Carlton Square Hotel

A very good hotel in a quiet location

True, the Carlton Square isn't close to the train station (a 15 minute walk). But it is close to the southern part of downtown: just a one minute walk to a computer store, a supermarket, a health food store. Just start walking north and you'll be over the first canal, and there begins the shopping paradise of pedestrian-only streets. A great town for walking!

About breakfast. If you don't want to pay about $20 for breakfast, just stay out of the dining room and let them know when you check out. (Your bill will automatically include the breakfast unless you tell them you didn't eat any!) Just for your peace of mind, iron out this detail when you first arrive. They're very easty to get along with at the front desk.

Unique Quality: The hotel is directly on the north side of a huge park, which extends about a kilometer to the south. The park has a children's petting zoo, etc. A nice place to wander, or to sit down amid large trees and smell the flowers.

The hotel has extra firm beds, good service and two DSL computers in its business center just off the lobby.

Although the hotel advertises itself as air condidtioned, and there are AC controls and vents in the room, the system cools very, very little and very, very slowly. But if it's not American-style AC, it still has more AC than 98 percent of European hotels.

A minor irritation is the little man who bangs on your door every day and barges in to see if you have used anything from the minibar. This was confusing because they never gave me a key in either of the two times I stayed in this hotel (the refrigerator door is competley locked) Does this mean they think you're breaking the lock of the refrigerator door to get to the booze? (You can get a key to the minibar if you ask for one at the front desk.) The maids and the maid supervisors are very friendly.