A decadent Dolomite retreat devoted to high-mountain pleasure.
Long before arrival, the stage is artfully set and, at the top of a fairytale-worthy corkscrew road eleven miles above Brixen, dramatic glamour hangs in the pine-scented air. Succession meets White Lotus, with a South Tyrolean flutter of Eyes Wide Shut to keep things interesting. At once monastery and pleasure dome, Forestis is a study in contradictions – detox and decadence ladled out in equal measure.
At the entrance, the house Tesla X glides to a silent stop, its clamshell doors opening onto the first act. Voilà, the original 1910 chalet, once a retreat for the Austrian monarchy drawn to its healing waters, later a summer escape for the Vatican, presumably in search of peace on earth. Just beyond rise three futuristic towers, their pale façades and glassy silhouettes unashamedly un-alpine.
Add it all up, and Forestis is about subtraction. Outside, the glorious UNESCO Dolomites. Inside, minimalism rules. The old-world premises have been reborn as lobby, bar, lounge, and restaurant – all calming off-whites and panoramic windows – yet reached via an original and very creaky pine staircase that feels like a relic of a nobler, noisier age. Connected by long white corridors, the tower suites are deliberately spare. Pale parquet floors, simple white bedding, and louche balcony daybeds for sunset lounging and springtime tanning. Soft, mineral-rich Plose water flows freely from a nearby artesian well, filling deep Dolomite-stone tubs and ever-present carafes. For all the delights of the sleeping arrangements, restful as a monk’s retreat, there is much to keep you from staying in.
The Pools
Hidden like a secret bunker beneath a grassy hill, the spa is a masterpiece of design. Its stone-lined swimming pool is among the finest in the empire, shimmering inside, flanked by oversized loungers, and outside, stretching to infinity against a backdrop of the snowy Geislergruppe massif. This aquatic centrepiece, filled with clear mountain water, is only the beginning. A daily schedule offers mind-bending sound bath sessions, outdoor tree therapy, and yoga-influenced movement classes. Treatments follow an earth-meets-sky philosophy, including salt baths and wood-and-stone oil massages. All day long, saunas, jets, and showers hum. Tucked in the woods, a bonus chalet sauna comes with hot and cold plunges. The poolside scene, where fruit skewers appear on silver trays and handsome, be-robed Euros loll and scroll, is its own reward.
In the Bar
Evenings are a low-lit highlight, if you get the drift. This multi-oriented landscape of detox and decadence covers all the bases. After a day of self-improvement, it’s time to claim a stool in the darkly polished lair where alchemists and bartenders serve elixirs long in the making. Indeed, these drinkmasters have spent their Dolomiti summer picking, foraging, and drying the local bounty to our benefit. Herbs, nuts, bark, berries… perhaps a hay-infused gin martini, a cranberry negroni slow-brewed in a bain-marie, or the beeswax gin, whose honeycomb is part of a glass of art.
To the Table
In the restaurant amphitheatre, dining is a theatrical affair. Each private curved banquette is private; only the mountains are watching. The menu changes nightly, weaving hyper-local, organic ingredients into dishes that arrive as beautiful bits of art. Lamb, venison, lake trout… For those embracing a full-body reset, an (optional!) detox menu balances indulgence with clean, nourishing fare. At breakfast time, now in full-power sunshine, a matinee buffet of cured meats, Alpine cheeses, wild forest fruits, breads, cakes, and mueslis appear in stunning art-gallery format. There’s an entire juice room for concocting, whizzing, and experimenting with tonics and liquid treatments. Mountain gastronomy, couture precision.
Beyond These Gates
Who’s able to tug themselves away from the spruce oil and the jet therapies? The ski lifts of bijou Plose Mountain are steps away down a forest path, offering ski-in, ski-out access for a foray round the 45 kilometers of gentle pistes, and the nearby terrain well suited to ski touring, too. There’s forest bathing, guided hikes, snowshoeing, and Celtic Wyda rituals. A favourite? The “Woody Walk” to Rossheim, a sculpture-garden hike through a forest of mountain pine, spruce, and delicate larch. Because here, nature still has centre stage – and one of the finest infinity pools in the Dolomites.
