Alphotel Stocker Alpine Wellnesshotel

The Alphotel Stocker is at via Wiesenhof 41, on the south-eastern edge of the main village of Campo Tures, the place called Sand in Taufers in German, which sits at around 864 metres of altitude, at the point where the Valle di Tures opens onto the Valle Aurina. Above the houses you see Tures castle, and from here the outings to the Riva waterfalls and towards the Speikboden set off. It is a family-run three-star hotel, with an alpine façade in dark wood and flowering balconies, run by the Stocker family.

The rooms carry the names of mountain flowers, from Forget-me-not to Marigold, in types A and B: doubles of around eighteen square metres with shower and toilet, satellite television, safe and balcony, furnished in light wood on oak floors. The house works on a three-quarter board formula: a breakfast buffet with an organic corner, a cake in the afternoon from 15.00 to 16.30 and in the evening a four-course menu with a choice of dishes and a salad buffet. The kitchen also cooks gluten-free, to be flagged when booking, and the house has a declared speciality: the Buchinger therapeutic fasting and alkaline fasting programmes, from four up to twenty-eight days.

The wellness area is included in the stay. There is a single pool and it is indoors, kept at 31 degrees, with a whirlpool and counter-current swimming, so usable in any season; the property declares no outdoor pool. The sauna centre opens every day from 14.00 and includes the Finnish sauna at around 90 degrees, the steam bath, an alpine herb bio sauna and an infrared sauna with chromotherapy, plus sensory showers with tropical rain and cold mist. Access to the pool and the beauty centre is allowed only with a bathrobe and slippers, and the bathrobe is included. Paid for separately are the ayurvedic massages by the lady of the house, Annelies Stocker, the beauty treatments and the wraps. On the day of departure the spa stays usable for 25 euros.

On age the two sources do not say the same thing, and it is as well to know before booking. The booking portal states that children are not allowed and that the minimum age for check-in is eighteen. The official website, by contrast, publishes no threshold in figures: on its Good to know page a list of reductions for children from the age of zero still appears, which contradicts the portal's rule and looks like an un-updated leftover. Since the property declares no minimum age of its own, this entry gives none: the usable figure remains the portal's, that is, no minors admitted. Anyone who wants to be sure of finding a house without children should ask reception for written confirmation before confirming the booking.

On the rest of the rules: dogs are accepted with prior notice, at a surcharge of 20 euros a day. Arrival is from 14.30, departure by 10.30, and the tourist tax of 2.90 euros per person is settled on site. There is outdoor parking, a place in the garage is booked at 7 euros a day. Included are the hire of bikes, snowshoes and poles, the free shuttle from Brunico station on request, the ski store with a boot warmer and the ski-bus stop in front of the house.

It suits anyone looking for a small, family-run house in the Valle Aurina, with a warm pool usable even in January and a full sauna circuit including a steam bath at a three-star price. It suits less anyone who wants a large spa or an outdoor pool, neither of which is on record here.