Hüttenhof, Grainet – a family's three-generation spa above the Golden Steig

High on a south-facing slope above Grainet, at 780 metres in the Bavarian Forest, Hüttenhof is a wellness hotel built slowly, by one family, rather than conjured for an opening season. The Pasters have run the house since 1960, and three generations have shaped it from a simple guesthouse into a resort of 57 rooms and suites, crowned by a hillside hamlet of nine private chalets. It is an adults-only address, built around a sauna landscape, an infinity pool and a rooftop Sky Spa looking out over the forest. The MICHELIN Guide awards Hüttenhof Two MICHELIN Keys, recognising a stay with real character rather than simply comfortable rooms. The road in runs through Freyung and along the old Golden Steig, the medieval trading route that once carried goods between Bavaria and Prague – travellers have paused on this hillside for centuries, long before whirlpools and candlelit dinners.

01The house

Hüttenhof began in 1960 as a small guesthouse opened by the Paster grandparents in Grainet. Four decades on, the family has rebuilt the property in three deliberate phases rather than bolting on wings piecemeal, each one following the same vocabulary of timber, stone and glass. The first chalets, each with its own private spa, arrived in 2010 – a move that struck some neighbours as a gamble at the time and has since become the house's best-known feature.

Deep in the Bavarian Forest, the Paster family has invested generations of expertise into the wellness hotel, and that inherited know-how shows in rooms that pair contemporary furniture with a cosy, wood-and-stone foundation rather than off-the-shelf Alpine styling. It is this blend of continuity and quiet reinvention that the MICHELIN Guide rewards with Two MICHELIN Keys.

02Rooms and suites

The hotel counts 57 rooms, ranging from the compact, roughly 25 m² Doppelzimmer "Kuschelnest" to the 75 m² Golden-Sky-Suite, which adds its own sauna.

Insider tip

Reached via Freyung along the historic Golden Steig trade route; 2 km from the Grainet ski lift.

Above the hotel, reached by a short climb up the hillside, stands the Bergdorf: nine luxury chalets built as a retreat for quiet, privacy and a private spa, each fitted with its own whirlpool, sauna, sun terrace and wood-burning stove. Sizes run from around 67 m² in the Lieblingschalet, with its round bed and outdoor whisper airpool, up to 86 m² in the Premium-Chalet – every one promising unmatched views and privacy, with an individual spa of its own.

03Where to eat

Dining runs on the Hüttenhof Verwöhnpension: half or full board built around a five-course dinner menu with a vegetarian alternative each evening, served in a restaurant redesigned in the house's own wood-and-stone idiom. Lighter meals move poolside at the SPA-Bistro, and the kitchen leans on regional producers rather than imported substitutes, a position owner Helmut Paster states plainly.

The beer list, curated through the regional Bierkulturregion network, runs to some eighteen Bavarian breweries, treated with the attention most hotels reserve for wine, and occasionally takes centre stage at a poolside grill evening paired with matching beers.

04The bar

Emy's Bar closes the day with cocktails and a view over the rounded hills of the Bavarian Forest, built into most of the house's multi-night packages as a standing invitation rather than an optional extra.

05Spa and wellbeing

The spa runs to roughly 3,000 m², built around an infinity pool, a varied sauna landscape and quiet rooms looking out across the valley. Onsite facilities include multiple saunas, a full-service spa, an infinity pool, and panoramic views from relaxation spaces throughout the property.

Above it sits the Sky Spa: a panoramic sauna, rooftop garden and a Sky Pool heated to 36°C, reached from the main wellness floor. Massages, beauty treatments and the haki® Flow treatment in the Sky Pool round out the spa experience, intended to re-energise body and mind.

The work has not gone unnoticed: Falstaff's 2026 SPA Guide scored the house 92 points, and the MICHELIN Guide separately awards Hüttenhof Two MICHELIN Keys.

06The neighbourhood

Grainet is a small spa resort in the south-east of the Bavarian Forest, sitting on a south-facing slope at 780 metres with views over the Grainet valley. The town lies close to Freyung and, in the Middle Ages, served as an important stop on the Golden Steig, the historic trade route linking Bavaria with Prague in Bohemia.

The hotel sits around 2 km from the Grainet ski lift and 3 km from the Haidel mountain, inside the Bavarian Forest National Park; across the Czech border, the Šumava–Bohemian Forest National Park continues the same landscape with its own network of hiking and cycling trails.

07Making the most of a stay

The resort rents e-bikes to house guests, useful for reaching trailheads and the old trading paths without a car, and the surrounding national park works for both summer walking and winter cross-country skiing. The main house carries a 4-star superior classification, the chalets a 5-star rating of their own.

Shorter stays suit one of the smaller Wohlfühlzimmer, with a single night upgraded to a chalet for the whirlpool-under-the-stars version of the same hotel.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.