Balcony

Reviews of The Outdoor Retreat

2.5 out of 5
The Outdoor Retreat
112 Rämslistraße, Oberaegeri, ZG

Reviews

8.0

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 26 out of 60 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 17 out of 60 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 10 out of 60 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 5 out of 60 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 60 reviews" "

8.0/10

Cleanliness

7.8/10

Staff & service

8.4/10

Amenities

8.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Not so happy....Thought I paid for the whole house
The location was amazing, even though the road to the house is up the hill, on top of a mountain and very narrow. 2 cars cannot pass each other when the road is at 4000 ft elevation. The listing was wrong. Since travelling with family and kids, I wanted the whole house and that's how I reserved it. 3-days before my check-in, I was informed that the house is shared and I will have to share even the bathroom with other people. This was not what I paid for. So basically I paid for the whole house, but I ended up getting a single room and shared kitchen/bathroom. House was clean, undoubtedly. It has a country setup So outside wasn't clean much. Parking was an issue for me. The actual parking where I was told to park, was very narrow for my vehicle (mid-sized SUV) and there were no barriers around it (since it was in the high mountain). I was scared to park there at dark, thinking that if I miss the spot, I will fall straight 5000 ft down. So I decided to park in front of the garage (which I was told not to park).
Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2023

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
A local experience
The photos are accurate and we stayed in the room on the top floor, facing the lake with an amazing view and a spacious terrace. Fair warning to those who are sensitive to noises...there is a pond right below so you can hear the flowing water all night long and might be woken by ducks. The large room was ready with sufficient mattresses but not the right amount of pillows nor duvets. The property owner is helpful, contactable and responsive.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022
Response from The Outdoor Retreat on 7 Sept 2022
Like in a 5 star hotel we have a pillow menu. But over and above that we have a duvet menu. This is located right outside the room. If this is not obvious the guests can simply ask. This allows guests to choose exactly the type of pillows they want and the size and thickness of duvets. Ideally there should not be any in the room itself so the guests can make the best choice for themselves. Hearing trickling water like on a traditional farm is generally considered a luxury. The water originates from our very own spring water well which is available straight from the tab.

10/10 Excellent

Arlin

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The hosts were angels. I staid here right after my grandpa's passing and I felt at home in a strange land.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2021

10/10 Excellent

Matthew

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Claire

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Amazing but basic place to stay with jaw dropping views! Fantastic value.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2021

10/10 Excellent

Geralyn

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in May 2021
Response from Manager on 16 Jun 2021
Thank you. You are welcome back to our Swiss location or to visit our Iceland location for the first time.

6/10 Okay

Thippawan

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2020

10/10 Excellent

Mohammed

Travelled with family, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2020

10/10 Excellent

Steven

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Thank you!
Our stay was great. Very relaxing and picturesque. We did some hiking and some local style eating. Siggy made great recommendations for places to see. The town and surrounding area are quiet which is what we were looking for. We recommend.
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2019

10/10 Excellent

Abdolreza

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019

10/10 Excellent

Libby, London

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
You can't find a more beautiful view from the house! Especially if you're in the room on the top floor. It's a down to earth environment so don't expect luxury. But for us, it was luxury being so close to the mountains, seeing the view at all times, and getting fresh eggs/milk in the mornings. Siggi is a lovely host, we highly recommend staying here!
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service, room comfort
Cheap for switzerland
Nice view, off the beaten path, clean except mould in window frames, didn't feel to welcome and controlled
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It is not a hotel, it is a room in a flat with shared bathroom, although there was no body in the flat during our stay. Too many instruction stickers about doing this and do not do that! We did not see the owner and felt like big brother house! Strong smell from next door cow barn! Nice view from the living room balcony.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

basir

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
extremely perfect
fantastic hotel, the owner friendly nice guy
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service
Great view but...
The place has a great view. However, it is right next to a barn. It smells sooo bad. There are so many flies around and inside the house. The beds are comfortable. The owner is a neat freak. She wants you to wipe everything you use. Not as comfortable as you would like to get in a hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2018

6/10 Okay

Amit, San Francisco, USA

Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Not what we expected!!
This is Not a hotel but more like a BNB and you will be sharing the unit with owner. The location is away from any restaurants or eating places so you have to take your food. Owner lets you use his kitchen but charges for cooking supplies. Our room wasn't even ready when we arrived and not clean. After our long train ride from Paris we wanted something ready a Where we can relax. Although owner wants no shoes in house, the floor in our room was dusty. The rooms don't have actual beds but mattresses that are on floor. More like a dorm setup. So if you are picky about privacy then don't go here. I won't recommend this place for more then 1 night. Owner does want everything paid right there and then when you use or buy anything. Seemed little odd to me as if I will leave without paying 50c for each egg. He also wants payment upfront and in Cash. I didn't expect to pay cash as it was not mentioned by Expedia or in the add. Owner is generally a nice guy and somewhat helpful. The views from the property is amazing and that is the best part of this property to experience country living in Switzerland. Too many flies in and around property which is a big nuisance while sleeping or being outside. This is because of a cow farm right across property. Neighbors don't seem very happy to see foreigners or other color people in their area. No one even said Hi or acknowledged even when we smiled and greeted. Pay little more and get a nicer hotel.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2017

8/10 Good

Thejaswi M

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good
Location was good. Good a cottage. Had little issues with hot water. Other than that it was good.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
friendly people and great views
big rooms, flexible. great views and relaxing place.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
easy and comfortable
very friendly host!

10/10 Excellent

Rose Carmen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Best for adventure
It was amazing and the host really did his best to give us free ride going to the train station.. Amazing!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

Adriaan

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Sabine

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2022

4/10 Poor

Pascal

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022

10/10 Excellent

Nicklas

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022

8/10 Good

Bruno

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Eine Unterkunft mit allem, was es braucht und vor allem mit einer sehr schönen Aussicht vom Balkon aus.
Stayed 1 night in May 2022

8/10 Good

Waltraud

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Die Offenheit des Gastgebers ist angenehm bemerkenswert. Das Haus liegt weit weg vom schrecklichen Strassenlärm am See und der Blick über den See und in die Berge birgt magische Kräfte!! Die Einrichtung ist sehr ansprechend und geschmackvoll. Die vielen Benutzeranweisungen verunsichern ein wenig. Man hat unterschwellig das Gefühl, stets etwas falsch machen zu können. Im Ganzen dennoch: Sehr empfehlenswert!!!!
Stayed 2 nights in May 2022

8/10 Good

Laurent

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Die Lage ist sehr schön
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2021

10/10 Excellent

Carmen

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Danke
Es war wunderschön! Ein ganz herzlicher Gastgeber mit open mind.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2021

6/10 Okay

Kathrin

Disliked: Cleanliness
Aussicht Super, Bett Tiptop 👍 WC war sehr schmutzig, wir mussten zuerst putzen ❗️ Allgemeine Sauberkeit ❗️ Wir wollten Getränke in den Kühlschrank stellen… ein penetranter Gestank vom Käse kam uns entgegen
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2021
Response from The Outdoor Retreat Switzerland and Iceland on 9 Oct 2021
This review highlights the fact that The Outdoor Retreat is not for everyone. It is in a home setting where you may have a private or shared room depending on what you book, but where the rest of the apartment (or house as in the case of our Icelandic property) is likely to be shared. Most people give us 5 stars, we guess because of the fantastic views and because people really feel like being at home. For example when we tell them they are welcome to use the kitchen if they clean up after themselves they get the impression we really mean it. So a shared house or apartment (including 1.5 toilets) is not everybody's cup of tea especially as we simply do not have the resources to clean everything everytime. We do however have an exceptionally high standard of hygiene, with a color system of cloths to avoid cross contamination which we have been using all the time but we have not seen in other guesthouses or hotels, the only place where we have seen such a system is in a hospital. Just as our place does not suit everyone, everyone does not suit our place because we do not want to develop a tough skin and superficial attitude. We would like to continue to welcome everyone from the heart. But in order to do so the guests that do come need to realize and appreciate both the magic and shortcomings of our place. Guests should be able to communicate with us directly in time if there is anything that makes them uncomfortable instead of finding an outlet for their frustration on the Internet which not only hurts us but may put you off from staying at our much appreciated place in the Swiss mountains or Iceland. A case in point is the story of Allium ursinum (a home made bärlauch/wild garlic pickle). As this is a home, guests actually share the fridge between themselves and with us. Allium ursinum pickle is not fungi waiting to attack their food but simply something that has a strong sweet garlic smell. So in this case simple communication in time would have clarified the situation. We could have even moved the pickle temporarily to another fridge which we had unplugged for environmental reasons. But to slander our fridge on the Internet is not something we would expect. We would like to use this opportunity to ask you as a potential guest, if you are the type of guest we are looking for and if our place is indeed the type of place you are looking for. We would very much like to see more guests that care for the environment and who would like to help us with our charitable projects. 🤗

10/10 Excellent

Sonja

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Es war sehr schön, sauberkeit und das Schlafzimmer die Aussicht einfach alles super wir gehen sehr gerne wieder dort hin
Aussicht von der Terrasse
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
not worth the money
Cannot recommend this accommodation, even though it was refurbished: payment only over Paypal or deposited cash, no credit-card on site, no debit-card, no Twint, not even a bank transfer (landlord not present) Our room: window facing cow stable (smelly, noisy), packed with matrasses bot no memory-foam as stated in the description, very little space on desk, had to replace the bedsheets for the next persons. Shared kitchen: no towels, only four chairs, terrible smell in the fridge (leading us to avoid using it), nice appliances, not very clean. dozens of instructions everywhere – we felt dumb and not very welcome. not worth 160.- for one night
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in May 2021

8/10 Good

Christian

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2020

10/10 Excellent

Michèle

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2020

8/10 Good

Bianca, Münchwilen / AG / Schweiz

Travelled with family, Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Es ist eine private Wohung; in dieser hat man ein separates Zimmer. Das Badezimmer und die Küche teilt man mit dem Vermieter selbst. Gleich nebenan dem Haus befindet sich ein Bauernhof. Daher ist es für Allergiker, die auf Stroh / Heu allergisch reagieren, nicht so geeignet. Ich habe es selber gespürt und wir sind leider abends schon wieder abgereist. Der Vermieter war sehr nett und auch die Wohnung ist sehr sauber und schön.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2020

8/10 Good

Bettyblue, Vully

Travelled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness
Perdu dans la montagne Vue imprenable Odeurs, bruits et mouches de la ferme en face pas top.
Stayed 5 nights in Jul 2020

10/10 Excellent

Federico, Roma

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Una casa molto accogliente ( non sembra un ostello!) dove tutto è in ordine e in armonia con l'ambiente circostante. Gerhardt è semplicemente meraviglioso, il suo spirito ospitale unito alla lunga esperienza nella ristorazione ha fatto sì che il mio soggiorno (e quello delle persone in casa) sia stato memorabile. Ci ha addirittura preparato la cena gratis, e restando poi a chiacchierare davanti a del buon vino (offerto anche quello). La vista sul lago Ageri è meravigliosa, e dalla terrazza si può godere dell'alba grazie all'ampia visuale. Da provare!!
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019

8/10 Good

Zsolt

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Business traveller, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Der Preis ist in Oberägeri unschlagbar, da die anderen Übernachtungsmöglichkeit 100+ sind.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Sehr Haus
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Frederic

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Séjour très agréable.
Hôte très accueillant. Séjour très agréable. Chambre spacieuse et confortable.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Yannick

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful
Perfect location, beautiful view, nice welcome
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Vue magnifique, paisible, des canards dans le jardin. La region est belle. Unecrencontre interressante avec le logeur
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019