Resort Hotel Jodquellenhof Alpamare - Bad Tolz, Germany 

Jodquellenhof is a spa hotel attached to the spa and water park complex, Alpamare. The spa offers massages and other spa-like therapies as well as a whole load of slides and entertainment for kids and kidults alike. There is also plenty of opportunity to just lounge around in 36 degrees centigrade pools and saunas. The people visiting include couples, families and pensioners because there is plenty for everyone. We used to live in Munich and we went to Alpamare quite a few times, so we knew exactly what to expect with the water park and its slides. The website seemed to indicate that they had upgraded their slides since we last visited eight years ago and they sure had! As for the hotel, the week we stayed was just before Fasching (carnival), so I figure that is why it was so busy and we had to get a slightly more expensive room (hence the balcony). the welcome was superb though and we were shown to our room by the receptionist, who explained how we could access Alpamare and pointed out the robes, towels, shoulder bag and shoes that we could use to saunter down to the pool. just wandering past the Alpamare reception in a robe is a bit surreal. Considering that we paid EUR 208 for the room and it includes breakfast for two and entrance to the water park on the day of arrival and of departure, it was a fantastic deal. We decided to eat out at a local pub, which was OK, but when we got back, we got dessert and some wine in the restaurant. Both were outstanding and good value for the quality. Breakfast was easily the best I have had and the staff were once again superb. Imagine anything you could for breakfast and they'll have it. Perhaps the only exception is that they have not gone for a chef cooking omelettes, which popular in good American hotels. But given the quality of the other things on offer, not having yet another lardy American breakfast is hardly a loss! The pool complex is open from 7am for guests and whilst this might seem like a very early start, lounging in a hot pool for an hour before breakfast is a fantastic way to start the day. Our stay at Jodquellenhof was a great way to end our week-long holiday in Munich and we will most definitely go back next time we visit friends in our old home city.

This was our third visit to the Hotel Jodquellenhof, and the second time we stayed in the Villa Adelheid apartments. The Villa Adelheid is an elegant converted Victorian villa in upmarket Bavarian style, with three two-bedroomed apartments, and a simple lawned garden which has a direct gate into the Alpamare water park. It's so gorgeous, that frankly I'd like to buy it and live there forever. We stayed in the middle apartment. The hotel obviously remembered us, as initially the apartment was set up as if our children hadn't aged at all since our last visit in 2002, with a cot ready for the youngest. This Dorian Gray moment was poignant for us, but amused our youngest greatly (he is now five). The apartment is quiet, comfortable, and sleeps 4-6, and is pleasingly decorated, in a welcoming hotel style reminiscent of Laura Ashley, although personally I have always been baffled at the ongoing Bavarian attraction to tastefully painted woodchip wallpaper. You are provided with piles of fluffy towels, bathrobes and slippers (even for children), for use in the apartment as well as the water park, and these are changed as often as you like, which is useful, as they get soggy with all the swimming. There is satellite TV with lots of channels, including kids' cartoons. We successfully plugged our portable DVD player into it, which extended the scope of babysitter-free evening entertainment for us (although the hotel can find you a babysitter if you want to go out - we have used an English speaking one several times and found her to be kind but not exactly ). The apartment kitchen is well-equipped, and it is possible to cook anything from a simple breakfast to a full-on dinner, should you so wish. It's a good idea to stock up at the large Tengelmann supermarket on the outskirts of town at the beginning of the holiday if you can (cash only, no conventional debit or credit cards, and total bemusement if you point out that Germans are the only people to have Eurocheque cards these days). However it is also possible to eat in the hotel restaurant, where they offer the usual extensive hotel breakfast buffet of masses of things you would and wouldn't normally consider for breakfast, as well as a range of themed dinners or a la carte candlelight opportunities. I like eating in there, as the food's sophisticated and the service is attentive. They spoil the children rotten, but the restaurant is not overrun with the little blighters, as there seem to be many couples and singles in there without children as well. In that sense it reminds me of Italy. We went in the water park most days, but as it was the busiest part of the summer holidays, we tried to get in when it opened, usually leaving after lunch. You are all given a token to wear on your wrist (including children) and you can charge anything you want from the (excellent) Bel Mare cafe in the water park onto this token (fortunately the children's token is capped at 15 euros, so they can't have totally unlimited ice cream). So you don't have to carry money around. The water park is immaculately clean and the garden are well kept. I won't go on and on about the water park here, as you can probably learn more from the website, but suffice it to say that the water is iodine enriched and very good for you. After a week, your skin changes and reverts to its baby state. It's a bit like a family spa, including family saunas, family steam rooms, family iodine breathing rooms, and so on. None of the that banning under 16s from the good bits, like in the UK with its nutty insurance culture. There is a super duper 1970s-style indoor beach, and many water slides for different levels of bravery. For couples, there is a retreat in the original spa hall, where you can lie on sunbeds and get away from the rabble. The park is suitable for all ages and I was particularly pleased to see the teenagers gainfully employed learning to surf in the indoor surf school, as they never had great stuff like that when I was a teenager. The town of Bad Toelz is Bavarian picture perfect with lovely walks and good shopping opportunities, as well as bars and restaurants. There is a particularly good toyshop my children love, and a super old fashioned hat shop where they can design hat trims to order for you - something you don't see often these days. We bought a couple of sophisticated sunhats. Both town bookshops sell English books. Generally the town is pretty self-contained. However you are 20 minutes from the ski/walking resort of Lenggries, and an hour from Munich on the train if you fancy some big city experiences.