5 days ago
The Alps is my all-time favourite summer holiday. Here's where to stay
Everybody has a favourite place for a summer holiday but it's not in the nature of a travel writer to be so partisan. Well, OK, maybe I'll spill the beans just this once. My ideal choice is the Alps, even if it's a more typical go-to for a goggle tan rather than full body bronze. I visit at least half a dozen times a year, having married an actual Heidi from Herisau in Switzerland. And with family in Zurich and my in-laws living under the crinkle-cut tops of the Appenzell Alps, I've seen first-hand how the summer season is changing.
When I started visiting in the warmest months 25 years ago, holidays across the Alps were for calm loneliness, walking, exploring up and over summits. Trails were empty, chalet inns open-armed yet quiet. Now there's been an explosion of fantasy hotels, with pools and spas, everywhere from A to Z (that's from Annecy in France to the Zillertal in Austria), all spurred on by tourists shifting their gaze north from the broiling Mediterranean. You can't read the news in summer any more without being confronted by stories about unprecedented heat or extreme weather events such as wildfires in Greece, southern Italy, Spain and Portugal. Refreshingly, temperatures where I often holiday in Switzerland and Austria rise agreeably into the high 20s.
For the Alps, this progress is also a feeling. Alongside all the clever new hotels are organic restaurants, mind-boggling activities and an optimistic sense that there's a lot more to be shared in the coming years. The drawback is that holidays are pricier than those in the Costas or Canaries, but the upside of the seesaw is exhilarating. Mountains seemingly drawn by children. Lakes bluer than a perfect sky. Cheese and chocolate growing on trees. Well, almost. And you don't even need to like The Sound of Music to go (though, I'll admit, it probably helps).
The places I've suggested for this summer are an uplifting mixture for couples, foodies, families and adults only in France, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy. Some are classic, some are new. Regardless of what takes your fancy, though, all will quicken your pulse and make you bellow out yodel-ay-ee-oooo, giddily. Perhaps I'll even hear you while I'm there.
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The karst mountain views at this 400-year-old family farm hotel near Salzburg have slipped into something even more dreamlike since the arrival of the forest spa a couple of years ago. It's not a place for strutting around in skimpy swimwear but rather for cold dips in the natural lake, breathing deep in the herbal saunas or lazing on a paddleboard. My favourite pastime is simply bobbing in awe while watching the mountain light shift. What's more, there's every sort of thrill to chase in the surrounding mountains, plus an equal number of activities at the hotel. So if tennis isn't your thing, there's a riding school, art studio and children's Half-board doubles from £539, including some extra meals ( Fly to Salzburg
Nowhere does family hotels like Austria. Child-friendly 'Kinderhotels' are a way of life and, having stayed at a number of them, I'm choosing this 123-bedroom property near St Anton because it feels like a mini theme park. The crèche-like lobby is fitted with a jungle gym, while there is also trampolining, soft play, an indoor basketball court and a cinema room, plus staff as smiley as a kids' party entertainer. Outdoors there's a pool with rapid-fire water slides and a squiggly Rodelbahn (Alpine rollercoaster), delivering bumps and wild hairpin bends. The snag, if there is one, is that you can only stay with children. But as parents you will go from feeling stressed to unwound, as your children vanish for hours at a time. No wonder there are so many repeat Half-board doubles from £365, including some extra meals. Fly to Innsbruck
It's to the Wilder Kaiser massif that many Brits scramble in winter to ski in Kitzbühel, Söll or Ellmau but my money's on a summer stay at this centuries-old organic farm. Factor in diversions ranging from a Lipizzaner stud farm to a children's ranch, and it's like staying with Old MacDonald — albeit without the ee-eye-ee-eye-oh. You're also here for all sorts of cheese and air-dried meats from the surrounding fields and frothy steins of beer served, happily, in what was once the farm's hay and grain B&B doubles from £399 ( Fly to Innsbruck
• Read our full guide to Austria
When it comes to the Austrian Alps, my heart is in the Tyrol, in Austria's west. That's largely because it's where two worlds collide: the traditional Gemütlichkeit (good cheer) of schnitzel, gooey-cheese spätzle and sweet pancake kaiserschmarren, and the Vorsprung durch Technik of modernity through progressive architecture and smart design. At this rustic inn turned spa hotel, which I visited this year, there's a handsome amount of both, with the open-air infinity pools a magnificent construction of mountain design. All this would provide enough reason to book a stay but there's innovative architecture across its 70 rooms, a garden spa, plus a terrific tasting menu restaurant. My advice is to leave the kids at Half-board doubles from £297, including some extra meals. Fly to Innsbruck
Carinthia, on the border with Slovenia, is hardly Sound of Music territory. It's little-visited Austria but it still serves up all the gentle mountains, horizons of peaks and ice-clear lakes you'd want. You can eye plenty of that from this terrific series of panoramic multitiered chalets, with elevated sun terraces and — you've read this right — 11 pick-and-mix pools. My favourite is the infinity number with a view of what seems like all of southern Austria. For this summer, the hotel is unveiling several new mountain-framing rooms, giving you all the inspiration you need to climb every mountain. Just as if you were Julie Half-board doubles from £209. Fly to Klagenfurt
The locals will tell you that little Alpbach, near Innsbruck, is Austria's most beautiful village due to its wall-to-wall timbered chalets, window-box geraniums and narrow streets. In the midst of this scene is this 500-year-old farm turned 73-room hotel, and it's uplifting in every sense, with sky-high balcony views, mountain cuisine and an elevated adults-only spa. When I stayed this year, I surely traumatised the other guests by wallowing, hippo-like, in its pool-with-a-view for Half-board doubles from £325, including some extra meals. Fly to Innsbruck
It's little wonder the Dolomites in northeast Italy are having a moment. Overnight stays are rocketing because of the region's ridiculously pretty sawtooth peaks — and hotels like this one. In the shadow of the Haunold massif, the timber-clad property is a daydream of wood, soft textiles and natural light, with a newly renovated spa and outdoor pool. The eco vibe lends itself to the farm-centric restaurant and the distractions of getting out into those mountains. Be clear with yourself on this: regardless of your fitness (or how much ham you've snaffled), you'll have to hike to the dragon's-back-shaped Tre Cime di Lavaredo. It stalks the landscape like a B&B doubles from £250. Fly to Bolzano
Even in bad weather, the Aosta Valley gives the Dolomites a run for its money. Instead of chipped-teeth mountain faces, this pocket of northwest Italy has the smoother cheekbones of the Monte Rosa massif and the clear-cut lines of Aethos Monterosa, an architectural hotel that looks as if it parachuted into the Ayas Valley from the Nordics. Inside, it's all pared-back rooms, organic textiles and floor-to-ceiling views, a rarity in an area where all other hotels are old-school three or four-star jobs. Though I don't have a head for heights, I'd recommend taking to the hotel's vast indoor climbing wall or splashing out on a scenic flight — the crumple-horned Matterhorn is just over the B&B doubles from £223. Fly to Turin
I met the Forestis Hotel's saintly co-owners, Teresa and Stefan Hinteregger, shortly after this party-piece property opened five years ago, and to say the couple have had an impact in the Dolomites would be a gross understatement — their 62-room hotel is now the one to which all others look in envy. Its most wonderful feature is the above-treetop view of the jagged Odle Group mountains and the hotel maximises this at every opportunity, from the shimmering stone pool to the theatre-type restaurant with raked seating and a forest cuisine menu. It's expensive but also an excuse to pursue what the popes who used to holiday in the area once sought: divine wellbeing and something close to B&B doubles from £619. Fly to Bolzano
In the past few years, to set itself apart, the Alta Badia region in the Dolomites has really pushed local Ladin cuisine and gourmet food experiences. The scenarios that rush to mind are hut-to-hut hiking, tasting mountain produce as you go, and an Alto Adige wine safari, after which you can reconvene in one of the farmhouses or taverns. Food is a big part of the story at the 20-room adults-only Hotel Recort, which opened last winter — it's all healthy, nature-to-plate dishes, while wine tastings are held in the cellar. The spa is no half-measure, either: consider a light-filled pool and Jacuzzi eyeing the bared teeth of the spiky Sella B&B doubles from £224. Fly to Bolzano
Another Falkensteiner? Hear me out. While this is another bells-and-whistles Kinderhotel in the Dolomites, I've never come across a place whose options for get-up-and-go families are so relentless. What's extraordinary is that its rooftop doesn't have a pool, like so many others, but a trampoline park and synthetic grass runway for year-round dry-slope skiing, basketball, football and toy car racing. There is a pool, of course, but also a private lake, beach and Europe's largest water slide. You'll have to gasp a lot because you don't book this 126-room hotel to rest but to wring every minute's worth out of your B&B doubles from £210. Fly to Bolzano
The lakelands of Como and Garda are clearly the most lorded over in the Alpine foothills (read: trendiest, priciest, busiest) but the most blessed is Lake Orta. Away from the crowds, it's the one you could claim to be exclusively yours and this 11-room concept hotel in the pretty-as-pie village of Pella is a masterclass in design. Cue two villas (one ancient, one modern) and a medley of wood, stone, glass and chrome interplaying with the water. Then, in the middle of the lake, there's San Giulio island, the Alps' ultimate holy sanctuary and a smartphone-snap abbey if ever there was B&B doubles from £440. Fly to Milan
If you're wondering about the name then it's a plumed hat tip to the area's Salto, the largest larch plateau in Europe. That fills in the backstory to this tree-hugging nest 1,100m above Bolzano — and it's more affordable than many of its eco rivals. The look is all reclaimed larch and limestone, the sky-high infinity pool pokes above the treetops like a giant's footbath and the intent is to put nature's sparkle back into your soul. Food-wise, that means the sort of Alpine cuisine I love (hearty, hay-smoked veal washed down with apple cider, not teetotal veganism), and there's also hiking, horse riding and — get this — a hay B&B doubles from £262. Fly to Bolzano
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Many come with plans to get active in the Alps, nowhere more so than in the Jungfrau region in the Bernese Oberland. Cable car lines yo-yo up and down the steep valleys, and there's no better place to be sucker-punched by rock faces and glaciers with such little effort. When I hiked there last summer, I rode a train from Grindelwald up to a mountain saddle and stood on a glacier, watching summits crest like frothing waves. The most memorable place to collapse into bed afterwards is this fancy-pants design hotel, smack bang in the middle of the mountain action. It has a small spa, 90 sophisticated rooms and an Eiger-eyeballing Room-only doubles from £147. Fly to Basel
Zurich is for buttoned-down bankers and insurance brokers, so they say. Meh — that's so far from the truth. The city is hands down the most interesting in the Alps and I return for its Riviera-chic vibe every summer, a time when the collective obsession is with badis, the city's open-air public baths. Configured like a yacht club with rooms next to the finest of these (the wood-clad Seebad Utoquai, opened in 1890) is this 40-room stunner. You'll shake your head at the price but this is prime Zurich lakefront. For your money, you'll get rooms designed by Philippe Starck, the most appealing rooftop bar in Switzerland and a lakeside reflecting a city far more interesting than Room-only doubles from £570. Fly to Zurich
This hideaway was bought as a family home a decade ago but the seven-room eyrie is now the perfect base camp from which to discover this underrated pocket south of Lake Geneva. And that family home feeling remains: in Saskia's restaurant, found in the former kitchen; in the well-thumbed books in the library; in the shoes-off atmosphere. All the good stuff is there too: wine from the Unesco-rated Lavaux vineyards, the medieval island castle at Chillon and the Montreux Jazz Festival, which runs for most of B&B doubles from £270. Fly to Geneva
If you know the trick to staying at this 007-endorsed mountaintop resort (Sean Connery stayed while filming Goldfinger), then you can use all its facilities, restaurants and private funicular for a fraction of the price. There are three very different hotels along the ridgeline of the razor-edged Bürgenstock mountain, but it's the 12-room Taverne 1879 you want for its more affordable, authentic Swiss chalet look. I'll be back this summer, largely to ride the mountain's other big-ticket attraction: the knee-knocking Hammetschwand, the highest outdoor lift in B&B doubles from £270. Fly to Zurich
Too bad for you that it'll all go so quickly at this once-in-a-lifetime château in a ridiculously pretty valley east of Lausanne. It's as expensive as the Swiss Alps gets, at the heart of its showiest village, but this is the sort of hotel you won't want to set foot out of during your stay. For foodies, there's a range of sublime Swiss and Japanese restaurants, plus a decorous whisky bar and terrace with a prime view of the Bernese Oberland's natural splendour. For relaxing, there's a Six Senses spa and magnificent pool, set in grand gardens. And for culture, there's modern art everywhere. In the pool last July I spent an entire afternoon splashing around, then watched sunset fall over a symphony of summits. You'll do the B&B doubles from £1,360. Fly to Basel
Mighty-fine Mürren might well be my ultimate Alpine village. From almost anywhere in this car-free refuge, accessible by the world's steepest gondola, it's possible to see a vivid portrait of many of Switzerland's most famous summits — Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. That alone places the village on a footing with some of the world's greatest mountain towns but then there's more Bond history (see On Her Majesty's Secret Service, filmed in 1968) and the refurbishment of two golden age hotels. Drei Berge is reopening as a vegan concept hotel later this summer, so my money is on this 49-room grande dame, originally opened in 1874 and Switzerland's oldest palace hotel. There's a tip-top spa and living room restaurant serving an upmarket menu of quail, truffled rib-eye steak and Swiss salmon (yes, that's a thing).Details B&B doubles from £250. Fly to Basel
Arosa is rarely talked of in the same breath as Davos or St Moritz, but it's in the same mountain-riddled canton of Graubünden and has the same quintessential appeal. Bell-horned cows jingle-jangle on steep pastures, silver lakes sparkle and rollercoaster valleys make for a thrilling mountain biking break. My favourite place to stay is this end-of-the-road hideaway, with 94 elegant rooms, its own private mountain lift and eye-popping architecture: the spa is dramatically carved into the mountain, with glass sail windows symbolically mirroring the knife-edged mountains and B&B doubles from £325. Fly to Zurich
I'd be mad to round up the most memorable Alpine stays and not include an option in Chamonix. It's a mesmeric place: the Aiguille du Midi mountain is an exclamation mark against the sky, Mont Blanc's glaciers flow down over wild cliffs, cable cars dangle and paragliders twirl. There are dozens of places to stay for hairy-chested climbers but I prefer the more chic La Folie Douce. The Alpine lifestyle brand is famous for uninhibited après-ski that marries cabaret with clubbing, and this belle époque hotel encourages the same sort of high Alpine hedonism in summer. Come for the pool and yoga, stay for the DJs and acrobats waltzing through the B&B doubles from £121 ( Fly to Geneva
• 10 of the best ski chalets in France
I can picture myself now: lolling in the panoramic pool, eyes stuffed with summits, then toddling upstairs to the library bar for fine grub and wine. Like all lovely French chalets, this has the rustic-chic, cowhide charm of a stopped-clock mountain refuge. The sleight of hand is that it's a modern 25-room newbuild. Most people come to this part of the Three Valleys in winter but therein lies the joy of summer: no skiers, no mushy snow and a fighting chance of a table at nearby La Bouitte, run by father-and-son team René and Maxime Meilleur — it's one of France's most extraordinary three-Michelin-star tables. Was it the best meal I've ever had in the Alps? I'll just tell you that I keep dreaming about the duck foie gras escalope and leave it at B&B doubles from £246. Fly to Chambery
For so many ski hotels, their summer life is a quiet one. That's the call of this 16-room refuge in a former cable car station at 2,551m, which makes it the highest hotel in France. You could well just check in for the views but there's also a panoramic restaurant, spa and 25m pool. Days are for hiking wildflower-trimmed ridges and evenings for gazing at the star-crammed skies. Admittedly, there's a hint of bias here: I once lived in Val d'Isère and, if anything, my stay at Le Refuge sorely tempted me to move back. I will one B&B doubles from £180. Fly to Chambéry
• Non-ski Val d'Isere: ice-floating, fat biking and a luxury spa hotel
No longer the domain of moneyed types such as the Rothschilds, Megève is the medieval French Alpine town of your mind's eye. It's all wood and stone chalets, albeit with an emphasis on slopeside luxury, but the best of these in summer is this traditional 12-room B&B with a pool, sauna and steam room. It's next to a working farm for that extra homespun feel, and there are all sorts of goodies, like whiffy fromage and garlicky saucisson to graze on after lungfuls of high Alpine air. For those who, like me, have summit gleams in their eyes, above you looms the Mont Blanc B&B doubles from £255. Fly to Geneva
The Breton chef Yoann Conte is to Lake Annecy what Gordon Ramsay is to Knightsbridge. Conte is a give-it-all, down-to-earth cook, and his name on the door is the main draw at this 11-room chalet with a spa and lakefront terrace. The catch is that Alpine holidays are mostly meant for leaning into the landscape, not the larder, but the hotel's two restaurants unite the two terroirs of lake and mountain and are hard to bypass. Believe me, you won't forget dining at the two-Michelin-star La Table this summer, or any B&B doubles from £255 ( Fly to Geneva
