutely breathtaking, a fairytale city that transports you straight to the Middle Ages and is truly worth visiting. However, our stay at the Hotel Zur Goldene Sonne left us with mixed feelings.

For such a popular tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site, we were surprised at how unwelcoming it could feel once we stayed longer than just a day. If you’re only passing through to stroll around for a few hours, you’ll probably be fine. But if you plan to stay a few nights and don’t speak German, be prepared for a bumpy ride.

What shocked us most was the language barrier, not with locals, but with the hotel staff themselves. The reception personnel could not speak English (an international language) and, surprisingly, didn’t even seem fluent in German. Even when we showed translated messages, they didn’t seem to understand them. In a hotel, that’s simply unacceptable. Are guests really expected to learn a new language just because the staff isn’t willing or able to communicate?

Booking a second night was unnecessarily difficult, and both check-in and check-out took far too long because of communication issues. By the time we finally sorted things out, the frustration had already spoiled some of the magic of our trip.

Our advice: if you don’t speak German, or an Eastern European language, consider staying elsewhere. Quedlinburg is worth the visit, but this hotel made our stay more stressful than it should have been.