Snow & Mountains, Travel , 20 January 2020

If you’ve ever perused my travel pages, I’m sure you’ll have noticed my enduring fealty to the Stanglwirt. Nestled near where my mum’s side of the family hark from, and a mere hour’s drive from Salzburg airport, it’s one of my favourite boltholes owing to it being easy to get to, while being endlessly beautiful and surrounded by the magnificent Austrian countryside. In fact I like it so much, I got married at the Stanglwirt, thinking I could introduce all my friends to it at once so they would know about it and, as I suspected, many of them have since been back.

I’ve written about it plenty of times – here, and here, and here, and here, – but in case you wanted a quick summary: the Stanglwirt is a huge hotel made of wood (which by the way smells outrageously good) that is known in Austria for being gemütlich (homely) while offering all the five star things you’d expect like millions of pillows and exemplary cleanliness and a little chalet down the road filled with nannies and toys so you can ski or spa while your kids play.

Actually I should probably dedicate a paragraph to the spa. I’d go so far as to say that it is the best I’ve seen in all my years reviewing. Very extensive. Very cleverly thought out. Lots of alcoves and grottos and reclining areas. You can swim in a pool indoors, or outdoors, or in one that’s fed with fresh mountain water (it is freezing, and that’s one of the naked ones, just to warn you). You could sit in a salt room, a alpine herb-filled steam room, or various saunas, before braving the ice bucket or ice plunge pool (it is hard to do the first time, but well worth it in my experience).

And if you’re not one for the spa, you can eat and ski and hike and play tennis or while away a few hours in any of the various games rooms (I spend most my time there either at the spa or eating, so have only seen these in passing).

Basically, I bloody love the place and if you like the mountains, and are into homely luxury with hearty food as opposed to simpering servants wielding golden platters etc., you’ll love it. Below are some of the pictures from my visit last year.