Schloss Elmau Luxury Spa Retreat & Cultural Hideaway

Schloss Elmau is a resort of two hotels set in a wide, sheltered valley in the Bavarian Alps, 1,000 metres above sea level. It began as a rest house built between 1914 and 1916 by philosopher Dr Johannes Müller for his readers. Fire gutted the listed building in 2005. His grandson, Dietmar Mueller-Elmau, rebuilt it in 2007 as a spa and cultural retreat, and added a second hotel, the Retreat, completed in 2015. Both are members of the Leading Hotels of the World. The Hideaway holds 100 rooms and suites of 20 to 110 square metres; the Retreat holds 47, from 60 to 200 square metres. Guests at either may use both hotels' spas and restaurants. There are six spas and nine pools between them, three reserved for adults only, including an infinity pool that stays at 35°C year-round. The concert hall has run for more than a century and stages some 140 to 160 concerts a year. It has twice hosted the G7 summit, in 2015 and 2022. The restaurant Ikigai holds two Michelin stars. You can swim, ski or hike depending on season, or walk the gravel path to the nearby lake.