TRAVEL the whole room playing‘ Happy Birthday’ on at least a dozen of the 23 instruments he’ s reputed to master, singing all the while; tender and amusing rolled into one, it showed the warm, community feel that cloaks the hotel’ s professionalism in a way that can’ t be manufactured.
That sense of community extends up the mountain. From the village, the Gitschberg gondola floats you above the treeline to a plateau where the walking is gentle and the panorama is spectacular- on a clear day, some 500 peaks crowd the horizon. A short stroll brought us to Gitschhütte, a traditional mountain hut where owner Meinrad welcomed us like returning cousins and the kitchen dismantled every stodgy preconception of hut food. There were dreamy käseknödel- golden dumplings oozing melted local cheese- but also house-made pasta with rich venison ragu and local spritzes spiked with mint, ginger and gin. All 2,000m up with vistas to match. Down in the lush meadows of the Altfasstal, poste-bike-boosting, we refuelled at the equally fantastic Großberghütte on charcuterie, cheese, tasty pastry numbers loaded with sauerkraut, and a crisp local white, all eaten and drunk outside to a soundtrack of cowbells. Something I spotted at both huts, with a parent’ s mix of both admiration and relief, is that playgrounds sit right beside the terraces, so children can scramble and swing while parents linger over knödel and a second spritz with not an iPad in sight. Turns out that this family accessibility is a local philosophy, not an accident, and it extends back down the mountain to the hotel. Kitted out formidably for children, Tratterhof gives families their own sun-drenched spa with baby pool, twisting water slides, a swimwear-friendly panoramic biosauna for first-time sauna-goers, and Skyland, an indoor play world with everything from a mini climbing wall to its own cinema; evidently, children here are anything but an afterthought.
The most soothing surprise of all, though, lived just behind the hotel. At Hinterwalderhof farm, at the mouth of the Altfasstal, Erika and Aziz keep an 80-strong herd of friendly alpacas and a handful of llamas, and you can book to walk the former through the forest. I never knew how nervous-system-settling an alpaca walk could be; my alpaca, Timo, was the group’ s natural leader, and as we skipped through the larches together- him setting the pace, me mentally recalibrating my entire career towards alpaca farming- I instantly understood it as the underrated wellness pursuit it is.
Perhaps that’ s the real story of this corner of South Tyrol- the one the postcard-perfect images can’ t tell you. Wellness here isn’ t confined to the spa menu; it’ s stitched into the way the place works, with the Tratterhof, local farms, huts and lifts operating alongside one another rather than for one another.
Come winter, the snow will bury it all again and the skiers will reclaim the slopes, none the wiser. Until then though, the mountain is showing its other face- serene, harmonious and, should you press the right button, capable of a startling turn of speed.
skyalps. com flyskyalps
tratterhof. com tratterhof _ mountainskyhotel
FLY SKY ALPS / STAY AT THE TRATTERHOF MOUNTAIN SKY HOTEL
SkyAlps are now operating flights from London Gatwick – Bolzano up to four times a week from from £ 126 each way. Children under two years old travel free of charge, a 30 % discount is applied to children until the age of 11. The Tratterhof Mountain Sky Hotel offers rooms from £ 334.65 per room per night based on two adults sharing a double room on a half-board basis during summer, and £ 344.90 per room per night based on two adults sharing a double room on a half-board basis during winter.
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