Hotel Alpenland

The Bernhofer family's Alpenland is on the Seekarstraße, in the centre of Obertauern, the high-altitude village on the pass of the Radstadt Tauern that lives on skiing. The house declares 1,760 metres of altitude and ten metres' distance from the slope: from the ski store you step straight out onto the snow. It receives families without trouble, with reductions for children from their first year and a pool for the smallest ones inside the swimming pool. The wellness area, though, is divided in two and the property writes it in its list of included services, distinguishing an Alpen-Relax-Land from the age of 16 from an Alpen-Relax-Land from the age of zero.

The reserved part includes four saunas, which the house lists as a Finnish sauna at 90 degrees, a spruce sauna at 60, an infrared cabin at 45 and a saline steam bath at 45, together with the relaxation room called the Raum der Stille, where there are water beds and swinging seats, two cabins for massages and beauty treatments and a spring-water fountain. On its sauna page the property also describes a Swiss pine sauna at 80 degrees, a wood to which it has wanted to devote a cabin of its own. The part open to all ages includes instead the 80-square-metre indoor pool with its built-in children's pool, the panoramic whirlpool on the roof, a textile sauna for families at 70 degrees, the Tauernfenster relaxation room facing the Tauern and a second fountain. On the saunas of the adult department the house publishes no rule on swimwear: it writes only that alongside the classic saunas there is also a textile sauna. If the point matters, it is worth asking reception for confirmation.

The strong point of the water department is the glass wall: the pool looks out across the whole basin of Obertauern, and the outdoor whirlpool on the roof brings the mountains within arm's reach. There are two separate relaxation rooms, one for each part, so that anyone looking for silence finds a quiet room.

The formula is half board, which here is called Alp'Kulinarik: a breakfast buffet with the house's own spreads and jams, an afternoon snack with cakes from the in-house pastry kitchen, in the evening a gourmet menu with a salad buffet, main courses to choose from and a selection of regional cheeses, with vegetarian alternatives always present and once a week a buffet of starters and desserts. There are apartments as well as rooms and suites. Among the included services are free wifi throughout the house, a balcony in every room, free parking in front of the hotel, a garage space included for certain categories and for the apartments, a lockable ski locker for every room, the sale of ski passes at reception, the house's own ski instructor and a delivery service for hire equipment. Once a week there is a dirndl and lederhosen evening.

The tourist tax is 3.50 euros per person per night, with under-fifteens exempt, with 0.50 as a mobility contribution and 0.05 as tourist tax. The rooms are ready from 15.00 and must be left by 10.00. On dogs the house is precise: they are allowed with prior notice, but out of consideration for guests with allergies they may be only in the bar area, not in the wellness area and not in the restaurant.

It suits anyone who skis with the family and still wants a quiet sauna department, and anyone who puts closeness to the slope before everything. It suits less anyone looking for a large resort spa: here the whole thing is small, and under 16 all that remains is the part with the pool and the textile sauna.