The Schwarz Alpine Spa and Golf Resort, Mieming – Austria
Where
The Schwarz Alpine Golf & Spa Resort is located in the small, charming village of Mieming near the beautiful city of Innsbruck, Austria. After ten days skiing and exploring in Innsbruck, the Schwarz Alpine Spa and Golf Resort was just what the doctor ordered. Situated in Mieming, 35 minutes from Innsbruck this resort is five star all the way and attracts people from all over Europe who want to rest and be pampered.
Backstory
The property has been a guesthouse since 1694, and was the first place in the area to have running water and heating. New buildings, or ‘Obstgartls’ have been added, but are all linked by hallways so effective movement between them is seamless. The Resort, that has been in the Family Pirktl for three generations, ticks all the boxes you would expect of a wellness and spa resort, and then some.
Rooms and interiors
With 120 rooms, apartments and suites there is a range of accommodation to suit everyone, with the top level being the Royal Garden Suite and Royal Mountain Suite. The Royal Garden Suite is a split-level 270 square metre apartment that sleeps six with a private spa area, your own sauna, roof terrace with incredible views and of course, a butler. The Head Butler here is Elizabeth, and she will ensure everything about your stay is perfect.
Dining
The wellness aspect of the resort is carried through to the restaurant, which is in the oldest part of the Resort. Like an Aladdin’s Cave, it has many alcoves and separate rooms in which to sit and the wine cellar has over 600 wines lining its walls. The restaurant has been awarded two ‘Toques’ by Gault Millau, and the five-course a la carte dinners are exceptional. All meals are included in the room rate, as well as snacks, fresh fruit and non-alcoholic drinks. There are many healthy options, and the chefs use local produce as much as possible.
On our final night, a local trio serenade restaurant guests with a veritable Top 40 of Tyrolean hits, and, with great gusto, most guests, including us, join in. We are the only Australians there but that matters not one iota, and we raise our voices in a flood of gibberish, a little piece of Austria entering into our hearts with every note.
Features
On the pampering side of things, the super-sized Sun Welly Spa is quite incredible. The spa has five saunas, one Turkish hammam, two private spas – including the indulgent Garden Room Suite – and a relaxation room with numerous waterbeds. There are 14 massage rooms and nine rooms for beauty treatments, with a menu overflowing with options. I choose a treatment they assure me will loosen muscles tight from skiing, and sink into what feels like a water bed before being coated with an enriching mud containing plenty of nutrients from local plants. I melt into a warm, entwined oblivion, and emerge languidly, in a state of bliss. The next day, I am massaged with marmot oil, further loosening legs and sending me into that semi-catatonic state once again.
The Resort’s Water World is unlike anything we have seen, with seven heated indoor and outdoor pools. We love the outdoor pools, even though it is freezing outside. We laze on immersed massage chairs in one pool and float endlessly in the magnificent Sole Pool. In the Kids Water World, there is a 92-meter water slide. The Resort is heaven for kids – one of the best I have seen – with the Hopp’l Popp’l Children’s World catering to different ages, with an on-site petting zoo, outdoor activities, youth theatre and magic shows.
What I loved
Everything about this resort is first class; the service, the restaurant, the location, the rooms, the spa and the Water World. It truly is spectacular. I loved the friendliness of the staff. Every morning, when we went in for breakfast, there was a cheery, hand-written note from our waitress, in English. When we needed a pair of apres boots to go sledging, a perfect pair was conjured up in no time flat from their special stock of ski hire gear. Nothing was too much trouble.
There is so much to do at and around the resort, with ski safaris to Kühtai, Hochoetz or Axamer Lizum, snowshoeing, free cross-country skiing, hiking, horse-drawn sleigh rides and fun sledging tours. We board a horse-drawn sleigh and clip clop through picture-perfect landscapes to the Stöttl hut, which in summer sits at the highest point of the 27-hole championship golf course. After a traditional Tyrolean lunch, accompanied by Austrian beers, we walk back through the snow to the hotel feeling as if all was good with the world. We also sign up for sledging and are driven by van and then an over-snow vehicle to the Lehnberghaus Hut high on the Sonnenplateau. We hop on our sledges and zoom down the snowy track covering 4.5 kms to the Arzkasten Guesthouse. We steer with our feet, racing each other down the trail, laughing with joy until we come to a stop, faces flushed, at the bottom. Who knew sledging could be so enjoyable?
Details
The Schwarz Alpine Spa and Golf Resort; hotel-schwarz.com
Innsbruck Tourism; innsbruck.info
Helen Hayes
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