"Over a century ago, some hale and hearty Austro-Hungarian doctors realized that the south-facing slope of South Tyrol's Plose mountain was a particularly pleasant place to be. They didn’t delay in planning a sturdy wooden sanatorium for ailing people to come and soak up the sunshine and pure spring water. But as maps were redrawn and national allegiances shifted, it was almost forgotten. Until 2000, when hill-walking hotelier Alois Hinteregger spotted the building’s moss-covered roof hidden among the conifers. Now under the direction of his son Stefan and his partner Teresa Unterthiner, it has become a slick spa hotel. What’s most striking is the freshness of the property, fitted out in pine and larch, glass and stone: the air has the lung-clearing quality of a sauna; every gaze is directed to the snow-ringed fangs of the surrounding peaks. The wellness side of things is also nature-focused, with massages using evergreen wood and guided forest walks for barefoot meditation. “People are no longer looking for marble bathrooms and gold-plated taps,” says Unterthiner. “Instead they are seeking the simple, the original. It might just be a campfire where we sit and chat.” This turns out to be a fire-pit that’s lit every night for herb-spiked cocktails under the stars, rounding off a feast of beef tartare, nettle dumplings, and cured river trout in the peachy light of the amphitheater-style restaurant—that view is forever giving curtain calls. Doubles from about $470. —Grainne McBride" - CNT Editors
