Sands on Golden Lake

We spent a night at Sands on Golden Lake on our way from Algonquin to Ottawa. The hotel is conveniently located on the main road so is perfect for a stopover. It also has free parking. The rooms were comfortable and had everything we needed. The hotel serves dinner but the restaurant closes early - which they did let us know about in advance of us arriving. They don't have an extensive menu but the food was very good. The lake is absolutely gorgeous. We didn't have much time there to explore and could probably have done with another night to relax at the lake.

Beautiful location, but, it's on the side of a fairly busy highway, so it can be quite noisy at times. I booked several months in advance and we were looking forward to staying here. The website and reviews were good. Earlier in the day, before we arrived, I had a message from the hotel, to stay that the restaurant would be closed that night, and offering a few cold meal options that they would put in the room fridge. We chose not to take those options, so can't comment on the food offered. We were allowed to check in early on arrival, which was good. However, we were told that breakfast would be "grab and go" throughout our stay. This was a surprise, as I'd anticipated getting a decent cooked breakfast from the restaurant, and had been given no prior notice otherwise. The "grab and go" consisted of fruit, yoghurt, porridge options, small muffins, toast (if you asked for it) and coffee. Not exactly extensive. On our second evening, the restaurant was open from 4-7. I went to check out the menu at 6:15. I was told that, as they'd had no customers, they would be closing soon. Feeling less than welcome, we chose to eat at the excellent Wilno Tavern, and had a great evening.

I never actually met a staff member as I had a late check in and just had to put my key in a basket the next morning.