Miramonti
There’s a lot to love about the Miramonti. The location is superb, just a 20-minute drive from downtown Merano and a mere 10 minutes from the superb Meran 2000 network of pistes and sledding tracks. The 44 rooms are designed in five different styles, all of them modern and understatedly beautiful. There’s a floor-to-ceiling panoramic restaurant that serves a reassuringly short tasting menu. But the absolute showstopper? That’s got to be the astonishing saltwater infinity pool, which floats above the Merano basin and has one of the all-time great views.
Vigilius
Arrival is via cable car only at Vigilius giving the place a particularly pristine kind of tranquillity. Architect Matteo Thun’s handsome design has aged beautifully over the twenty years it’s been open and two-decades on it still feels thrillingly contemporary, a wonderful combination of local sensitivity and straight-lined modernity. It’s a great place to visit year round, but is particularly glorious in the Alpine spring.
My Arbor
This, surely, is the world’s most dramatic treehouse. Elevated on 115-ft stilts so that it emerges out of the forest canopy like a giant modernist building cutely playing hide-and-seek, My Arbor guarantees all guests thrilling views of the stunning Mount Plose countryside. The rooms are like an ultra-modern upgrade on the classic Alpine chalet, all snug spaces and warm wood. And the 27,000sq ft spa includes saunas with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. For skiers, the Plose ski slopes are just a hop and a skip away.
San Luis
Our one-time Hotel of the Month is a pretty simple affair – a dozen or so chalets and treehouses arranged around a lake. But it’s pretty much perfect. The food is hearty, all punchy South Tyrolean flavours, and the views are absurd. It’s a family business in the truest sense of the word: owner, Alex Meister carries your bag from your taxi, his mum designed the rooms. There are places nearby to ski and hike, but really you come to hole-up and reset and breathe the incredible air.
Palace Merano
With its staggering 70 per cent return rate, the Henri Chenot spa at Palace Merano isn’t just a hotel for its many admirers, it’s a way of life. The building is kind of chintzy, but you don’t come here for the design chops, you come for the spa, which is surely one of the best in the world. Here, the white-coated specialists blend the diagnostic tools of western medicine (blood tests, radiological scans), and the energetic analyses of Chinese medicine to create you a bespoke six-day plan that combines a rigorous uber-detox with whole-body overhaul of meridian-unblocking massages and energy-rebalancing electro-puncture. It is eye-wateringly expensive and genuinely life changing.
Lagacio Mountain Residence
If you’re looking for an ideal family base, follow Pali Palavathanan’s lead and head to Lagacio Mountain Residence, which is perfectly placed for some the region’s best hiking, a 90-minute drive east of Bolzano. The handsome suites have kitchenettes, which makes them perfect for families. Self-catering is the emphasis here, but the hotel does do a superlative daily breakfast in its charming wood-panelled restaurant.
David Annand is editorial director of Secret Trips
