Travel

A retreat for culture vultures and spa lovers alike

A five-star spa resort in the Bavarian Alps

I’VE JUST ARRIVED at Schloss Elmau, a five-star spa resort in the Bavarian Alps. Walking through the grounds on the way to my room, the porter points out a bench with a view of the spectacular landscape. It’s the one that was splashed across newspapers worldwide in 2015, the year the resort hosted the G7 summit. Barack Obama and Angela Merkel were photographed sitting on it.

In the foothills of the Alps, 60 miles south of Munich, Schloss Elmau is famously secluded. In its own valley, there’s only one road in and out. Built over a century ago by Johannes Müller, a theologian and philosopher, it has always been promoted as a hotel to nourish the soul, offering both culture and nature. In 2007, it was reinvented as a luxury spa retreat. Today, it’s run by Dietmar Müller-elmau, the founder’s grandson, who maintains some of its original ideals: jazz concerts, salon debates on politics and philosophy, hikes through the untouched surroundings. New additions include award-winning spa facilities and Michelin-starred cuisine.

The hotel is spread across two main buildings: the Schloss (also known as the Hideaway), a turreted castle with open fires, vaulted ceilings and low lighting; and the Retreat where I’m staying, an airy construction of light and glass, with big bedrooms and enormous windows. The idea is that guests can ‘retreat’ into nature, surrounded by the panorama of pine trees and mountain ranges.

The Schloss and the Retreat are a short walk apart. Each has a spa and they have several restaurants between them – Fidelio, Thai; Tutto Mondo, Mediterranean; Luce d’oro, Michelin – so it never feels crowded.

The Shantigiri Spa, in the Retreat, is a warren of rooms where the core activity is to lie in peace, and includes a womenonly sauna, steam rooms and two outdoor swimming pools. The Badehaus Spa, in the Schloss, offers a daily programme of classes. Each day begins at 9am with an hour’s pre-breakfast yoga. The resident teacher is Chrissy Meister, and the style is jivamukti, one of the most physically demanding forms of yoga, and includes singing and chanting. Chrissy subtly adapts it to the ability of each individual.

Mornings are spent swimming, having a sauna, eating dried pears and drinking peppermint tea. One day I try a knot-unravelling massage. Afternoon sessions include Pilates, qigong (similar to tai chi) and a second yoga class.

Workouts accomplished, it’s time to retox. I do so with fondue and champagne in the resort’s baronial-style Kaminstrüberl restaurant, and another day, traditional cakes served daily in the Schloss at teatime, watching darkness fall over the valley.

The turreted castle of the Schloss Elmau resort. Below Angela Merkel and Barack Obama stayed at the hotel during the G7 summit in 2015