High up in the clean air of the Dolomites is the quintessential Alpine town of Ortisei, where you find the magnificent Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti. Starting in 1810, the Dolomiti was the first hotel for Adler, creating an ethos of luxury and relaxation where the guest is the focus. That mantra continues today: You are at the heart of your stay.
As you arrive at the Adler Spa Resorts Dolomiti, you see the original building where the Adler story started in 1810, and a plaque stating the date proudly stands over the impressive door. It looks like time has not changed, and you are in the pages of a children’s book by Hans Christian Andersen.
Coloured Alpine Chalets adorn the town with the front of the original Adler Dolomiti, a pastel pink. You don’t enter the hotel through the wooden door now; there is an inviting entrance around the corner where staff in traditional South Tyrolian dress greet you.
Adler Spa resort Dolomiti is in South Tyrol, a mountainous region embracing Austria and Italy, inhabited by proud people who still live the life of previous generations of Alpine settlers.
Most speak three languages: German, Italian and Labin; Labin is related to Latin and unique to the region. The hotel staff can also speak English, which saves any embarrassment from struggling to order breakfast.
The expansive entrance lounge has an inviting log fire centrally positioned, surrounded by comfortable chairs and sofas, making a superb meeting point for groups either leaving for a day out or possibly coming back from skiing.
On the same level, close to the lounge, is the cocktail bar with a dining area and entry to a terrace, with fire pits ignited in the evening. You also have the ornate staircase down to the dining rooms before you walk through the extended and modernised building.
It has been beautifully designed by the architect who realises all the Adler properties, and it blends magnificently with the original buildings using locally sourced materials.
The facilities span the small town of Ortisei but remain on land that has always belonged to the family, and it is ideally located for access to the ski area.
All parts of the building are spacious, with plenty of glass, allowing light to flood in and providing spectacular views. Flowers are replaced daily with beautiful nosegays filling the communal areas and giving beautiful displays.
Accommodation
The Adler Dolomiti has several types of rooms, from a room for single occupancy with a queen-sized bed to a family suite that can accommodate five people. All rooms are equipped with the latest technology and everything you will need for a stay of any length.
What you will probably use the most is the white robe you will soon get used to wearing all day if staying inside the hotel—more about that when describing the Spa areas.
The Junior Suites are palatial for double occupancy with a balcony and guaranteed superb views.
The beds are sumptuous and coveting, but there is so much to do inside and outside the hotel; however much you want to spend time in your bed, you will want to leave it to experience the activities.
Dining
Buffet Breakfast
The breakfast buffet offers a cornucopia of savoury and sweet delights, with so much choice that what to put on your plate first is a dilemma. Hot food is continually being prepared and placed on platters for guests to take, or you may wish to order from the dedicated chef who prepares eggs how you want them. They will also cook bacon and sausages to go with your eggs so your food is hot.
A magnificent selection of local cheese and cold meats partners with the homemade loaves of bread baked daily. If you want something sweet, pancakes and waffles are made to order, or a grand array of cakes and pastries are available to meet your desire.
The hotel caters to vegans, vegetarians, and guests with allergies, and if you can’t find something you like, the chefs will do their best to create something for you.
Lunch is buffet style, and you can order from the menu, but this is the only meal that is extra as usual bookings are half board with breakfast and dinner included.
The Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti hosts their extremely popular Cake Hour between lunch and dinner at 3.30 pm in the bar area. Guests can indulge in all types of sweet treats with approximately a dozen dishes.
Apple Strudel, a speciality dish of the region, is always available, and if you wish to add to the decadence, there is mouthwatering vanilla creme anglais to pour over it.
Other local delicacies are the cherry tart with crumbly short pastry and cherry jam filling and the moist almond cake, which is light on the lips.
Dinner
The Head Chefs across the Adler facilities have many years of experience, often working abroad before returning to Italy. The dishes they create are worthy of Michelin Stars, and this is displayed with the choices available on the A La Carte menu and daily specials.
Before you enjoy your Starter and Main, you can help yourself to the buffet, which, like breakfast, is an amalthea’s horn of choices. The Starters and Mains are often traditional regional dishes given an elevation of gastronomy to make them fine dining dishes.
The Spa
After all that food, you will want to take advantage of all the facilities available in the Spa areas. Perhaps this is the main reason for choosing the Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti, with its focus on physical and mental health.
The white robes in your room now come into their own, with lots of guests spending all day with their robes on, apart from when in the pools, hot tubs, saunas or having treatment.
Wellness and Activities
Grotto
The Grotto area is the family-orientated spa area, a multi-level and multi-sensory experience. Guests enter from the upper pool level and enjoy different saunas and steam rooms via a spiral staircase, which ends at a plunge pool. You can revisit the rooms on your way up the stairs or head back to the main pool level.
Finnish Sauna
The adults-only Finnish Spa complex is the latest augmentation to the Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti. The recently built Finnish Spa is the height of luxury for the mind and body.
There is a steam room and two large saunas at different temperatures; one room is a Hay Sauna, where fresh Hay helps guests breathe and smells glorious, and the other sauna is at a higher temperature, where several specialist sessions are held to enhance the experience.
Outside is a large freezing cold plunge pool, and the generous-sized hot tub is on another side of the facility.
The building is simplistic in design, made from local wood, and truly elegant. Plenty of showers are located throughout the building, and there is a refreshment station where hot and cold water is available.
The Swimming Pools
There are two main pools, the largest being the outside-heated one, surrounded by stone walkways and relaxation areas. It is lit at night, which allows you to swim under the stars; it is magical.
The other pool is an inside/outside pool where you enter from inside on the upper level, and if you choose to, you can swim through automatic glass doors to the outdoor section, which merges with a jacuzzi pool. You can get massaged by jets under the water or from monsoon water plunging from overhead fountains; it is a thoroughly invigorating and enjoyable experience.
Treatments
At the Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti, there are a myriad of treatments available, from basic massages to the latest trend of Cryotherapy, where you are exposed to temperatures of minus 160 Celsius to stimulate your circulation system, skin and brain.
The Spa area has a Hair Salon and nail studio, so guests are covered for all aspects of beauty inside and out.
Gym and Fitness Options
On the theme of feeling good physically and mentally, there is a well-equipped gym with Instructors on hand to help with your requirements. A studio is available for people to participate in Yoga, dance or work out away from the main area.
Things to Do
The Adler Dolomiti staff can organise many activities for you that come with your stay at the hotel and spa, or you can use the hotel booking system through the TV in your room or your smartphone to plan your activities.
Yoga classes are extremely popular, and small class sizes get booked quickly, so get your name down early.
Hiking
Adler can provide a local guide to explore the mountains with walks planned around guests’ abilities. It is also easy to take a trail map from Reception and follow numerous signed walks leading out from the hotel. The information details the estimated length of the walk and the ease or difficulty of each route.
Skiing
The most popular activity for guests staying at Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti is skiing, and the hotel is ideally placed to allow guests a near ski-in, ski-out service. Minutes from the hotel’s ski room is the Ortisei ski Gondola, the gateway to the area’s ski runs.
It is beneficial when you are going out for a day of skiing, but you will appreciate it even more when you have completed your activity. You take the escalator down from the Gondola, and a few steps away is the conveniently located and secure ski room for Dolomiti guests.
Plenty of space allows many people to change in a relaxed atmosphere and sigh as both ski boots come off.
The town of Ortisei is picturesque, and a pleasant stroll lets you take in the churches, shops and market stalls. From the 1st of December, the town has a Christmas market with plenty of colourful stalls selling local food, drink, and festive products.
You can have all the luxury you want in some hotels but not feel comfortable in yourself, whereas, at Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti, your mind will be at peace.
From the first Bonjourno to the Arrivederci, the professional, friendly, and passionate staff put you at ease and care for you. You experience true luxury in body and soul through relaxation and wellness where, like the eagle, you fly free high in the mountains.
Adler Dolomiti- Where and How?
Adler Dolomiti is in the small town of Ortisei, A three-hour drive from Milan Bergamo airport, where you can have a taxi collect you or hire a car through Adler’s Friends scheme at Sixt car rental, where you get heavily discounted prices.
You can get the train from Milan airport to Bolzano, which is about a forty-minute drive to Adler Dolomiti.
You can also fly to Innsbruck in Austria, and the journey to Ortisei is 90 minutes by car.
A new airline, Sky Alps, runs two weekly flights from Standsted to Bolzano, which is only 40 minutes by car to the hotel.
Also in Ortisei is Adler Balance, an impressive large building overlooking Adler Spa Resort Dolomiti. It is a hotel focusing on medical procedures where the guests recuperate in luxurious accommodation and have the choice of supreme food.
Doctors and Clinicians can practice many surgeries, rehabilitation, dietary interventions and more. You have a full consultation before arriving and plan your procedure around your stay within the hotel.
If you would like to learn more about Adler, please visit www.adler-resorts.com.
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