Where the forest meets the sky at 1,800 metres

The road climbs through South Tyrolean forest, switchback after switchback, until the tree line thins and the pale limestone towers of the Plose massif rise into view. Forestis Dolomites sits at 1,800 metres above sea level, a contemporary alpine retreat built into the mountainside where a children's sanatorium once stood over a century ago. The architecture is defined by its materials: local wood, natural stone, and walls of glass that frame the surrounding peaks with a reverence that feels almost devotional. Every element of the design draws the landscape inward, collapsing the boundary between interior warmth and the wild verticality outside.

The 62 suites are organized around this principle of openness, each one finished in hand-selected woods and oriented to capture unobstructed views of the Dolomites, the Odle mountain range, or the vast Isarco Valley below. Categories range from the more intimate Nature rooms to the expansive Penthouse Suites, all featuring private balconies or terraces, freestanding bathtubs, and a natural material palette of stone, larch, and loden. The interiors are spare and considered, designed to quiet the mind rather than impress it. Even the smallest details, from the handcrafted fixtures to the oak flooring, reflect an almost monastic attention to craft.

Wellness at Forestis is not an amenity but the architecture's reason for being. The property's healing philosophy is rooted in four elemental pillars: water, forest, stone, and altitude. The spa spans multiple levels and includes indoor and outdoor pools, Finnish and herbal saunas, a salt grotto, treatment rooms offering therapies derived from local alpine botanicals, and a dedicated forest bathing program. A rooftop infinity pool, heated year-round and perched at the mountain's edge, offers what may be one of the most quietly dramatic swimming experiences in Europe. The fitness area and yoga offerings complement a holistic approach that prioritizes stillness and recovery over spectacle.

Dining leans into the terroir of South Tyrol with precision and restraint. The restaurant serves a cuisine built around regional ingredients, many of them foraged or sourced from the surrounding alpine landscape. Meals follow the rhythms of the mountain seasons, moving between fresh herbs and wild greens in summer and preserved, root-driven menus in winter. A lighter bar menu and afternoon tea service extend the day's culinary arc. Breakfast is generous and unhurried, with local dairy, house-baked breads, and cured meats that speak to the region's Austrian-Italian duality.

The surrounding landscape offers alpine hiking trails in warmer months, with direct access from the property into the UNESCO-listed Dolomite peaks. Winter transforms the setting into ski terrain, with the Plose ski area beginning just steps away. Yet the rhythm of Forestis tends to pull guests inward rather than outward. There is a quality to the light here, the silence of altitude, the particular way the mountain air enters a room through an open terrace door, that makes departure feel like something you need to prepare for rather than simply do.