A Conversation with Maria Hauser: At Home at the Stanglwirt

Some hotels impress you the moment you arrive. Stanglwirt makes you feel as though you have stepped through the entrance into an entirely different world.

After the journey from Munich, through rolling meadows, neat Alpine villages and landscapes that seemed almost too picturesque to be real, I thought I had already experienced the best of the arrival. Then I walked into the hotel and saw Lipizzaner horses moving gracefully around an indoor riding arena beyond the reception windows.

It was unexpected, theatrical and completely enchanting.

Beyond the horses were flickering fireplaces, carved timber, weathered stone and the unmistakable outline of the Wilder Kaiser mountains. Nothing felt staged simply for the benefit of visitors. Stanglwirt felt like a place with its own history, rhythm and living identity—a world that had been growing here for centuries.

For a few days, I was invited to become part of it.

Modern life has a way of gradually replacing curiosity with responsibility. Work, family, deadlines and an endless list of things requiring attention can leave little room for wonder.

I arrived at Stanglwirt expecting a restorative wellness retreat. What I found was something less tangible but perhaps more valuable: a reminder of what it feels like to be surprised.

The resort has welcomed guests for more than 400 years and has remained in the Hauser family since 1722. Today, it combines a working organic farm with a five-star hotel, extensive wellness facilities, sport, nature and traditional Tyrolean hospitality.

Yet its appeal is not simply the scale of what is available. It is the way the experience unfolds. Around one corner there are horses; around another, a hidden pool, a rock sauna or a view of the mountains. There are tennis courts, a boxing ring, a fitness garden, a children’s farm and spaces created purely for stillness.

At a time when many wellness trips are built around strict programmes and relentless self-improvement, Stanglwirt offers another possibility. You can come here to train, hike and challenge yourself, but you can also come simply to sleep, breathe and rediscover your capacity for delight.

Stanglwirt sits in Going am Wilden Kaiser, close to Kitzbühel in the Austrian Tyrol. The Wilder Kaiser mountain range rises dramatically behind the resort, providing the kind of view that repeatedly draws your attention away from your phone and back towards the landscape.

The hotel feels substantial, but it does not sit apart from its surroundings like a conventional luxury resort. It is connected to a working organic farm and shaped by its Alpine heritage. Timber buildings, grazing land, horses and mountain views create a strong sense of place.

There is something grounding about waking beneath the mountains. They provide perspective without asking anything of you. Even when you are not hiking, skiing or cycling, their presence changes the tempo of the day.

The setting works throughout the seasons. Summer brings hiking, cycling, golf, swimming, tennis and riding, while winter opens the surrounding landscape to skiing, snowboarding and other mountain pursuits.

The rooms at Stanglwirt continue the feeling of Alpine warmth rather than switching into anonymous international luxury.

Traditional craftsmanship is paired with natural materials, including untreated Swiss stone pine, solid timber, pure wool and linen. The result is tactile and comforting: rooms that smell faintly of wood, feel connected to the mountains and encourage you to slow down.

My room opened onto a balcony overlooking snow-dusted peaks. The view was so arresting that, for the first few minutes, the room itself almost became secondary.

Inside, the scent of local stone pine created a calm, cocooning atmosphere. I slept deeply throughout my stay—something my sleep tracker appeared equally enthusiastic about.

This is not minimalist design in the polished, pared-back sense. There is warmth, pattern, carved wood and a strong regional identity. The aesthetic is traditional, generous and deeply rooted in the Tyrol.

Some rooms and suites include open fireplaces or tiled stoves, while the wider accommodation ranges from double rooms and studios to spacious family rooms and large suites.

Wellbeing at Stanglwirt is not confined to a treatment room. It exists across the landscape, architecture, movement programme, food, water and opportunities for rest.

The dedicated spa covers approximately 1,500 square metres, while the resort’s wider wellness worlds extend across more than 12,000 square metres. These include pools, saunas, steam rooms, relaxation spaces, separate family facilities and areas reserved for quieter adult wellbeing.

The scale means it takes time to understand what is here. You might discover a waterfall grotto, a rock whirlpool, a natural bathing lake, a salt-steam grotto or a sauna scented with local spruce. There are spaces for families and more silent areas designed for deeper retreat.

My stay formed part of a retreat led by celebrity trainer Ramona Braganza, whose approach brought together fitness, mindfulness and sustainable wellbeing. The sessions encouraged movement without making exercise feel punitive.

A sound bath with singer and healer Sharlene Perlinger became one of the most memorable moments. Her voice and the therapeutic frequencies seemed to dissolve the usual background noise of thought, leaving the body heavy, quiet and deeply relaxed.

I also experienced a massage focused on tension in my neck and back. It was the kind of treatment that does not simply make you feel better for an hour but reminds you how much tension you had accepted as normal.

Guests who prefer a more active approach can use the fitness garden, join classes or explore the resort’s extensive sporting facilities. Stanglwirt allows you to move between exertion and recovery according to what you need that day.

Food at Stanglwirt feels abundant, celebratory and firmly connected to its Tyrolean roots.

Breakfast brings fresh fruit, breads, organic produce and homemade specialities, including ingredients from the resort’s own farm. Even after several mornings, it felt as though there were still corners of the breakfast offering I had not discovered.

Dining options range from modern, lighter dishes and vegan choices to Mediterranean-style sharing menus and traditional Alpine cooking. Restaurant Dreiklang serves breakfast alongside changing multi-course dinners and themed buffet evenings, while Leni’s offers lighter daytime dishes and Mediterranean food in the evening.

The most atmospheric meal of my visit was inside the original Gasthof Stangl, where guests have been welcomed for centuries. The rustic dining rooms, historic details and windows looking towards the cowshed created an experience that felt inseparable from the property’s story.

This is not a destination centred on restriction or austere wellness cuisine. Nourishment here means high-quality ingredients, local traditions, pleasure and the luxury of taking time over a meal.

The day might begin with coffee on the balcony as the early light moves across the Wilder Kaiser.

After breakfast, you could join a fitness or yoga session, walk into the surrounding countryside or choose a more energetic morning of tennis, riding, cycling or mountain exploration.

By late morning, you may find yourself in the wellness world, moving between the pools, saunas and quiet relaxation areas. A treatment before lunch could loosen the last traces of tension carried from home.

Lunch might be something fresh and light at Leni’s, followed by an afternoon with no particular plan. You could read beside the water, explore the children’s farm with younger guests, watch the Lipizzaner horses or simply continue discovering the resort.

Later, there might be a sound bath, another swim or a final moment outside as the mountains change colour.

The evening begins with dinner—perhaps a multi-course menu or traditional Tyrolean food in the historic Gasthof—before returning to a room scented with pine and falling into the kind of sleep that only fresh mountain air and a full day outdoors seem able to produce.

Stanglwirt is difficult to define because it is not simply one thing.

It is a five-star hotel and a working organic farm. It is a serious wellness destination and an adventure playground. It is somewhere you can train hard, sleep deeply, eat generously, sit in silence or watch Lipizzaner horses from the hotel bar.

What stays with me is not one treatment, meal or room, but the sense that the property has a heartbeat of its own.

Despite its scale and reputation, it retains the warmth of a family home and the character of a place shaped slowly over generations. The luxury comes not only from the facilities, but from the craftsmanship, the landscape and the feeling that the people behind it remain personally connected to its future.

I arrived hoping to rest. I left having rediscovered something I had not realised was missing: wonder.

Roam rating: A richly layered Alpine retreat for travellers who want nature, movement, heritage and serious wellness without giving up warmth, pleasure or a sense of play.