There's something about Austria in winter. The sugar-dusted mountaintops offer food-for-the-soul views and the traditional towns look like something from a Christmas card. Throw in advent markets, cosy fires and glühwein and you'll find yourself in a winter idyll.
We revelled in that cosy festive feeling on a visit to Das Edelweiss mountain resort in Grossarl, a town in the SalzburgerLand region. Only an hour from Salzburg, the modern hotel hugs the hillside and offers panoramic vistas of the valley and mountains. Grossarl attracts summer hikers and winter skiers – its slopes are part of the Ski amadé area of 25 resorts, Austria's largest.
The five-star Edelweiss has been owned and run by the Hettegger family since it opened as a 14-room guesthouse in 1977. Their hands-on ethos is evident in the way they mingle with guests and eat together in the dining room. Regular upgrades are their modus operandi: for 2023, 17 new family suites and a vast new family spa have been added to the hotel's already impressive 7,000 square metre Mountain Spa.
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The hotel interprets alpine design by giving it a cosmopolitan flair. The obligatory fireplace in the reception area is a modern slimline affair, and rough-hewn wood is an artistic feature on the ceiling. Local materials like stone and brick add texture and the architectural lighting is eye-catching.
Among the hotel's 145 rooms and suites was our junior suite superior, with floor-to-ceiling windows that provided us a dramatic mountainscape. The décor makes tasteful use of oak, stone and glass; it was complemented by a plush wool sofa-bed and soft furnishings in hushed tones of grey, accented by industrial-style hanging lights. The overall effect was earthy and luxurious. The bathroom of dark stone countertops and tiles and glass doors felt contemporary, and an open wardrobe area provided extra space for wet ski clothes.
If you want to splash out or host a large group in style, the Penthouse Suite for 2-15 people covers an entire floor, features six king-sized beds and bathrooms and a private heated pool and sauna.
Edelweiss's Sirloin Grill & Dine restaurant
(Image credit: Das Edelweiss)
Eating and drinking
The sizeable Edelweiss Mountain Restaurant is divided into cosy corners that avert a banquet hall feel, with its five-course dinners focused on locally sourced food. Guests can mix and match from regional, international or vegan nightly menus featuring items like roasted deer cutlet and handmade tagliatelle with local venison. Vast help-yourself salad and cheese bars ensure you won't go hungry. An à la carte menu offers pizza, steak and Austrian specialties like tafelspitz (boiled beef) and nockerl (a dish like gnocchi). Breakfast featured a waistline-expanding selection of chewy dark breads and butter, plus healthy smoothies and kombucha.
Guests can splash out on dinner at the Edelweiss's Sirloin Grill & Dine restaurant on the premises, offering exclusive Black Angus and other specialties, where the steak is prepared in an open show kitchen and delivered straight to your table. If you need a sushi fix, an on-site cart provides sushi-making displays and a menu from which guests can order, with fish sourced from a fish farm in the valley.
The heated infinity pool has an awe-inspiring vista
(Image credit: Das Edelweiss)
Spa and activities
The Edelweiss's pièce de résistance is the spa, offering a high-spec cornucopia of relaxation opportunities so alluring that it prompted me to quit the slopes earlier than usual. The top floor boasts a heated infinity pool with an awe-inspiring vista, while the adults-only area features a wealth of warm bubbling pools and saunas, including an outdoor Jacuzzi. Quiet rooms full of upholstered loungers and hanging chairs lulled me to sleep in minutes to the sound of piped-in birdsong.
A gleaming treatment area and on-site hair salon complete the wellness picture. I treated myself to a hot stone massage that soothed away my aches and featured aromatic products from the in-house Edelweiss Natur brand.
The spa provides amply for families, too. Enhancements for 2023 include a water park spread over three floors, a new "textile sauna" (one in which you can wear your swimsuit) and kid-friendly relaxation areas. Edelweiss's "children's world" offers dedicated play areas for kids of all ages and includes a doll kitchen, PlayStation and bouldering wall.
Grossarl ski resort in the Ski amadé region
(Image credit: Iven O. Schloesser/Shutterstock)
Things to do
Get your ski boots on! Grossarl is one of the smaller ski resorts in the Ski amadé region, which means it tends not to attract crowds. Its modest 19 pistes over 73 kilometres suit intermediates with its inviting mix of winding reds and blues. Stupendous 360-degree views can be had at the Kreuzkogel (2,027m) peak and there are cosy huts for food stops.
Don't miss Grossarl's traditional Christmas market, a particularly charming example of the ubiquitous seasonal bazaar. Set in the quaint town centre strung with lights and packed with locals, it was an enchanting affair, with carol-singers and brass bands. We picked up gifts from vendors selling wood-carvings, tree decorations, jewellery and ceramics and stood with our eco-friendly ceramic mugs of gluhwein listening to an Austrian quartet singing carols in harmony.
Other appealing winter activities abound. For the sports-minded there's cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, and we enjoyed the magical experience of a sleigh ride through nearby Hohe Tauern National Park, during which the only sound we heard was the jingle of sleigh bells as snow fell on our winter wonderland.
The hotel's pièce de résistance is the spa
(Image credit: Das Edelweiss)
The verdict
Das Edelweiss is a high-end retreat for those who seek the ultimate in pampering and relaxation, food and drink. In a ski-in, ski-out position next to Grossarl's main Panoramabahn ski lift, it offers a luxury stay at the foot of the slopes – but its spa is so alluring you might not bother getting your ski boots on.
Vicki Power was a guest of Das Edelweiss. Offering a range of accommodation, a double room superior starts from €295 (£256/$312) per person per night; edelweiss-grossarl.com. For information on Grossarl see grossarltal.info and for the SalzburgerLand region and its 22 ski resorts see salzburgerland.com
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