Zabola Estate - Transylvania

Beautiful grounds, amazing rooms, beautiful nature, fresh air

The staff, the services at the restaurant, over-prized and lacking quality! The staff needs proper training and skills ( setting up breakfast tables while guests are still enjoying their dinner is unprofessional ) no follow up during the service to ask if we are happy with the choices, to replenish bread baskets etc For such a pretentious place you would expect better service! Staff looked tired, overworked and overall unhappy to be there and perform their duties! Tips were added automatically to the bill! It would be nice to have options and tips should be given according to guest‘s preference! The massage / the spa was incredible! Highly recommending the Iranian therapist! Best massage ever! Thank you ??

Gorgeous location! The staff have been top notch. Very helpful. And dooogs are pure therapy. Excellent breakfast!

The location, the entire domain, clean and pure nature.

The rooms have a lovely concept and the location is great, in the middle of nature. Nice bathrooms, suitable for a romantic getaway.

The service is extremely bad for a place like this. The staff never look at you, they literally don't care about having guests around. Zero politeness, it feels like you are bothering them. The food - another low point. Too expensive, a soup that we couldn't eat because it was probably made a few days before. The rooms didn't improve much from the last time.

Everything - beautiful rooms, lovely atmosphere, cleanliness, attention to details, amenities, politeness of the staff.

Would have loved a more varied menu. Also, it was odd that water was not included in the breakfast (especially since our understanding was that the property has its own drinking water source).

Location is amazing, the horses, the dogs and the vibe :) love it. Christmas and summer in same day.

The mattress and the pillows were terrible. We could not rest at night. The food was good.

We were here for the 3rd time in 3 years. We previously stayed in the main building and the machine house. This time we were in the saddle house. We were previously in both winter and summer time. Overall, the experience has been steadily declining and after this visit, I doubt we will return soon. The good:-large estate, well kempt-cute black dogs roaming freely on the esteate, still there-restaurant is decent-staff is mostly polite-horse rides are still pleasant-free sleighs for guests to use on the domain

The bad:Again, this comes from the comparison of our previous 2 times here.1) The breakfast was severly downgraded, from A La Carte experience to a buffet, and it is a cheap and bad buffet. Imagine paying 4-5 stars prices for a motel breakfast2) On one of the meals, the chicken was served raw in the middle for the kids menu. Had to return it3) The bar was a mess, didn't know the difference between espresso and flat white, poorly stocked, unfriendly4) no room service 5) our room, the saddlehouse, was riddled with problems. Faulty cheap caucets, the windows were in poor condition and wind was coming in the room (it was -19 degrees outside), many things were out of order or missing (no coffee machine in the room)6) the reception was clueless on the availability of certain services - the man in charge with horse rides was amuzed/irritated on the turists that kept showing up with false info from the reception that he had to turn down / readjust to his schedule7) they keep adding buildings/accomodations to the estate, which look out of place in the historicals etting, and add to the feeling of quantity over quality

It’s like being in a fairy tale- cozy, food is traditional, horse riding activity, everything is antique and authentic, I would highlight out of everything the bathroom and the fireplace. Nevertheless I would highlight Levente, he is professional and most of all he is very kind. He made our stay flawless.

The following morning as we woke up the room was pretty cold. No matter which room you pay for, breakfast is not included.

Cosy room with fireplace

The waiter (the one with earrings) was rude; he barely greeted us when we entered the restaurant. He did not bring the menu to the table even after 10 minutes of waiting and I had to go and ask him. His answer was: do you have a reservation? - the restaurant was empty. Food is very expensive and not diverse at all.Poor breakfast and you are not informed that coffee or juice is not included - you just pay it at checkout. A lot of spider webs in every corner. If you are not careful with the fireplace and wood gets near the edge, smoke will come into the room and it will not be a pleasure to sleep.

Relaxing, great views, great rooms. Ideal for couples.The food is also very tasty

The domain is BEAUTIFUL and the dogs were lovely as they accompanied us during most of our walks. Food was delicious, top marks for a matching price. Staff was polite. Staying overnight in the rooms of the new castle has a certain vibe, with squeaky floors and antique (or very nice reproduction) furniture. The spa is small but it feels cozy and the entire wellness area is well organized. Probably even nicer during the summer, as there is a deck with forest view.

I will assume this was an isolated incident but I have to evaluate our actual experience; everybody else seemed to have been free from such incidents. One week before arriving we received a “free upgrade”; upon arriving the upgraded room was cold — the heating either did not work, or was inadequate for the room size. After 6h of continuous heating, the temperature rose from 15 to 17 degrees which is too cold for comfort, let alone sleeping. The staff were responsive when we asked for solutions, we settled for a downgrade to the smallest room (of two proposed alternatives) and agreed to a compensation between this room and the one we originally booked. The staff were responsive but the facts are: the solution had to come from us, and the situation was extremely unpleasant because we had to spend half of our first day warming up a very cold room, then finding solutions and walking to and from the reception building several times until we agreed upon the solution. All this time the room that we specifically picked and booked two months (!) in advance was in use by other guests. Technical problems or not, it is the responsibility of the host to make sure the room is in order before handing out the keys to the guests, and this unfortunately was not our experience. Even more so when the guests’ choice is overridden by internal decisions one week prior to arrival.

We enjoyed very much the “live at a castle” experience and the most attractive things for us was the fireplace. We adored to make the fire, hear the crackling noise and talk and laugh near it.The room was super spacious, very tidy and had everything that we needed for our stay.For sure we will be coming back, either during the summer or again during the winter, but with snow hopefully

Nothing that we can think of

The landscape and the friendly and good stuffBreakfast good but no drinks included that you have to pay…a coffee should be included…the dogs friendly and smart that take you to a walking in the wood and you feel safe…the air it is fresh and everything smells during winter very beautiful, like you are to your grandparents at the country. The music it is exactly what should be during all day in the lobby, restaurant etc. Those who choose the music have good taste.

Vintage is a thing but some things should be improved, like the mattress should be vacuumed, shower should be cleaned, and in a room with a stove should be wood for heating. YouDon’t have options for food and the food it is not tasty and bit expensive for what it is.

Nice place to relax and recharge your batteries. The rooms are big and clean. The services are exceptional.

While hiking around the propriety some dogs outside the propriety were a little bit aggressive.

The location is amazing!! We had a great time exploring the grounds with the black labs. We also really enjoyed the bear watching! The room setup was great - the fireplace and freestanding bath were perfect for our winter getaway.

Unfortunately, the hotel has some quirks to work out. One of the shower heads and the coffee machine broke in our room, but we were told that they couldn't be fixed on the day. The bed wasn't that comfy (it had some sort of rubber mattress protector that made it either too hot or too cold). We also had a little cockroach visit our room (we understand that spiders are to be expected, but this was a bit unsavoury). The restaurant selection was limited and there is little veggie food. All in all, we enjoyed our stay - but we feel like the estate needs to iron out some of these details and find a better balance between paid and included amenities (we'd have happily paid more to have breakfast included).

I do like the location and the overall vibe and I appreciate the upgrade that they offered us. It s our 3 rd visit to Zabola Estate.

The food menu had only few options and they weren’t that tasty. The prices are too high for the quality that they offer. The waiters seem like they don’t really want to be there, no smile and 0 interaction with customers. Cleaning can be improved. There was a lost of dust on the floor,I noticed it when my toddler was playing on it. The cleaning ladies though are very nice and open to my suggestions.

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The breakfast buffet was not great. Three years ago you could choose from breakfast options and there would also be drinks included (coffee, tea etc). Now all drinks are for extra pay. One weird aspect is that on the last day of our stay there was no breakfast buffet and the same options as before were severely overpriced (double the price for the same meals as the other days of our stay).The floors in the room were squeaking.The shower head was not functioning properly. It should be changed.

Breakfasr, location and staff absolutely great.

I liked the room, the horse riding services for experienced riders and the spa

Food menu is a bit limitedthere were only two types of beer at the bar, they are not pet friendly (not even if you have a very small and good dog)