公園之星酒店(Park Star Hotel)

Park Star Hotel was way above my expectations. All guests, visitors and goods have to go through a very thorough security check. The public spaces are airy and very comfortable, as are the very clean rooms with balcony and hot showers. Wifi worked reliably. The well cared for garden with bird song and small shade houses give the property a tranquil atmosphere. The staff was very friendly, also going the extra mile. The quite simple, rather spartan breakfast with coffee served in paper cups in a rather bland atmosphere made me deduct one star. But Park Star Hotel was still my best experience in Afghanistan, I will certainly come back, when in Kabul.

We were unhappy at our first hotel (Safi) and checked out rooms here. Unfortunately, the rooms they showed us didn’t correspond to the rooms on offer when we checked in. So note that there is great variety in the rooms. Some are reasonably modern and some very tired. (The more expensive suites have cooking facilities for 7,000 AFD. But the 6,000 AFD junior suites are nicer looking. The twins cost 5,000 AFD. ) They tried to put us in a room with a double bed and unmade single bed. Finally, got the room pictured here. The bed appeared made but there were no sheets on the pillowcases and that had to be rectified. Although the bed sheets smelled clean, we were put off by lots of hairs we found on the sheets…Apart from that (admittedly a big problem), the room was clean. Although room layout and furniture were not optimum, the room was spacious and the air conditioning worked very well. WIFI worked very well too for Afghanistan. You are supposed to call room service for free water and tea but we were never able to get anyone on the phone trying all the obvious numbers. You also get free laundry. Just leave it out in the morning and get it back that afternoon. Very neat concept but seems standard at Kabul hotels if a certain standing. Security is really top notch at this hotel. Would we be back? No. But for one night it’s not a bad option.