We recently took a family trip to South Tyrol (Südtirol), in the Dolomites. While I won’t be writing a full trip report series about the trip (reviewing flights thoroughly while wrangling two little kids is impossible), I did want to review some of the individual portions of it, and in this short series, would like to focus on our time in South Tyrol, in the Dolomites.
This was my first time visiting the region since I was a little kid, and I was so excited to return. In this post I’d like to talk about our time there in general, and then three hotel reviews will follow, of the places we stayed. Long story short, if you love mountain activities (especially in summer), amazing food, and an interesting culture, this is a place you should absolutely put on your list.
I already can’t wait to return. There are even some cool points hotel options, both belonging to Small Luxury Hotels of the World (via the Hilton Honors partnership), and Design Hotels (affiliated with Marriott Bonvoy).
Why we decided to visit South Tyrol for a summer trip
As longtime OMAAT readers know, I have a connection to Germany — both of my parents are from Germany (I have dual citizenship), and most of my relatives still live there. For that matter, Ford loves languages, and he picked up German at the start of the pandemic, and is fluent at this point. We’d also like our kids to have a connection to the culture, so we try to travel there when we can.
Anyway, this summer we had a month-long trip to Europe, starting in Skiathos, Greece, and ending in Sylt, Germany. Between those two places, we had a period of around 11 days. So several weeks back, I posed the question on the blog of whether there are any charming hotels in Germany or Austria that I wasn’t thinking of. There’s plenty of natural beauty in the southern part of Germany and Austria, and I’ve enjoyed my time in places like Berchtesgaden, Salzburg, etc. However, I was hoping for something else unique.
Several people brought up South Tyrol, and that reminded me that I had visited the region when I was a little kid, but not since. With my memory having been jogged, that immediately became the obvious choice for this trip.
For those not familiar, South Tyrol is an autonomous region in northern Italy (with a fascinating history), located in the Dolomites. It’s also interesting culturally, as it’s a mix between feeling like you’re in Germany (well, or Austria) and Italy, in terms of the language, food, etc.
The easiest way to get there is to fly into Innsbruck (INN), and then it’s a roughly two-hour drive. But you can also fly into Munich (MUC), and then it’s around a four-hour drive. In our case, we fly into Innsbruck, which I was excited about as an avgeek, as it’s a unique airport — I remember always flying into this in Microsoft Flight Simulator, back when I was a kid… good times!
South Tyrol is has so much to offer as a destination
I’m not going to write a detailed guide about South Tyrol, but instead, I’d like to share my big picture thoughts on this as a summer destination. South Tyrol is made up of all kinds of charming little towns, so there are endless choices as to where to stay, and there’s no single best option.
We ended up staying at three different hotels (20-60 minutes apart by car), and then made little day trips around the region. On the most basic level, the scenery in South Tyrol is just breathtakingly gorgeous, no matter where you look. It almost doesn’t look real.
Even beyond the scenery in the region, the towns as such are charming and historic. For example, one of the places we stayed was the town of Castelrotto, and we happened to be there on “Church Day” (Kirchtag), which was fun to watch.
The activities in the area are endless, from hiking, to cable cars, to wineries. It’s a great family destination, given the access to the outdoors (all the little towns also have playgrounds), but it’s also a great couples destination, given how spa oriented it is.
Speaking of spas, just about all the hotels in the area place huge emphasis on facilities dedicated to wellbeing, since that’s kind of one of the selling points of the region. So while you can use hotels as a base for exploring the region, plenty of people just enjoy the hotel facilities as well.
The food and wine in South Tyrol were also truly incredible. As you’d expect for a region like this, there’s a huge culture around food and wine, and goodness, it didn’t disappoint. I love how the food is kind of a hybrid between Italian and Austrian classics, so whether you want a wiener schnitzel, raclette, or a plate of pasta, you won’t be disappointed. Honestly, I don’t remember ever having so many consecutively excellent meals.
Oh, also, since this is technically in northern Italy, the coffee quality is next level, which I was delighted by.
I also thought it was interesting how few American visitors there were. A vast majority of the travelers we encountered were Germans, with Italians probably making up the second largest group. After that, I was surprised that the next biggest groups were from Asia (China, Japan, and Korea), which I wouldn’t have necessarily expected.
I think on the entire trip we heard maybe five people speaking American English, so that was certainly unusual for Europe in summer!
South Tyrol has a good selection of charming hotels
South Tyrol has almost no cookie cutter chain hotels, with the exception of the Four Points by Sheraton Bolzano (you don’t actually want to stay in Bolzano — it’s the industrial capital of the region). However, there are several options affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (allowing you to earn or redeem Hilton Honors points), and with Design Hotels (allowing you to earn or redeem Marriott Bonvoy points).
Personally, we stayed at the following three properties:
- Miramonti Boutique Hotel, Small Luxury Hotels of the World; this is an incredible property I can’t recommend enough, and best of all, we booked it with Hilton Honors points
- Hotel Schwarzschmied, Marriott Design Hotels; we enjoyed this hotel and it was the lowest price of the hotels we stayed at, with an amazing view, but it was my least favorite of the three (but it was still great!)
- Hotel Schgaguler, Marriott Design Hotels; we loved this hotel as well, despite some of its quirks, and in particular, the half board was really great
Even beyond the hotels we stayed at, there are many others to choose from. For one, I’ve heard Forestis Dolomites is absolutely amazing, and more than one person has told me this is their favorite hotel in the world. However, it’s very pricey and adults only, so wasn’t right for this trip.
Beyond the ones we stayed at, the selection of Marriott Design Hotels properties in the region is nothing short of astounding, and each looks charming. Beyond the two we stayed at, there are also the following six options:
- Villa Arnica is the smaller and more charming sister property of Hotel Schwarzschmied, but it was sold out on the days we were staying, and is also adults only
- 1477 Reichhalter is another sister property to Hotel Schwarzschmied and Villa Arnica, and it’s located in the actual center of the town of Lana, with just eight rooms
- Parkhotel Mondschein is another property we considered, but which wasn’t available for our dates
- Hotel Greif is a charming-looking hotel located in the city of Bolzano; I don’t have any interest in staying here, but it looks better than the Four Points!
- Arua Private Spa Villas consists of several two-bedroom villas, so it’s a great option for families
- Viglius Mountain Resort is literally located on top of a mountain and is accessibly by chairlift, so that’s cool, but probably not that practical
Even beyond the larger hotels with dozens of rooms, there are endless little bed & breakfasts and inns, with just a handful of rooms, and I imagine you can’t go wrong with them either.
Bottom line
I can’t believe it took me so long to return to South Tyrol as an adult, but I can highly recommend a trip, especially in summer. What a fascinating region, in terms of the scenery, food, language, etc. South Tyrol feels like it’s right out of a fairytale, and our family had a great time there. Now, the heat wave that we dealt with the entire time we were there was less than ideal, but other than that, we had a fantastic time, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Stay tuned, as I have a few hotel reviews on the way.
If you’ve visited South Tyrol, what was your experience like?