Hotel Pension und BergHaus Rauschenstein

We only spent one night in the hiking cabin and have absolutely no complaints. The cabin is nicely furnished, the bed comfortable, and the bathroom very clean. The heating worked well, and our room even had a balcony. One of our three guests also used the sauna and came back absolutely thrilled. There are only two major and one minor drawback: the Hotel Helvetia, where breakfast and reception are located, is quite a distance from the cabin. However, you shouldn't miss the breakfast: there's a large buffet with plenty of vegan options. You can even make your own fresh smoothie. Also, Wi-Fi is only available in the common areas and not in the rooms, meaning there's no Wi-Fi at all in the guesthouse. Compared to other accommodations on the Malerweg (Painters' Way), though, this is quite a lot of internet access. The staff is very friendly, and the service is professional. Both Schmilka and the surrounding area are well worth seeing, and the guest card is certainly a great way to get around the region. The breakfast is a great deal, though. Overall highly recommended, and in our opinion the price-performance ratio is also right.

Hiking the Painters' Way and stayed overnight here. The room under the roof is very small. Watching the news from bed in the evening is impossible; the TV's position in front of the window is unsuitable. Wi-Fi? No such luck, which is a real shame, as I would have liked to upload some photos from today. Check-in is about 500 meters to the reception at the Hotel Helvetia, where I picked up my key and walked back. The next morning, I went back down to the Elbe River to the hotel. Breakfast, however, was really good. Overall, the rather high price is not justified by the comfort level of the accommodation.

Unfortunately, all the bathroom heaters in the entire house were turned off. So we had to shower and get dressed in the cold. We had pre-booked a room that allowed us to bring our dog and had to pay €25 for the dog (which is actually okay). However, our room was so small that we didn't have enough space to put our suitcase down and let the dog sleep at the same time. That was very disappointing. The breakfast, however, was absolutely fantastic.