A ski holiday in a luxury mountain lodge is about more than, well, skiing. It can be a family gathering, a gourmet getaway and a spa break all in one. The latter is especially important if you’re stumbling around the slopes and shimmying through slaloms. We’ve already scouted out Europe’s best luxury spa hotels, and now we’ve found our favourite ski hotels with spas for some Alpine R’n’R. Heal element-battled limbs or swap powder for pampering, with our pick of treatments…
HOTEL DE LEN
Cortina d’Ampezzo
All eyes will be on the Dolomites early next year, when the Winter Olympics come to town. In the glitzy Italian ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, Hotel de Len will ensure the athletes get the best night’s sleep possible, thanks to some seriously hi-tech beds. They were developed next door in Switzerland, with built-in energy-enhancing panels that remove ‘dirty’ electricity and restore cleaner air for peak relaxation and regeneration as you sleep.
The spa has a prized spot on the top floor of the hotel, for the best views of the mountains through the valley-framing window. Along with a bio-sauna, steam room, ice waterfall and outdoor hot tub, there’s an ’emotional shower path’ to really dig deep into your wellbeing journey. When you’re ready to hit the slopes, make sure your ski gear is chic — this area of the Dolomites is popular with well-heeled Milanese and Venetians who you just know are capable of making down padding look good.
MY ARBOR
South Tyrol
After a day spent in ski boots, your limbs will thank you for selecting somewhere you can ski and spa, so pack your oversize luggage and head to wellness ski hotel My Arbor in Italy’s South Tyrol region. Here, piste-wearied legs can be soothed with swims in various pools with a view and saunagus rituals.
You can take the name of this Dolomites ski and spa resort literally — the arboreal accommodation is mostly made of wood, with treehouse-style suites on stilts further aiding the serenity and facilitating some impromptu sort-of-forest-bathing. Dedicated tree-huggers can take things a step further by signing up for a ‘tree ritual’, which uses larch, mountain pine, Swiss stone pine and spruce, and consists of a peel, sauna time and a massage.
LEFAY RESORT & SPA DOLOMITI
Trentino
Ensuring the denizens of northern Italy and, soon, Switzerland have their wellbeing needs easily met is the destination-spa brand Lefay, which opened in Lake Garda in 2008. In 2019, the Dolomites outpost followed and this medi-spa is as well furnished as its older sibling. It’s the sort of place to come to when you’re in need of a full reboot, with programmes catering to every need, from solving sleep problems to getting fit. Guests can also sign up for a ‘ski and wellness’ package, which includes a pass for the Madonna di Campiglio runs, and post-piste sports and deep-tissue massages sure to speed up recovery.
Of course, you could always just visit for the Trentino slopes and use the spa solely for the purpose of warming up again afterwards. The indoor-outdoor pool awaits for swims with a soul-stirring view of the white and snowy or green and forested (delete according to season) peaks. The group’s third outpost, in Crans-Montana, is coming soon.
VALSANA HOTEL
Arosa, Switzerland
Nestled between Arosa’s frosty ranges is Valsana Hotel & Apartments: a cosy, colourful lodge. Within, the spa is a cosseting space with wicker easy-chairs and scented air. It has a comprehensive menu of treat-yourself massages and facials, but you’ll want to get your heart-rate up here. Your legs may be sore after the piste (and your head even more so, depending on how hard you’ve gone on the après), but a brisk forest run will do you good.
Raise your pulse without risking frostbite in the gym, which overlooks a twinkling, snow-tipped panorama of pine trees. Then ease yourself into the glazed-in pool to admire its festive views. Or feel the burn (lovely, toasty warmth) in the reclaimed-wood sauna and Jacuzzis. You’ll leave on a Heidi high.
THE CAMBRIAN
Adelboden, Switzerland
The Cambrian is a showcase of svelte Swiss minimalism, using the colours of the native flag with some sultry blacks and greys. This restraint shifts focus to Adelboden’s straight-from-an-Alpen-advert views, as is correct.
But decadence abounds here, too: the spa throws all the goodness of nature at you. Take the Alpine-honey body-scrub with mountain-salt crystals — this burnishing treatment sees you drizzled in bee bling liked a bowl of muesli and saltily buffeted like a brisk seaside walk. Chase this with some ’erbs to take the edge off: a warming mountain-moor herbal pack plus back massage, or a leg and foot massage with heated pillows.
LE LODGE PARK
Megève, France
Ski lodge trappings — furry throws, barn-wood finishes, tartan, antlers — are thrown together with stylish French insouciance in Megève’s Le Lodge Park. Its spa, all rough stone and rustic wood, has a relaxation room with a trompe l’oeil forest on the walls and a Jacuzzi.
Its treatment menu is delectable: we’d choose the Le Gommage Cristaux de Neige scrub, which is sure to slough away tension. On your second visit, up the après-piste ante with Le Secret du Skieur: a tip-to-toe treatment with a sports massage and hot-stone healing.
LAGACIÓ HOTEL MOUNTAIN RESIDENCE
South Tyrol, Italy
We’re taking a trip to South Tyrol in the Dolomites, where we’ll go for a roll in the hay — but not that kind. Lagació Hotel‘s La Palsa Spa offers a traditional (allegedly) hay bath, where you’re covered with cow chow and Alpine herbs in order to be infused with their goodness as you swelter. It’s not for everyone, but, hay: it’s worth a go…
If not, perhaps a volcanic-mud wrap is your poison, or a massage using herbs or honey. A quick schwitz in the suite of saunas will see you right, too.
ELEVEN DEPLAR FARM
Troll Peninsula, Iceland
If schlepping out to the icy — and already fairly isolated Troll Peninsula — to stay at luxurious homestead Eleven Deplar Farm doesn’t get you far enough away from it all, hop into one of the spa’s I-Sopod flotation tanks. Being shut in a stylish watery coffin in total darkness will allow for the deep reflection you’ve come all that way to seek. Claustrophobes, steer clear, but otherwise, it’s an experience that some find transcendental.
After the dark, comes the light: stay a spell in the sunroom to re-adjust (or to top up when there’s round-the-clock darkness) and a nighttime swim in the pool to see the stars reflected, and, if you’re lucky, those shy Northern Lights.
LE GRAND BELLEVUE
Gstaad, Switzerland
Le Grand Bellevue‘s hay sauna is a new take on smoking grass, which uses warmed hay instead of wood or stone. Grasses release their active elements into the steam, working their natural magic on the respiratory system and leaving you feeling meadow-fresh. By the end, you’ll conclude that being ‘born in a barn’ may not be a bad thing.
The healing doesn’t stop there: as one of Gstaad’s fanciest, Le Grand Spa has 17 wellness zones to hit. Tick off the herbal and Finnish saunas, thermal circuit, salt-inhalation grotto and ice fountain to leave feeling fully recharged.
Want to feel more in-the-snow? Discover our favourite family-friendly ski hotels in France and our pick of the best ski hotels in the US