This hotel has many happy memories for me, mainly due to its idyllic location in the countryside, on top of a hill in a former stately home (it would be pushing the boat out to call it a castle though, whatever their website suggests). There's a fine entrance through a ruined arch along a cobbled lane, where one reaches a pleasant courtyard area with wonderful dining - some great views over the Hesse hills from the tables here.

The entrance to the hotel is also quite atmospheric, with suits of armour and medieval weapons a plenty !

Where the accommodation falls down though is the quality of rooms, perhaps there are better ones available but ours was more of a guesthouse or motel standard, with very little effort or expense having gone into it. A small portable TV, no minibar, 1980's furniture, the atmosphere was hardly that of a castle !

Fortunately our room had a balcony with stunning views over the Sababurg Wildlife Park and adjacent hills, the park is one of the oldest zoos in Europe. No small cages with smelly animals on view here, just very large fields with various breeds of horses (tarpans, Przewalski horses, Exmoor ponies). Being May, many of the horses had just foaled and we spent hours sitting in the evening sun on the balcony, watching the horses roam the flower-filled fields (a pair of binoculars might be useful though).

A romantic experience in almost every way, just a shame about the standard of the rooms considering the price paid.

I suppose after a grueling flight from SFO to Frankfurt, and then a long drive to Sababurg, anything would have looked good. However, when we arrived at Dornroeschenschloss, my husband and I were unprepared for the beauty of the area, the loveliness of the castle and the warm and welcoming staff. Our room was perfect and overlooked the beautiful, lush fields (and the rain that night, which washed everything green, didn't hurt either). Dinner was absolutely wonderful and the setting (in a medieval style dining room), was perfect.

The next morning, we enjoyed watching the sheep wandering about the field and climbing up on the broken walls to lay in the sun. After a delicious breakfast, we toured the castle grounds, taking in the gardens and the fields beyond. Sadly, we were only there one night but how I wished we could have stayed longer ( ... next time).

If you travel the fairy tale road in Germany this is a place you wouldn't want to miss. On top of a hill overlooking woods and meadows the sleeping beauty castle hotel is the perfect place to spend your night. Excellent service and happy faces to look after you, excellent dinner served by a lady that might have served Aurora and her prince, nice ambience. It is true that rooms are not what you would expect at this castle - at least the standard rooms we had which were really in an annex adjacent to the castle. There are some touches of antique furniture but the beds and the wardrobes are 70's style. The bathrooms are simple but with nice touches of Crabtree and Evelyn toiletteries. The dining service as mentioned above is excellent. Nice food and service at reasonable prices. Breakfast was also very good with a variety to pick from plus tasteful cooked to order eggs. The animal reserve at the foot of the castle is worth a visit. Highlights of our visit 1. the feeling when night falls that you are really in fairy land which is increased by the impressively lighted bare trees (nice touch), 2. the splendid view from the rooms which make up for the room itself, 3. the gift of rosepetal marmalade jar we were given on our departure.

Location, location, location - this place has it in spades. Who can resist staying in a castle turret, after all? An idyllic setting, complete with an animal reserve down below. Plus - as the name suggests - they say it was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty, which is doubtless what attracts many of the visitors.

The good points? Its cleanliness. The comfortable bed. The good restaurant. The welcoming and personal service. Oh, and the fact that it's set in a spectacular castle.

Drawbacks? Turret rooms disappointingly ordinary and tired. TV inoperative (systemic problem, and presumably temporary). Bathroom absolutely tiny, and with an absurdly flawed and dangerous design which features a lavatory that is effectively co-located with a radiator. The elderly (or even the unfit) may wish to avoid the high turret rooms - assuming they survive the ascent, they risk being branded when they get there!

Overall, if I had been converting a beautiful ruin into a hotel, I would have made sure that the quality of the rooms matched that of the location. Sadly ours didn't.