FORESTIS – the Dolomites retreat built on a 1912 sanatorium dream

On the sun-facing shoulder of the Plose mountain, 1,800 metres above Brixen, FORESTIS occupies the exact clearing the Austro-Hungarian monarchy chose in 1912 for a pulmonary sanatorium. Commissioned by the Austrian Emperor for its pure spring water and sunny climate, the pavilion was designed by architect Otto Wagner, but the First World War and Wagner's death stopped the project short, and the building eventually stood empty, swallowed by forest. South Tyrolean hotelier Alois Hinteregger found it again in 2000 and opened it as a hotel in 2009; a decade later his son Stefan Hinteregger and partner Teresa Unterthiner spent eight years rebuilding it, reopening in 2020 as FORESTIS, with three new timber towers beside the historic pavilion. The MICHELIN Guide gives it Two Keys, its distinction for an exceptional stay. What remains constant is the site itself: silence, altitude and a view of the Dolomites that has not needed improving in over a century.

01The house

The origins of FORESTIS go back to 1912, when doctors were sent to study the air, water and climate of the Plose; their findings prompted the decision to build a tuberculosis sanatorium for officials of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, designed by Otto Wagner and chosen by the Emperor for its pure spring water and sunny climate. War intervened before the pavilion was finished, and by the 1950s its medical role had faded; the building was eventually left dormant and hidden under decades of forest growth, after decades spent instead as a retreat for popes and priests. South Tyrolean hotelier Alois Hinteregger stumbled on the derelict property while hiking in 2000 and opened it as a hotel in 2009.

A decade on, his son Stefan Hinteregger and partner Teresa Unterthiner took over, spending eight years on a redevelopment that reopened the property as FORESTIS in 2020. Brixen-based architect Armin Sader added three structural towers clad in larch, their forms inspired by tree trunks, standing alongside the restored timber pavilion; the historic building's wooden façade is under monumental protection, and its South Tyrolean wooden ceilings and staircases were carefully preserved rather than replaced. For every tree felled during construction, two more were planted, part of a wider carbon-neutral approach to the build.

02Rooms and suites

The 62 suites are divided between the historic pavilion and the three towers, in four categories: Room (35 m²), Suite (50 m²), Tower Suite (55 m²) and Penthouse (200 m²). The 50 m² Suites, set in the historic building, have a king-size bed, a walk-in closet, a separate living area and a south-facing balcony looking straight at the Dolomites. The 55 m² Tower Suites add floor-to-ceiling glass and a balcony daybed set up for sleeping outdoors under the stars.

Insider tip

Reached via a forest road off the Plose/St. Andrä ski road from Brixen; hotel transfers available.

At the top of each tower sits a two-storey, 200 m² Penthouse, with a living area built around an open fireplace, and an upper floor given over entirely to a private rooftop pool filled with Plose spring water, alongside a spruce-wood sauna.

03Where to eat

Executive Chef Roland Lamprecht, who grew up in these mountains and worked through kitchens across Central Europe before returning home, built his cooking around what he calls forest cuisine: mushrooms, berries, nuts, pine and herbs foraged on the mountain, combined with produce from local farmers, with nothing brought in from outside Italy. The main restaurant is step-shaped, each table set into its own alcove for privacy, with floor-to-ceiling glass framing sunsets over the Dolomites; two seven-course menus change daily, including a vegetarian Detox option.

In 2025 FORESTIS opened YERA, a restaurant built into the mountainside and reached on foot along a path through the woods, invisible from the outside.

04The bar

The bar and lounge sit in the historic building, with indoor and outdoor fireplaces that turn evenings into unhurried gatherings in classic South Tyrolean style. Drinks draw on Celtic tradition, made from essences gathered in the surrounding forest: herbs, nuts, berries, bark and fir needles, each one treated as a small, considered composition rather than a standard cocktail.

05Spa and wellbeing

The FORESTIS Spa, roughly 2,000 m² in size, takes the same four natural foundations as the hotel itself — spring water, mountain air, sunshine and climate — and pairs them with the old Celtic tradition of four healing trees: mountain pine, spruce, larch and stone pine. The indoor and outdoor pools are built from dolomite stone and filled with Plose spring water, with saunas built from the same wood and stone, their heat releasing the trees' natural oils.

Treatments follow the same four-tree, four-stone logic, always preceded by a consultation with the therapist; separate silence rooms are designed purely for undisturbed rest. A dedicated Wyda Room, named for the Celtic word for an ancient form of yoga, is set aside for slow, meditative movement practice, alongside a fitness room open around the clock.

06The neighbourhood

FORESTIS stands in the small hamlet of Plancios/Palmschoß, on the southern slope of the Plose above Brixen, about 18 km from the town by road, directly opposite the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage massifs. Trains from Munich, Milan, Venice, Innsbruck and Verona run straight into the Bressanone/Brixen station, roughly a 30-minute drive from the hotel.

The location gives ski-in, ski-out access onto the Plose slopes in winter, and hiking and mountain-biking trails running straight from the door in summer, with Brixen's historic old town — South Tyrol's oldest city — within easy reach for anyone wanting a change of altitude.

07Making the most of a stay

FORESTIS operates as an adults-only hotel, built around rest rather than entertainment: there is no packed activity schedule, just the forest, the spa and the view. The site logs around 300 days of sunshine a year, and reviewers single out early spring — when crocuses, Alpine snowdrops and Daphne bloom through the last snow — as a particularly quiet, beautiful window, alongside the full white winter from December to March.

Because the hotel sits at the end of a forest road above Palmschoß, most guests arrive by car via the A22 Brenner motorway or let the hotel's own transfer service handle the final stretch from Brixen station.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.