Sonnen Resort

Where South Tyrol Stops Being Only Alpine

Naturns sits at 528 metres, at the point where the Val Venosta opens toward Merano and the climate changes its mind. Apple orchards run to the edge of the village; the mountain wall of the Texel group stands behind it. The Sonnen Resort occupies the middle of all this, on Rathausstrasse in the village centre, and it has grown into something closer to a small wellness town than a hotel: a four-star superior house whose spa runs to nine thousand square metres and whose garden is planted for a Mediterranean afternoon rather than an Alpine one.

Why It Works

Most large wellness hotels ask you to choose between a spa holiday and a family holiday. This one refuses the choice, and that is what decided us. Children are supervised daily by staff who do it properly, while the rooftop infinity pool is kept for adults, so the two halves of a household can spend an afternoon apart without leaving the building. Around that sit ten pools, eleven saunas including a panoramic one, thermal spring water, a cold chamber that runs to minus one hundred and ten degrees, and flow therapy treatments in the water.

Why This Location

Naturns is a working village rather than a resort, which is the point of staying in it. The Val Venosta cycle route runs straight through, flat enough to ride to Merano or west toward Resia without planning. The Unterstell cable car lifts you from the village to Monte Sole at 1,300 metres, where the sunny-side trails and the irrigation paths begin, and it runs partly on solar power. Saint Proculus, a seventh-century church with pre-Carolingian frescoes, stands a short walk away with its own museum. The Knights Path loops out through the orchards for the best part of an afternoon. The Val Senales opens north toward the glacier.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€

• Vibe: Mediterranean-Alpine, spa-led, family-fluent, generous

• Rooms: Double rooms and suites, including family suites and rooftop family studios

• Best For: Families who want a serious spa, couples in shoulder season, cyclists on the valley route

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The adults-only infinity pool on the roof, above the orchards and level with the Texel wall

• Dining: Three-quarter gourmet board with a six-course dinner, terrace dining, and a garden laid for long lunches

• Amenities: 9,000 m2 spa, ten pools, eleven saunas including a panoramic one, thermal spring water, cold chamber to minus 110 degrees, flow therapy, daily childcare, garden and Mediterranean terraces, pets welcome

• Attractions: Unterstell cable car to Monte Sole, Saint Proculus church and museum, Val Venosta cycle route, Knights Path, Val Senales and its glacier

Nine Thousand Square Metres of Water and Heat

The number is easy to write and harder to picture. In practice it means you can spend a day inside the spa without repeating yourself: ten pools at different temperatures, indoors and out, eleven saunas of which one is glazed to the mountain, thermal spring water in the circuit, and a cold chamber for the guests who like their contrast severe. Flow therapy sessions are given in the water rather than on a table. The rooftop level is the one to aim for, and it is the one children do not reach.

A Board That Runs From Breakfast to Six Courses

The house works on three-quarter board, which here means breakfast, something substantial in the middle of the day, and a six-course dinner in the evening. The kitchen leans on the same double identity as the village, South Tyrolean produce cooked with a Mediterranean hand, and the terrace is set for the months when eating outdoors is the better idea. It is the arrangement that makes a week here easy: you stop thinking about where to eat on the second day.

What the Resort Does With Children

Childcare runs daily and is staffed rather than improvised, with an indoor and outdoor programme that survives bad weather. Family suites and rooftop family studios give a household separate sleeping corners instead of one large room with a folding bed. The result is a house where a family and a couple can share the same lift without either feeling out of place.