The history of luxury ski accommodation is largely tied to the wider history of ski holidays. Back when downhill skiing began in the late 19th century the participants were either “local eccentrics” who actually lived in ski resorts, or wealthy early tourists, often Brits, who could afford to travel but demanded the finer things in life. A host of luxury hotels grew up in what are now famous ski resorts and many of these are still going and famous today.
Through the 20th century, skiing became more affordable and ski chalets, apartments and more modest hotels appeared to cater for the rest of us, able to just about scrape together the cost of our budget ski holidays.
The consequence of all this is that there have not been many new luxury ski hotels in the past 50 years. That’s not to say that new establishments rated five stars have not been appearing in the Alps, it’s just that most are a little lacking in imagination, just mountain outlets of global chains, a little more comfortable than the average but you can’t see them having longevity like the great establishments that first appeared 100-150 years ago. With a few exceptions like the Ultima range, most of the new real luxury ski properties are the crazily over-the-top chalets that have appeared by the dozen in resorts like Courchevel and Val d’Isere and cost tens of thousands a week to stay in.
Forsthofgut
All of this preamble is to underline what a remarkable achievement the Naturhotel Fortshofgut in the little ski village of Leogang is. In a move that mirrors the Badrutt family of St Moritz a century and a half ago whose original guest house now sits in a corner of the vast luxury Kulm Hotel, built into the fabric of the building. Somehow the Schmuck family have gone from living on a fairly basic parcel of farmland, which they acquired nearly 120 years and five generations ago, much of it forest and a good part of the year buried under snow to running one of the most spectacular luxury ski accommodations in the world.
It all began in 1960 when the grandparents of current managers Christoph and Christina, rented a couple of rooms for bed and breakfast. Today it’s a spectacular multi-million Euro hotel, employing more than 200 staff with wellness, fantastic food and an amazing spa complex at its heart, along with its own ski piste running right through the heart of the hotel’s buildings.
It’s hard to fathom how it could go from A to B under one family’s ownership, but visiting today you can see just why it is so popular and so different to everywhere else on the market. The decision to turbocharge the operation was made in 2006 by Christoph’s father Rupert, but the transformation from a bed and breakfast to a large luxury nature hotel had strong roots and it’s this that’s at the heart of the Fortshofgut’s success and appeal today.
“What’s now the hotel complex was a big playground for us as children. Growing up with animals was the best thing for me. That’s why I still have a strong connection to nature today,” says Christoph, adding “The hotel should be an anchor for the family, for the guests and the employees, something permanent, a rock in times that are becoming increasingly confusing.”
Christoph’s enthusiasm for his hotel, and that of the whole Fortshofgut, is palpable in every aspect of the hotel’s operation, from the bars to the spas to the organic restaurant menu.
So what’s so special about it? Well, there’s so much here that it’s hard to know where to begin.
The Food!
One of the biggest things about The Fortshofgut’s appeal is the food, the options are incredible.
For the majority of guests who are on a half-board package, there’s a choice of seven different stylish dining rooms, with a slightly different atmosphere in each which you can choose to your taste. Some suit families, others like the elegant Blumen Stube and Red Salon are reserved for adults only.
Families though are looked after to amazingly high standards, with special areas, menus and buffet sections for kids.
In each, there’s a choice of three set menus from which you can mix and match courses from Vegan, Alpine or the remarkable R50 menu. R50 is a low-food-miles menu using only home-produced ingredients from no further than 50km away.
But it gets better. Salad courses, cheese plates and others like bakeries or breakfast items are self-selected in the incredible Genussmarkt (Delicacies Market) which is like a kind of fantasy food hall where every food you could dream of awaits, and of an exceptionally high standard. There’s a special kids’ buffet section here too.
Part of the reason that the food is so good is that the Schmuck family own their own strictly organic farm, the historic Mauthof, which comprises 54 acres of sunny meadow and pastureland surrounded by 25 acres of forest.
Here they produce their own livestock while the forest supports indigenous and often ancient varieties of herbs berries and mushrooms. What the farm cannot produce is procured from truly local suppliers who share and follow similar traditional values and adopt the organic code. These include the Enn Family Farm for eggs where the chickens enjoy a sand bath, straw nests, and GMO-free organic feed and Johann Scheiber Farm for the finest full-bodied mountain cheeses while the Stechaubauern Farm delivers 70% of the organic veg the hotel uses. The list goes on. Butter, fish, milk, honey, even locally produced liqueurs. As does the list of dining options.
Echt. Gut Essen is an award-winning fine dining option with an a la carte service; show-kitchen setting; intimate gourmet dining and personal interaction with Chef Michael Helfrich. Restaurant 1617 has an à la carte Austrian-themed menu and is located within the Altholzstube which provides a stylish take on the traditional farmhouse parlour. Then there’s even a sushi restaurant called Mizūmi, located by the natural swimming lake and ski slope. It has an elegant far eastern style providing traditional Japanese dishes and original fusion with a twist to local organic recipes.
In summary, you are quite literally spoilt for choice.
The waldSPA
When the Forsthofgut opened the world’s first forest Spa (waldSPA) in 2013 it was a real statement that the hotel had arrived and was very different from anywhere else.
It has just kept growing over the past decade and now alongside the waldSPA Lake House Spa for adults and waldSPA Family & Kids for families (of which more later) there are extensive water features, multiple pools, saunas, treatment rooms; an Onsen bath and washhouse, infinity pool, a floating Finnish sauna and natural plunge pool spread across the hotel’s grounds. With the snow lying outside it’s a world of water in all of its forms, delivering pleasure whether warmed for soaking in or cold for skiing on.
The waldSPA, now covering 5,700 square metres, spread over four floors has everything from yoga and relaxation rooms to a 55°C bio sauna, infra-red cabin, steam bath, ice-fountain; panorama sauna, infinity pool (25m) and large whirlpool.
The waldSPA Lake House, connected to waldSPA via an underground passage, has three treatment rooms and a spacious relaxation lounge with 50 recliners and water beds. The outdoor onsen-style pool is incorporated into the hotel’s organic swimming lake incorporating an infinity pool (32°C), a high-tech whirlpool, and at its heart, a floating Finnish lake sauna and a natural plunge pool.
Riding Stables
One of the hotel’s newest attractions is a riding stables, and like everything the hotel does the quality of the facilities is far above what you would expect. There’s a large indoor arena, an outdoor manège, a spacious working yard, an extremely comfortable riders’ lounge and above the arena, a new studio exclusively for children and teenagers.
There are seven horses and two riding ponies for riding morning and afternoon, Monday to Saturday, year-round, with lessons for everyone from complete beginners to the most experienced. There are also three smaller ponies for tiny tots and two guest stables available for those who prefer to bring their own horses.
“Riding is a complete bond between man and nature,” he says, “it is entirely natural to have horses working on the land. I’m happy to have closed that circle by bringing them back,” says Christoph.
Unsurprisingly given the overall ethos of the Forsthofgut, the welfare of the animals ranks as highly as the happiness of guests. Not only is Sunday a rest day for the horses but there is also a horse solarium with infrared waves to warm them up in winter.
The Skiing?
Well yes, there is that too if you can face leaving the Fortshofgut. Leogang is part of one of Austria and the world’s biggest ski areas connected to Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Fieberbrunn in Austria’s SalzburgerLand region. The hotel is ski-in/ski-out with a piste running right through the middle of it , past the heated pools and under the bars and restaurants. There’s ski hire and lockers on site of course. Step out and it’s a 200-metre trundle on a gentle slope down to the nearest lift, then ski back down to the hotel on that dedicated piste. I mean it’s nice being collected by the hotel car at the end of your ski day in St Moritz, but this is much more convenient.
For Families
Families are at the heart of everything at the Fortshofgut with the next generation of the Schmuck family already attending meet-and-greet evenings with hotel guests!
Everything a family, with children of all ages, could need is carefully thought out with nothing too much trouble.
The biggest draw for many is the incredible family spa facilities which are kind of like your personal luxury Centerparcs with a multi-level family pool, spa and water fun area as well as a warm outdoor pool by the ski slope through the centre of the resort.
The 800m² family spa includes a large 21m indoor pool, kids’ waterworld with baby and toddler pools each with a slide and a separate pool including a 70m slide and speed-timer; aqua-play zone (fountains, geysers, waterfalls on the lower floor). There’s also a family pine sauna for all guests and a separate textile sauna for children aged 10 and older.
The hotel also has multiple playrooms and fun zones for families and kids. There’s also free daily childcare available from 9 am to 9 pm daily with Rocky’s Kids’ Club for children from 2-14 years with lunch and buffet supper (healthy, organic food of course) included. The club has its own spacious area including a children’s kitchen and nature studio.
The stables complex has its own mini-zoo where two alpacas, a donkey, babydoll sheep and rabbits all live and pygmy pigs, rabbits, Shetland ponies and goats enjoy a happy life in the miniGUT, the hotel’s 7½-acre miniature replica of a traditional Pinzgau farm. Younger guests are encouraged to help with caring and feeding.
The adjacent forest adventure playground is a place to burn off energy with treehouses, suspension bridges, Tarzan swings and streams; the reserve is home to fallow and red deer – Christoph Schmuck leads weekly visits at feeding time for all guests.
The Rest
Needless to say, a full programme of classes and activities runs throughout the season. Yoga is big with six shalas of local spruce complementing the large hotel yoga studio.
The hotel also has several bars including a speciality cocktail bar and organises wine tastings twice weekly.
The Early Years of Winter Holidays Revisited
What the Schmuck family have created in Leogang is quite incredible. While the facilities are fabulous, it’s the ethos of putting people, families and nature first that’s so different to what we usually expect and experience on our travels that’s so inspiring and refreshing. Everyone in the hotel, staff and guests, seem happy and pleasantly surprised to find themselves in this unexpected wonderland of comfort and pampering.
We weren’t there 150 years ago of course, but it does make me think of what those early decades of wintersports in the later 19th century might have been like. The era when hoteliers began building some of the great luxury hotels that have survived and in many cases thrived to this day. They too started from very little but with family and community support driven by excitement for the new enthusiasm for winter snow fun, became highly successful ventures.
These days the owners of those famous ski hotels are either remote families, probably no longer living in the area, or a corporation. At best you’ll be met by the manager, and they come and go. The Schmucks though are there to welcome you to their incredible home.
Although the ski slopes are right there, you just have to click your skis on and push off, and the ski area is one of the best in Europe, it can be very hard to make yourself leave the Fortshofgut’s premises.
Info:
The hotel is located an hour from Salzburg airport. Double Rooms from €550 per night (based on 2 sharing ¾-board for a minimum of 5 nights or more) with family Suites from €880 per night (based on 2 adults/2 kids to 9 yrs).