Austrian Tyrol to explore by climbing up to Eriro

Ehrwalder, Austrian Tyrol. You take the cable car together with skiers and hikers, depending on the season, and once you reach the top, another five minutes on foot and you reach the wooden chalet that you can see in the distance framed by meadows and pine forests. On the threshold, you dial the number 1550, like the altitude you are at, and open the door. First thing, take off your shoes. Those who want can walk around the hotel barefoot or with socks (a pair are provided). Even at dinner. The intention is to predispose guests to informality, to get rid of some superstructure, where possible. Including the dilemma of what to do and not to do. The room rate includes everything, from transfers to meals to experiences. Eriro is an ambitious project born from the idea of ​​some friends: the Posch and Spielmann families, owners of other hotels, and the carpenter Andreas Mader. Each of them has made their skills available, helping to create a special place, we can dare say unique. Together they bought a refuge that they demolished, reusing every single wooden plank to build the new hotel. 90% of the building is made of wood and 95% of this wood comes from the forest where it is located. Everything is done by hand, even the cutting of the old beams, with natural Tyrolean materials. From the structure to the furnishings, including the chairs carved from the logs.

In the nine rooms there is nothing more than what is needed. A bed, a table, a record player and its amplifier, herbs to make a herbal tea before going to sleep, large windows that frame the Tajakopf mountain, immense meadows and thick pine forests, and a terrace to breathe in the purest air. On the walls, a sheep's wool carpet muffles the atmosphere. And so it is in every room, where design follows function first and then inspiration. The inspiration is Tyrolean culture, in its most sustainable version, a synthesis of everything found within a radius of a few kilometers. It is a huge effort, but never forced. Because behind it there is a harmonious thought: trying to practice a model of authentic contemporary tourism, offering guests the ideal environment to distance themselves from what disturbs them, changing habits, panorama and, perhaps, thought. You want to remove the wifi, you remove it, you want to stay connected, you don't have to search for the network desperately like a dowser. But the TV, that is not in the room or in the common areas; but there is music with a delicate and surprising playlist in the choices, the only exotic note. The idea is that in that small enchanted world, all the tools should be available to put into practice the well-being to which we all aspire a little.

The staff includes a yoga teacher, although it is a bit reductive to call the energetic Tatiana, who does asanas while dancing and cradling imaginary babies, that way, and two nature guides who accompany you to explore the Zugspitze chain and spot ibex and birds of prey as if on safari. These beautiful mountains covered with pine trees and flowers offer everything. They are a pharmacy and a grocery store that are boundless and free. Herbs are learned and then collected, as does the chef, young, very curious since he was a child about everything that is edible and with the dream, one day, of cooking only on the fire, like the king of the grill Francis Mallmann, who is his hero. For now, they do it once a week: an entire menu roasted on an open flame, pork ribs, asparagus, baby carrots... On other days, they serve game, fermented and syrupy preserves (by the chef, of course), crispy field salads, cheese spaetzle, apple strudel. Do we have to write that everything comes from local producers? Let's take it for granted! Another chapter is the spa. Inspired by the principle of Ochi kema (returning to one's inner self), it too is proportionate to the size of the project and its holistic aspirations. In an intimate space, everyone can choose their own path, between the 36-degree meditation pool, the onsen and the panoramic pool, and relaxation in the sauna with spruce needles, swinging in the embrace of a hammock or lying on a comfortable chaise longue surrounded by bales of scented hay. A moment of priceless peace, a moment of clarity to understand that this detachment is the healthiest way to reconnect with your life, removing the tiredness that, without even realizing it, is an accumulation of dazzling lights, pollution, noise. Here the din subsides. And after the closure of the facilities, when hikers and skiers have returned to the valley, you experience true silence and solitude, the most effective cure.