First of all, the people that run the operation are really nice. We had some brief issues in the beginning to make sure we got the reservation - they didn't answer one of our emails on the same day and I had trouble making contact by phone, but ultimately no big issue. It was important that they took very seriously our request for quietest room possible - we got room 9, if my memory serves me right.

It's a bit of an unusual place, as it's too small to be resort, too big to be charming hotel. And the tendency is for the hotel to grow, as they were pretty close to finishing a very large new building (with 110 rooms - like 5 times the current size) that will focus on events and is a little bit further away from the original set of more charming buildings.

There is a nice leisure area and, a rarity, a pretty good lap pool. I expect it'll be better if we return, as a new spa was being finished and the dry sauna would also go into operation. The wet sauna is adequate & too bad there's only 1 ofuro bath.

Our rate included breakfast - which is adequate, though it starts late considering it`s a country hotel (I believe it was at around 8 a.m.) - and lunch, which is especially good on Saturday's - excellent feijoada! Dinner options were not too bad, though service the 1st of 2 nights was lacking a bit. One night it was all you can eat pasta, the other, pizza night. The caipirinha took forever the 1st night, but was delicious.

Now the pet-peeve issues: there was not enough reading lights in the room (but that's a common problem). We found the overall maintenance a little bit rundown - hotel is not so old, but if they don't pay attention, it'll look very old soon. The room phone didn't work too well either, though since there's no room service, it wasn't such a big issue. There is no "no smoking" area in the dinner restaurant, but fortunately there are less and less smokers around.

But ultimately what I will recall is that we felt out of the city not 1 hour away from home, enjoying an ofuro to the sound of cows, watching goats march by as we played snooker.

Last, but not least, don't forget to ask for a free golf cart tour of the grounds - that was fun! And ask for them to show you the way to a nature walk, which is a bit hidden near the new spa area.