We decided to add 2 nights on the Bodensee to our Bavaria/Black Forest vacation prior to checking in to our week's timeshare exchange in Oberstaufen. We were able to book Gasthof zum Baren via email. Booking was easy, responses were quick, and all questions cheerfully answered. Rates were very reasonable, I thought. We had room #14, which was on the top floor and it was everything we expected from the Tripadvisor reviews, and more.

To walk into the hotel is like walking into history, but updated with modern amenities - like a bathroom - LOL. The room was scrupulously clean and there was absolutely no evidence of mold in the bathroom, or anywhere else in the hotel that I experienced. (I mention this because we later stayed at another historic hotel in Rudesheim that had a mold smell in the dining room and a really bad mold problem in our room.)

The owner and chef took our bags and carried them to our room immediately upon our arrival. Then he parked our car in the hotel's garage for us at a reasonable per day rate, which was very convenient because you don't need a car to see Meersburg.

We had dinner that first night at one of the hotel restaurant's outside tables because the October evening was warm enough to do so. I had read about the famous lamb dish, but it was not being offered when we were there. No matter. The meal was substantial and enjoyable and, afterwards, we strolled Meersburg's streets.

The weekend we were there there was a big wine festival being held in town, so there was considerable street noise on Saturday night from the revelers until the wee hours. I have trouble sleeping under normal conditions and this is exacerbated during travel, and especially from the jet lag the first few nights of a vacation. I also need to sleep with a window open. The hotel is on a main town square, so everything combined to keep me awake until 4 am. Still, I give the hotel 4 out of 5 stars for sleep quality as the bed was very comfortable (I get backaches from beds that are not right), the windows opened, and there were no smells in the room. In retrospect, even that night of relative sleeplessness holds itself out as a memory that makes me smile: as the night wore on, the voices of the drunken revelers began to become less loud and less frequent. At 4 AM, I thought how strange it was that I hadn't heard any glass break all night! Well, less than a minute later, someone broke a bottle or a glass out on the sidewalk. I had to laugh. But it was as if that determined the end of the noise, as I was finally able to drift off to sleep. Until the nearby clock tower tolled at 6 or 7 - LOL. (The clocks don't toll from midnight to 6, if I remember correctly.)

My husband didn't seem to have a problem sleeping through most of the night, although he said in the morning that he had heard the noise at times. (I tried sleeping with the window closed, but I'm too claustrophobic.)

I would definitely book the Gasthof zum Baren again, and I would book room #14 again, but probably not the weekend of the big wine festival. Or, I would take a sleeping pill. It's just too charming to pass up, the price is right, the host makes you feel right at home, and I really love to hear bell towers chime out the hours.