Sonnenalp Resort – an Allgäu farmhouse turned Alpine empire

The Sonnenalp Resort climbs the hillside above Ofterschwang on the site of a farmhouse that Eleonore and Adolf Fäßler turned into a simple excursion inn in 1919. Founded in 1919 as a small farmhouse, the resort today offers 218 rooms and suites in alpine country-house style, together with chalets, lofts and lodges that bring the MICHELIN Guide's own count to 234 rooms. Four generations on, Anna-Maria and Michael Fäßler run the house with the same family-style hospitality, and the estate has grown into what one German report calls the largest privately run holiday resort in the country. The MICHELIN Guide places it among its Two MICHELIN Key hotels, an exceptional stay, and its Gourmetrestaurant Silberdistel holds a MICHELIN star, a distinction it has carried since 2010, the year the restaurant first opened its doors to outside guests. Set at roughly 869 metres above sea level, the resort pairs that kitchen with a 20,000-square-metre wellness park, three golf courses and, since the end of 2025, five private NaturLodges.

01The house

The inn was still called Sonnenalm when Eleonore and Adolf Fäßler began offering moor baths to their first summer guests in 1923; by the time Resi and Ludwig Fäßler took over at the end of 1932, the property had been renamed Sonnenalp. Ludwig trained as a Kneipp bath attendant in Bad Wörishofen, and in 1956 the house installed what it still describes as Germany's first hotel swimming pool. A fire in January 1967 threatened to end the story, but the team rebuilt in time to reopen that Christmas under Gretl and Karlheinz Fäßler, who spent the following decades turning a hotel into a resort: the country's first hotel-owned golf course arrived in 1975, along with Germany's largest hotel open-air pool, a shopping arcade of fourteen boutiques, and, in 1979, a sister hotel in Vail, Colorado.

Under Anna-Maria and Michael Fäßler, the fourth generation, the resort celebrated its 100th anniversary and has since undergone a comprehensive transformation inside and out, touching almost everything: all 218 rooms and suites were renovated, the façade reclad in pale larch, and a new wellness park with its own mountain lake took shape alongside Germany's largest hotel shopping mile. The Gourmetrestaurant Silberdistel earned its MICHELIN star for the house's Alpine Cuisine during this same era. Most recently, a Hofgut with its own restaurant, lofts and riding hall opened in December 2025, just weeks before five new NaturLodges completed the resort's private-living wing.

02Rooms and suites

Accommodation in the main house runs from a 13-square-metre Klassik single to the 49-square-metre Premium double in the Suiten-Flügel, all finished in warm, alpine-patterned textiles, with south-facing panorama balconies on the Premium and Deluxe categories.

Insider tip

Sits at roughly 869 metres above sea level, about two hours by car from Munich.

Suites add a separate sitting room and a bathroom with a proper bathtub: the 111-square-metre Luxus-Suite Silberdistel, with its XXL bed and rooftop panorama terrace, is named for the gourmet restaurant it sits beneath, while the 120-square-metre Luxus-Suite Edelweiß has two bedrooms and a round bathtub. Families can choose between four dedicated Familien-Suiten and a Teenie-Suite with its own oversized bunk. For a separate address altogether, the resort's Chalets, Lodges and Lofts range from three alpine chalets with six apartments near the Ofterschwanger Horn to the new HofgutLofts and, newest of all, five NaturLodges that opened at the end of 2025 with private infinity pools and saunas facing the Rubihorn.

03Where to eat

The resort's fine-dining address sits almost literally in an eagle's eyrie above the main house: ganz oben im Haupthaus, practically an eyrie over the Sonnenalp, lies the Gourmetrestaurant Silberdistel, reached by its own lift and opened to outside guests in 2010. Chef Florian Wagenbach, who took over from the long-serving Kai Schneller — Schneller had spent 25 years as head chef of the Silberdistel when the restaurant earned its MICHELIN star in 2010, the year it opened to the public — now serves a tasting menu called "Weitblick" on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, alongside a shorter à la carte "Klassiker" card on Fridays and Sundays. Restaurant director and wine expert Naomi Merz oversees a cellar of more than 450 wines, including the house's own Fäßler & Salomon label made with Austrian winemaker Bertold Salomon.

Beyond the Silberdistel, dinner just as easily means Fäßlers Grillstube and its show kitchen, the family-friendly Restaurant-Stuben with their six-course evening menu, Anna's by the pool, or, since December 2025, the new Hofgut-Restaurant built around the resort's own farm.

04Spa and wellbeing

The wellness story is almost as old as the hotel itself: moor baths from 1923, Kneipp cures from the 1930s, and in 1956 what the house still calls Germany's first hotel swimming pool. That heritage has grown into a 20,000-square-metre wellness park with pools, sauna landscapes, a Natur-Spa and a mountain lake, counted by one independent guide at 13 pools across its indoor and outdoor areas. Adults can retreat to the Natur-Spa by the water-lily pond, children have their own water world, and a Medical Spa with in-house physicians runs alongside an annual Longevity Retreat built around leading prevention-medicine specialists. Guests staying in the NaturLodges get a private spa of their own, with an infinity relax pool and a timber sauna looking straight at the Rubihorn.

05The neighbourhood

Ofterschwang sits in the Oberallgäu, about two hours by car from Munich, close to five separate ski areas. The resort runs a free shuttle to its own slopes at Ofterschwang-Gunzesried and operates what has grown into the largest hotel ski school in Germany. Golf arrived here in 1975 and has since expanded to three courses and 42 holes at the Golf Resort Sonnenalp-Oberallgäu, while summer brings hiking and mountain-biking straight from the hotel's own trailheads, and a riding stable completes the outdoor offer.

06Making the most of a stay

Book the Silberdistel well ahead if fine dining is the point of the trip: external guests are welcome, but tables in the eyrie-like dining room are limited and the tasting menu only runs on alternate evenings. Dogs are welcome throughout the resort, with their own play meadow and pool. Families chasing value should look at the Klassik and Comfort categories, saving the NaturLodges and Luxus-Suiten for a quieter, more private stay, and anyone planning a health-focused visit might time it to the resort's annual Longevity Retreat week.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.