Almwellness-Resort Tuffbad

The Almwellness-Resort Tuffbad is at Tuffbad 3, the small spa locality above the village of St. Lorenzen im Lesachtal, in Carinthia, at around one thousand two hundred and seventy metres of altitude, at the end of the side valley that climbs between the Carnic Alps and the Lienz Dolomites. It is a four-star superior hotel of the Oberluggauer family, built around a spring that the Servite fathers of the nearby monastery discovered two hundred and fifty years ago and that is recognised today by the state as mineral water: the house uses it to fill the indoor pool and the Sky Pool.

Children are found in the hotel, in the Sauna-Alm no

The property is not closed to minors, but on its practical information page it puts an entry headed precisely Kinder unter 16 Jahren and writes that children under sixteen have no access to the sauna world and do not go into the pool between 17.00 and 19.00, reserving besides the right to close the Sky Pool briefly to children. Anyone travelling with a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old therefore knows from the outset that they will not be going into the Sauna-Alm.

The rule on swimwear

The house does not use the word textilfrei, but says the same thing directly when it presents the outdoor whirlpool at thirty-four degrees: you will find it in the Nacktbereich, the swimwear-free zone, as a complement to the sauna world. It is the normal Austrian way of running a sauna department, and it is as well to know before arriving.

The Sauna-Alm

There are eleven cabins and they carry names that come from the valley's farming trade. The Steinbad is the steam bath enriched by the minerals of the stone. The Dolomitensauna is the dry Finnish one at seventy-five degrees, clad in Swiss pine, facing the Lienz Dolomites. The Brotbad keeps the air at thirty-five degrees and enriches it with the enzymes of the sourdough from the house bakery. The Kraxenofen warms back and shoulders with hay. There is the Physiotherm infrared cabin. The Almgrotte works at forty-five degrees with high humidity, a scent of orange and brine vapour. The Tuffstüble is the gentle version at fifty-five degrees. The Brechlbad, fifty-five degrees, is the herbal steam bath that in old documents was the farmers' sauna. Climbing in temperature there are the Brennstadl at seventy-five degrees, the Finnish Stubensauna at ninety and the Hüttensauna at ninety-five.

The water and the rest of the house

The Sky Infinity Pool is the piece the property puts on its front page: you swim suspended above the Lesachtal, in spring water tempered all year round. Below it is the indoor pool, open from 6.00 to 19.00, and further on the indoor mountain stream at twelve degrees, with a walking pool, a waterfall and a plunge pool for the Kneipp circuit. There are then the oases of silence, the Private Spa booked for two and the cosmetics and massage department called Sunnseit'n, where the house advises making appointments four days before arrival.

One practical detail: the Almsuiten are carved out of chalets, old farmhouses of the Lesachtal, which stand some fifty metres above the main building and are not connected underground. Dogs are welcome by reservation but do not enter the restaurant, the winter garden and the wellness area. There is wifi, but the house warns that in the mountains the connection is slow and asks guests to switch off their phones at the entrance.

It suits anyone looking for an isolated, silent mountain house with a serious, adult sauna department. It suits less anyone who needs a fast connection or a holiday in which the children go everywhere.