New Years Eve in a Teutonic Knights Castle, Poland

New Year party in Ryn Castle! What an impressive venue. This place is super cool. A 14th century, former Teutonic Knights Castle, that is decorated to retain its castle feel while still being a hotel. Ryn, the town where the hotel is, it is in the north east, lake district in Poland. Directly north is Kalingrad, Russia, and a bit further to the east is Lithuania.

General

I liked this venue a lot especially the effort they put into the program. The area, Masuria Lake District, I would say is a bit abandoned in winter, but in summer it must come alive, you can see this with the little harbours on the lakes and the restaurants scattered around.

To compensate for what would otherwise be abandoned throughout winter, the hotel organises various themed breaks, with really interesting entertainment for adults and kids alike. They have the Christmas package, the New Years Package, and the Three Kings Package. This only covering the period we were there, check out the events and programme they offer, they are doing a great job in keeping the hotel booked and popular year round. It was a great find to have had the privilege to stay here!

The Hotel

Ryn Castle Hotel is a really great break and holiday. Set in the small town of Ryn, arriving here you will find there is plenty of parking, which they do charge you for. Unloading the car and arriving at the entrance you stand before the beautiful building. To the left is an out house and to the right is what looks like a chapel, in front is a big decorated Christmas tree, and if you arrive after dark, lights and stars are projected on the walls of the castle. We arrived when a fair amount of snow had fallen, adding to the already stunning atmospheric scene.

You approach the entrance and in a spooky ghost like manner the old solid wooden double doors swing open, to a red carpeted corridor, flanked by lanterns, and in the distance a similar set of closed doors.

Continue on and through, you have reached reception. In the 60 seconds you have been inside the castle walls, you feel you are in a castle not a hotel. The reception is big and well staffed, however they do thrive at this time of year on their themed weekends with set arrival and departure dates and times, so you may have a small wait – simply because everyone is arriving.

We checked in and were given a room in the main castle building, on the top floor. Good room or floor? No idea, we only had this one! To get to it, we passed down another corridor on the right, following it all the way to the end and the lift. The lift is a bit frustrating, its very slow and questionable if it arrives.

The room, it wasn’t fit for a king. But it was decent. Old and dated, as you would expect in a castle, not a modern or business like style. But not stone fire places with candle chandeliers either. We had a room for 3 people, so there was a double bed and bedroom, a hallway with wardrobe for storage, the second room with our sons single bed and a desk with some basic coffee making facilities, and of course the private bathroom coming off of the hallway. A reasonable size, everyone had their own room, as well as storage space, with all you needed, well heated. Tiny rooftop windows looking out to the castle grounds and lake in the distance. In fairness, yes there is a view, but its a castle, the windows are small and set back, to get the view you must make the effort to look out.

Right, guess what? If this is the first blog you’ve read you have no idea, if you are a regular reader you will know what's coming now!

Yeap, we flew with our Christmas tree and cards. Within minutes of being in the room, the tree was unpacked, set up and plugged in. Christmas cards arranged and stuck on these ancient walls. And in a grand ceremony, we had the light switch on, to the sounds of our famous Christmas and New Years hit play list - Now it is home for the few days!

The hotel has a lot of facilities. That chapel I told you about, the one on the right as you approach the entrance. Turns out it is a spa and wellness building, you can enter from the outside, but there is also a tunnel taking you there from within the main castle building, passing the portraits of the Grand Masters of the Order, as you go through it. Over two floors, the top floor is the pool, with the stain glass windows offering natural light, a couple of jacuzzies and a basic sauna. It is accessible to all, including kids, before 6pm, and after 6 it’s adults only.

The pool in this chapel building was a bit fresh. For me I would have it a bit warmer, personal taste though.

Going downstairs in the building, passing this huge pendulum thing, is the more exclusive wellness area, this is only over 18s. This was cool! They have a multitude of saunas and steam rooms with different themes, the stand-out one for me was the bread room. A sauna done like a bread bakery from days gone by, with some beds inside to relax, and the aroma of freshly baked bread!

The other thing I really like (the idea of, I wasn't brave enough to try), was the snow shower, does what it says on the tin. Showers you in snow from the outside. There are 6 or more wellness rooms in here to try, plus the glass sauna upstairs over looking the pool.

All the pools and wellness areas are free, there is no extra charge, towels and robes are provided.

For treatments and the floatation rooms, you will need to book and pay an additional fee for. It is all there though, so do treat yourself – start the ear as you mean to go on right!

Next I want to tell you about the other wet area, that kids are welcome at, at all hours.

The pool on the ground floor within the castle’s main building. For us it was just at the bottom of our elevator. This area is sooooo amazing!

There are boy and girl changing rooms, although I imagine most will simply change in their rooms and arrive in their robes. Passing through the changing rooms, to the vaults, or the dungeons. It looks really nice. A long pool with different coves off to the side, some chairs and lounges around the sides, all in a brick vaulted room. A picture is include but it may not do it as much justice as it should.

Kids do not get kicked out of here at 6, the water is warm, there are a couple of fountains. A sauna over looking the pool and a steam room, with a jacuzzi and kids paddling pool.

While the chapel was a great idea and concept for a pool, and the wellness there is incredible, the vaulted pool was hands down my favourite. Walking in here you get the wow factor, trust me.

Worth pointing out, that despite it being a family hotel and kids friendly, the pools were never packed, it was not too crazy in there, not like a holiday in Tenerife for example where you cant get a minutes peace.

If you remember I mentioned two out buildings. Well the other one, not the chapel, the one off to the left as you arrive (obviously the right as you leave). No tunnel to this one, you will have to brave the elements to get here. Inside this building is a bowling alley with 3 or 4 lanes. It is not free, but you are on holiday, why not? There is a bar at the back, and you can enjoy a few games of ten pin bowling.

Part of the program that you book if you stay, there will be a bowling competition included, you can join in – if you find the time! We found it a busy schedule.

Upstairs in this building is where they dish out the fancy dress costumes for the fancy dress Knights Banquet on New Years Day, bit more on that later.

Back into the main castle building, down the corridor between the hotel reception and the lift to our room, is a function room. For our stay this was the kids club. Which is fully staffed with friendly and nice animators. Almost 24/7 throughout your stay the kids club is in full swing, not always in this room, but they do provide a program. There is no real toys or infrastructure for the kids such as soft play, and for me looking in on it a couple of times I was not that impressed – our sons feedback “this is the best kids club I have been too”. What can I say, he enjoyed it, and that's all that counts.

It’s a full program for the kids, even with food, on the 31st and New Year celebration, all age groups are put together – it seems to work.

I think that covers the hotel facilities. The reception has some souvenirs and wellness products for sale, the court yard is now contained with a roof and this is the banqueting/dining room for all the guests and off to the side here is the bar area. If you go downstairs they have the wine cellar and club or disco with cigar and smoking room.

Tours of the castle and its history are organised throughout your stay. I am actually a history boff and would have liked this to be honest, but, the negative, and possibly the only negative on this trip. Things are very Polish. The tours are not in English and only in Polish. I do not even think there were other foreigners staying here. The majority, if not 99% exclusively, are domestic, Polish. I am sure many or most of their guests are returners year on year, and I can see why, its really cool.

Poland's best kept secret? Possibly!

Around

Ryn is in the Polish lake district, the Masuri Lake Region, while in summer it must be very nice, it is rather a harsh environment in winter. The towns and villages seemed quite deserted. Around here in winter there is not loads to do. And this is why the hotel put on such a full program. The package you have during a stay keeps you more than busy, so much so I would have preferred an extra day added on the package to allow for doing the little bit there is outside.

Ryn the town has a couple of lakes, both short walks from the castle, the smaller of the two with a sort of private path from the castle to it, the bigger of the two you access by leaving through the castle front door, the big imposing main front entrance. You can do some small walks here, take in some views, build a snowman, have a snowball fight, but that's about it. When we stayed there were no bars or restaurants open.

What you have to remember is – it is winter in the coldest region in Poland. As long as it is clear, not windy or snowing, you can be outside for a bit, but extensive sight seeing, even driving around is a little difficult.

There is one popular tourist site near by. I will let you know about it, as it is here, and could be of interest to some of you, certainly history fans like myself, however on the other hand, it isn’t the most festive and jolly tourist attraction to add to your Christmas and New Years photo collection.

The Wolfs Lair or Wilczy Szaniec in Polish. Hitler and the High Commands Eastern Front Headquarters bunker complex. The movie Valkyrie with Tom Cruise – this is where it happened, in real life. It was not a location where anything bad per se occurred. Plans were made, and drawn up, meetings took place and orders were given. In all honesty from an engineering and construction point of view, it is impressive. It is a camp or base of huge, above ground, near impossible to destroy bunkers.

Its about 25km from the castle, but you should allow about an hour to drive there. You will pass a small (and closed) aircraft museum of planes and other hardware used in WW2, and arrive at the gates of the camp. You pay the entrance, receive an audio guide, park and then it is a self guided tour unless you booked something. Surprisingly towards the end of my trip there, plenty of coaches were showing up, I am guessing day trips from Warsaw, I do not know who else would be in the area in such numbers.

You are going to be outside, and a self guided tour is going to take about 1.5 hours to 2 hours, dress appropriately. My girlfriend and son didn’t join me on this, I think both would have found it interesting for the first 5 minutes then would have quickly been bored, my son lacking the maturity to understand what it was, and my girlfriend lacking the interest or desire to walk around a frozen forest for 90 minutes. Keep it in mind if it is a suitable morning or afternoon activity for all the family – maybe the hotel pool or the bowling competition is more appealing?

Back onto the family trip and all you will be able to do together, you may have luck and see some nature while in the lake region. You cannot plan it and must be lucky, we saw a moose on our drive up, and was hoping to see another where we could stop and take a picture of it...no chance!

Finally, something practical. The supermarket – Dino, located at Mazurska 1B, it’s well stocked, with long opening hours and easy parking, like a conventional super market – why I say this and point it out? It is hard to imagine when you arrive or pass through all these deserted towns with not a soul in sight, that in fact the area is inhabited and people are using the shop.

The Hotel Program

I told you at the start, the hotel plan themed breaks to keep them busy during what would otherwise be quiet periods. We were there for the New Year or the Silvester package break. If you choose to visit and stay, you will be kept busy.

Everyone staying here is on the package, as far as I understand there is not an option to opt out of the package and stay ‘ala carte’. Our New Years Eve package was for 3 nights - 30 December to 2 January. On arrival and check in, you will be handed some vouchers and cards, a program and details of all on offer plus the hotel/caste facilities.

For us, we arrived later than planned, the difference between the on paper driving times of 3 hours compared to actual driving times at 5 hours. After we visited the supermarket and then parking at the hotel, it was early evening. Checking in, setting up our tree, partially unpacking – it was dinner time for us.

The first dinner, you are shown to your table. The dining room is in a huge covered room, which looks like a banqueting hall, as every castle should have, I understand in reality, this was the court yard, and for practical purposes, covered to be used as a banqueting hall for the hotel. The tables seat around 10 people, you will be put with others if you are a smaller group size. For the first dinner, it is buffet style, all included in the package, drinks are bought as you need, from the adjoining bar. The food is good, help yourself, it is plentiful. On arrival, if like us, your first night will be mainly a familiarisation evening, you walk around and see all on offer in the hotel, you find your place in the dining room, make the hotel room homely etc. We still managed to go over to the bowling alley and have an hour or so playing, before we called it a day and went to bed

The morning after arrival, we had a relaxed start, we are on holiday of course. Buffet breakfast in the dining room, coffee and juices all included. A nice breakfast with a mix of cooked/hot savoury and sweet dishes, cereals, pastries and the cold meats and cheese, local Polish breakfast specialities and more generic and familiar items. After breakfast, I took the decision that I would go to the Wolfs Lair, I couldn’t be so close and not visit. My family didn’t fancy going and decided to slowly get ready and visit the local lakes for a walk. And after my few hours away, I had the pleasure to join them as they showed me what they had seen and could help my son make a snowman. With our afternoon spent exploring the pools and wellness areas – remember you checked in on the 30th – Today is New Years Eve, the big and main event!

Pampering packages are available, you could book, hair, make up and wellness treatments, we didn’t but it is on offer. Through-out the day tours of the castle are on offer. They didn’t have an English language one sadly which is something I hope they improve on, it was all in Polish.

The main event. New Years Eve!

The Gala dinner kicks off at around 7, with a champagne reception, and slowly taking position and seats. Worth pointing out here, the children policy. The hotel has an expectation that the evening celebration is for adults only, the kids have their own dinner and program with the kids club downstairs. The kids club is in Polish, but the animators speak English, and kids are far better at understanding languages than us adults. We did keep our son with us, it may have been partially frowned upon but it is what it is. Our son took his own decision to visit the kids club, and actually loved it, we allowed him to come up as he liked and did collect him so we could see in the 1st January together as a family. It worked and was very good.

The gala dinner is formal. For our stay it was a James Bond, Casino Royal theme, with many of the guests wearing black suits and ties, personally I was smartly dressed but more festive and casual than a full black tie outfit. It was acceptable I would say, I wasn’t out of place.

The table is decorated per the theme of that year, on the table is an ice bucket with a couple of bottles of local vodka (which is premium stuff), water, juice, and the staff will go around filling up the wine glasses, with white or red as you like. Dinner is served for this evening with 3 or 4 courses, dessert is a buffet dessert, music is played and the evening passes with various performers entertaining you, from ladies dancing, to cocktail making professionals providing a show. There is the photo booth/360 picture, all eventually culminating into alive band and disco – everything is included in the package price, there is no additional charges.

Sometime between starters and mains, the cocktail bar is opened. This is in the back corner, the cocktails are about 5 to 10 types to choose from, whisky sour, gin tonic, Aperol spritz, the usual favourites – again all included and no charge.

There is a count down and congratulations/toast at the strike of midnight, but I felt after such an elaborate celebration, more could have been done at midnight.

The kids club is running the entire time, with their own games, entertainment and food, you collect them as you like. And they are safe here to roam and find you as they like. Our son had a lot of fun and even though he is an only child, so had no siblings there, he was keen to stay with the children, making new friends and having his own party.

At some point, we had to call it a night, limited by a 6 year olds tiredness and perhaps more an issue mum and dad being exhausted and a tad ‘jolly’. The party showed no sign of slowing and we left between 1 and 2 in the morning. Worth pointing out, where our room was at least, the noise didn’t affect or bother us, we heard nothing of the revelry after we left the party.

New Years Day and On

Slowly easing into New Years Day, we made our way to breakfast, some revellers didn’t look like they had gone to bed yet, some revellers looked slightly worse for wear and then you had those who felt it was a fashion show, with everything in between. I liked it. I liked the people all having fun and enjoying themselves, everyone was friendly and nice.

Breakfast was very similar to the previous morning, slightly more fancy with salmon and other more expensive delicacies. After getting ready, we had a swim and a look around the lakes locally. Part of the package includes going to the lake and a restaurant they arrange to open for the hotel guests. On the terrace on the lake you are provided a stick and bread dough, and you are ready to cook what they call dragons tail, bread wrapped around the stick. You cook it over the bonfires which are raging. Drinks such as children’s warm sirop and gluhwein for the adults are available, some meat and sauces with the dragons tail bread. The restaurant is opened so you can go inside and be warm and have use of the toilets, but you can also eat outside and around the warm bonfire.

During the day time on the 1 January there is the bowling competition to join and take part in if you wish.

The dinner on New Years Day was brilliant. On the 31st you are encouraged to go into the building with the bowling alley and up the stairs, where the hotel provide fancy dress costumes, knights and maidens, catering for all shapes, sizes and ages. The kids are kitted out, like the adults, you help yourself and wear what you like, if you like. There is no charge, it is again included in the package. You will need to exchange one of the vouchers you were giving at check in, to have the costume. The return is all based on honesty and leaving the outfit in your room at check out. This was extremely well organised and an amazing idea, I appreciated this very much.

We did know this fancy dress dinner was happening and I travelled with my plastic sword to add to the effect. (Flying with a Christmas tree and plastic knights’ swords did reduce the space for warm clothes!)

The 1st of January dinner, is a Knights Banquet. Almost all the crowd do dress up, only a few abstaining. This dinner, the kids are expected to join in and take part and not be downstairs. A family is chosen to be the Royals of the castle and eat at the head table, presiding over the feast. Buffet style dinner all included, drinks bought as you need and want (condition permitting). With a full evening of entertainment, 2 knights frequently appearing for photos, and allowing the kids to get close and see them, they are sword fighting and jousting to find the champion Knight over the evening. Medieval dancing is taught and performed for all those participating. A compere throughout the evening explaining what’s happening, what’s coming up etc.

Probably one of the best 1 January dinners and itineraries I have had. My son, remains incredibly proud and found it a highlight when the ‘king’ made him and the other children Knights, with the full formal ceremony, you know? Kneeling and the sword on the shoulder “arise Sir Janus”. He strongly believes he is a real Knight, the picture remains up in our house, and now he has a big interest whenever we visit other places with Knights, coats of arms and chivalry.

Is this not enough for you? Well...You will need to check the opening times, but throughout the stay you may find the disco, wine and smoking bars open, these are below the dining room. We didn’t have room in our bellies or energy in the tank to continue any longer than we did each evening. With the Knights banquet, it did bring the end of the stay, and an amazing New Year celebration, one of which I highly recommend.

The 2nd January you still get breakfast of course, generally the same as the other mornings. You will need to pack up and prepare for check out. You can still use the pool and wellness for a bit before having to leave, but you may have no access to your room, so utilise the changing rooms. There are also one or two castle tours still going on for those wanting one before leaving.

We had breakfast, packed and checked out, grabbing a souvenir magnet as a keepsake from our great time. We were flying on the 2nd to return home, so needed to return to Warsaw. I allocated a 5 hour drive and took the route via the city Elk. It worked out well. We had time to stop in Warsaw city for dinner before needing to drop the car off and check in.

Conclusion

This New Year I thought was really quite special. I don't know if anyone outside of Poland knows about it, it is in such a special building, this Teutonic Knights Castle, which has been repurposed as a hotel so tastefully and well retaining its castle feel. The program put on is well thought out, perfectly executed and thoroughly entertaining. The wellness and wet areas are visually stunning and special. And the value for money, despite not being cheap, is really good. The only real negative is it is a challenging journey to get here with no public transport options, and as time goes on, if they become stricter on children being at the gala dinner rather than the kids club – for children not wishing to be at the kids club, it could become difficult. For us, just to point out, our son could be there and they didn’t really mind.

For an unusual, full and special New Year Program, I suggest you have a look and consider giving this a go.

Basics

• Our Childs Age: 6-7

• Suitable for: All Ages

• Cost estimates:

  • 3 nights new year package with all dinners, breakfasts, and entertainment included. Pools and wellness available, costumes provided. Drinks on 31st and lunch on the 1st. Plus, the kids entertainment, it came to, for the 3 of us, 2 adults and a 6 year old – 1,000 Euro.

  • [Rental] Car needed

Getting There

It is not the easiest to get to. We flew to Warsaw, other options could be Gdansk, 2-3 hours drive, or Vilnius in Lithuania at about 4 hours ish away and a border crossing. Flying into Warsaw is very easy and you can get to Warsaw from everywhere. You can combine the trip with a few days at the markets which you can read about on this site, either before or after your New Years Break (Warsaw markets go into January).

It is not possible to get to Ryn by public transport, at least not easily. You will need to hire a car. Roughly speaking it is 250km from Warsaw to Ryn, and a theoretical 3 hour drive. And here is the massive BUT...

The drive can be lets say ‘spicey’. We drove, leaving Warsaw and it was all relatively good, then the GPS took us off the motorway and it was taking us through the forest. Driving along minor or B roads, it is a straight journey through the woods to Ryn. The problem is the time of year and road conditions. Ryn is in the coldest part of Poland, I don't think we were there on a particularly cold year, probably a relatively average one in terms of weather. The days before we set off on the journey the snow had arrived. The roads we were driving on had probably 10-30cm of snow, it was compacted, but it did make the drive difficult. You had to go slowly and carefully; I was driving at around 30-40km/h.

If you end up driving in these conditions, just take it easy, don't get carried away going too fast. Keep the speed slow, keep distance between cars in front, and leave plenty of time, leaving early and in daylight hours – you will be fine.

Do hire a decent car and perhaps not the cheapest one, and make sure the family have car seats if needed. Do not be scared or put off, just be cautious and respectful of the conditions. You definitely want to give this New Year a go, as its amazing, I am only being honest about the drive.

Perhaps a better alternative, one avoiding B roads through the forest and where you can complete the journey virtually entirely on main roads, which are typically cleared and maintained. You may need to trick the GPS to take you this way. We took this route back and it was fine. Go via Elk. A main city in this eastern region, Warsaw – Elk – Ryn and vice versa to get back. It’s motorway for almost all the trip, it is a ‘dog-leg’ route, however you stay on main roads. If you are at all nervous about the drive, consider taking the route via Elk, in my opinion the journey time is plus or minus the same, and certainly quicker if the weather turns.

Although Warsaw to Ryn is 250km and in theory a 3 hours drive. In winter, I would consider 5 hours realistically.

Car hire

At Warsaw airport there are some really cheap car hire options. Firstly, don't go for the cheapest model, go for something where you feel a bit secure in driving. Better to be safe, you will be on motorways and country forest roads in perhaps harsh weather conditions. Secondly, consider going with a known and ‘big’ rental company. The cheaper ones which offer amazing deals, yes, they are cheap, but then they expect you to wash the car inside and out, or they charge you criminally high prices for them to perform this. The fuel tanks are not always full, so you are left with guessing the fuel needed to partially fill it to the same level on return etc, the car may not be ready for collection immediately meaning you wait. I went with a cheaper car company, and they did rent me an amazing car, a top end luxury car, which was, I would say, very cheap. My experience with them was ok, but still I wouldn’t go with them again, the requirement to clean the car and stress of finding a cleaning station, doesn’t for me, make the saving worth it.

Contact

Janus.Skyr-Gobbler@NewYearsEveWithKids.com

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