HIGH AND MIGHTY

Ski season is in full swing, and we’ve found three luxurious, contemporary alternatives to the traditional Swiss chalet

ARLBERG 1800 The Austrian skiing village of St Anton is home to Arlberg 1800 (top), a resort-slash-cultural-quarter that has its own concert hall, art gallery and the largest ‘ big bottle’ – magnums and upwards – wine cellar in the world. New for this year are 17 cosy loft-style suites that all feature open fires, Sonos music systems and Egyptian cotton sheets, not to mention saunas, ice showers and direct access to the slopes. Thanks to the new ski lift that connects the towns of Lech, Zurs, Stuben and St Christoph with St Anton, guests have more than 340 kilometres of ski slopes on their doorstep. From £2,000 for seven nights based on six people sharing a suite (arlberg1800.at). CHALET WEISS SPA Over in Kitzbühel in Austria, this is the ultimate luxury accommodation. With five floors and space for 14 guests, Chalet Weiss (above) is big and expensive, but its USP is the spa, which includes a pool, sauna and hammam. Daily housekeeping and a concierge come as standard, with full catering – including Champagne, dinners and homemade afternoon tea on return from the slopes – and a chauffeur service available. From £35,950 for 14 people, fully catered, for seven days ( brambleski.com). HALB HAUS London architect Jonathan Tuckey specialises in modernising old buildings, and while he and his family were living in the Swiss Alps hamlet of Andermatt he spotted this 17th-century chalet (right), which had been partially destroyed in the 1960s (its name is German for ‘Half House’). He set about restoring it, then the family moved in. Now that it’s not their permanent home, the house is available to rent. £260 per night (urlaubsarchitektur.de).