The holiday preparations in our family usually start way in advance. My husband and I choose a destination half a year before we actually go and once that decision has been made I start booking our stays. Although we have stayed in great hotels in the past, these days we prefer apartments and holiday homes. This has several reasons. First of all, it is nice to have more than one room. We have a daughter and we like to stay up after her bedtime to spend some quality time as husband and wife. After the baby monitor is installed we can have a relaxing evening on the couch in each other’s company, accompanied by a good book, a glass of wine or beer and some snacks. Secondly, having a kitchen means we can eat whenever we like whatever we like. No restaurant opening times to consider that are past Eryn’s bedtime, no food scenes when they can’t make what Eryn eats. We don’t like exhausting evenings with an upset toddler and it’s her holiday too! So in general: apartments yes, hotels no.
These days there are two more things we look at when we are booking our stays. We noticed that it is nicer to stay somewhere quiet, preferable in a small town or even in the countryside. Also: I check whether there are plenty of places to go to on daytrips. This often results in stays between or in the vicinity of two or more tourist attractions. It’s a bonus when there’s a playground nearby.
The apartment of Arlette and Jos, called Gites Gleis-Bingen immediately struck my attention as it has everything we are always looking for. It is situated in Bettel, a small village surrounded by farmlands. Every day we enjoyed a stroll around the house, saying hello to the various types of cows and getting some nice fresh air. Bettel itself is very small. In the other direction you can walk towards a bridge and when you cross it you enter Germany. When you went a bit up the hill and turn right you will find a playground closed by a gate. It looks well taken care of and has a variety of playground equipment. Next to it two huge cows looked at us with curious faces.
Shortly after we arrived at the apartment Eryn discovered the Duplo and the old wooden toys that were hidden in one of the closets. From that moment on the place could do nothing wrong. Soon an entire villa as well as an airplane and several cars dominated the living room. The apartment has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room. It was nice and fresh as daily airing was requested. Outside it has a small terrace, quite a large garden to sit in and a playhouse with swing and slope. Because of the many plums that had fallen out of the trees we were careful for the many wasps it attracted. So we focused on the four sheep that came running towards the fence every time they saw us. The black one seemed to be the dominant one, but Eryn preferred one of the white ones. In the house there were many colorful paintings. These were all made by our friendly hostess Arlette. I quite liked them. We were very pleased with our temporary home as it was very child friendly with safety outlet plugs and not too many breakable decorations or toxic substances.
Bettel turned out to be ideal for daytrips: Vianden with its castle, the photo exhibition ‘The Family of Man’ (UNESCO) in Clervaux and Luxembourg City (also UNESCO) which turned out to be easy to reach by bus and train. Even Trier is not too far away when you have a car.
Because we were so happy in our quiet temporary home, I can definitely recommend it to you.
Here’s the site of Gites Gleis-Bingen.
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