The roots of this place are firmly planted in the earth. Owners Sepp and Martina Kroll completely updated the existing guesthouse on farmland owned by his family since 1350 in Hinterglemm, a village 100km from Salzburg. Sepp’s father still runs the farm and his mother makes organic butter and cheese for the restaurant. With a concept-store-style lobby and living room filled with design books, the hotel feels like a private members’ club for creatives.
Guests are architects and CEOs of advertising agencies, but many of them don’t come here for the skiing. They come for the design, the food, the slow living. In winter, the main house is a snow-white peak jutting up in front of a Christmas-tree forest at the bottom of the slopes; seven glassy suites with rooftop gardens are in sync with the landscape whatever the season. Inside, abstract stormy-grey paintings by Andrea Traub allude to the mountains. Bare wood, stone and unbleached linen add to the minimal look.
The pure spirit extends to the restaurant too. Chef Patrick Sagmeister does interesting things with home-grown vegetables, using foams and fermentation to dress delicate dishes of parsnip soup and chamois from the day’s hunt. And there’s natural wine on the Austrian-only list: the peppery Hannes Reeh Unplugged Zweigelt is fantastic with veal. Across the valley, the couple’s other restaurant, Weiseralm, is a great pitstop for Aperol Spritz. At night, hurtle all the way back down the flood-lit mountainside on a toboggan.
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