Best Luxury Hotels in Austria

This 19th-century neo-baroque Palais on the Ringstrasse overlooks the Stadtpark. Recently unveiled after a huge renovation, it features interior design by Jaime Beriestain. There are now 80 suites and 31 bedrooms, with the Vienna Art Suite offering the penthouse experience in shades of beige and gold with a huge carved wooden headboard. Unwind in the Almanac’s two-floor wellness centre, with its 46-foot indoor pool and thermal waters; grab a coffee in the Viennese-style Elias Coffee Shop; and dine in the Alpine-style Donnerskarkt Restaurant & Bar, where plant-based cooking is at the fore.

Do and Co is located right in front of St. Stephen’s cathedral, a stone’s throw from the Opera and Vienna’s best shopping streets – a really superb location. One of the smaller luxury hotels in Vienna Do and Co has a restaurant on the top floor of the hotel with stunning views. The Onyx bar is very popular, and it too has amazing views of the cathedral. The restaurant covers traditional Viennese dishes but it also specialises in sushi, sashimi and fresh fish.

If a boutique hotel is more your kind of thing, the Guesthouse is a member of the Design Hotels group, with Conran-designed interiors. The design ethos is manifest in a relaxed, calm but luxurious hotel that is modern and uncluttered, yet superbly comfortable. The location is right in the middle of the city, behind the Opera. Dogs are welcome, with a free bed and dog cookies provided, and every room has its own espresso machine.

This design hotel offers a modern experience of Bad Gastein; digital nomads are catered for in a co-working space, and there’s an 18-seat cinema, a farm-to-table restaurant and an art gallery for exclusive exhibitions. The Comodo accommodates 70 bedrooms decorated in a minimal urban chic style, complementing the midcentury meets Scandi vibe in the public spaces. Plus it has all the amenities you’d expect from a good hotel in this town; indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness centre, a ski store room, a bar, a library and a spa with saunas and treatment rooms.

A member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, this nine-suite retreat offers romantic seclusion, nearly a mile and a half from the centre of Lech. Crafted from Tyrolean wood, stone and copper, Severins has a cosy feel, yet with state of the art technology. A carefully curated collection of artworks, heated ski lockers and La Biosthetique bath products add to the sense of finery here. Organic, local produce forms the base of the regional modern dishes created in the restaurant, paired with wines from a cellar housing around 3000 bottles. And a large spa includes a long indoor pool with a counter-current function, a waterfall, and a jacuzzi tub.

Centrally located (a 15-minute walk from the railway station and a ten-minute drive to the airport), this traditional and cosy 50-bedroom hotel provides guests with an authentic taste of the Tyrol. It’s family-run, offering single and quadruple rooms, as well as self-catering one-bedroom and family suites. The top floor accommodates a relaxation area with a sauna, steam bath and infrared loungers, where you can soak in the panoramic views. The dining room serves Austrian cuisine and hosts regular casino nights, on which you can buy chips and have a flutter with after-dinner drinks.

A stay in this relatively new contemporary chalet hotel is sure to delight. Each of the 57 rooms boasts a south-facing balcony or terrace, espresso machine and minibar, while some suites offer saunas and freestanding tubs. Nidum has an outdoor infinity pool, a 1500 metre square rooftop spa with panoramic views, three dining areas and a library with over 2000 books. It’s just a 20-minute drive to Innsbruck airport, skiing is close by at Gschwandtkopf, or if visiting in summer months don’t miss a dip in lake Möserer. It tends to be more popular with couples, than families, although all holidaymakers are made most welcome.

Daniel Craig stayed here while filing Spectre – quite possibly in the huge three-bedroom James Bond Suite. Guests can also sleep in a Wellness Suite that includes a balcony, a freestanding bathtub and water bed in the bedroom, a private sauna, a separate living area with a couch, rocking chair and wall bars. This hotel’s philosophy is “active relaxation and enjoyment”. Much of this takes place at its fifth floor Sky Spa, with a pool, saunas, steam baths and a beauty and exercise programme designed to slow the ageing process. The property has its own wine cellar, a cigar lounge and an a la carte restaurant.

Guests who want the chance to feel like royalty are sure to love staying in this magnificent castle, which is set high on a hilltop overlooking the Old Town. Panoramic city views can be enjoyed by taking a stroll through the surrounding forest, while the infinity edged outdoor swimming pool also allows guests to soak up the view while unwinding in style. There is also an outdoor hot tub to make use of, while guests are made to feel truly special with a welcome drink, complimentary fruit basket and Guglhupf cake. Seekers of pure relaxation can choose from a wide range of treatments in the Mönchstein SPA, while the Glass Garden restaurant has won several awards for excellence and is set with a terrace where guests can take in idyllic views of Salzburg while they dine in style. There are several different styles of rooms and suites to choose from and each suite is especially lavish with rich furnishings and huge windows providing a choice of city or garden views from their balconies.

If you’re seeking a super central location with five-star treatment, book Raffl’s St. Antoner Hof. Its 39 rooms and suites are traditional and cosy, with contemporary touches. It feels relaxed, yet the service is unobtrusively attentive. The colourful design pieces found within the hotel are stand-out features and this bohemian theme extends to its restaurant, Raffl’s Eat Art, where the menu is enormously creative, coming from a multi-award winning chef. Additional dining concepts are Seven SKY (sushi served in a baroque style dining room) and Sticky Fingers for Tyrolean comfort food. There’s also a spa with an indoor pool, Finnish sauna, Turkish steam bath and solarium.

The Augarten is an Art lover’s paradise, a place for the cultured and erudite. The Augarten’s large suites and rooms are sophisticated and chic as they are adorned with bespoke artworks. Guests can relax and rewind in the hotel’s modern pool and Finnish sauna or work out in the hotel’s gym. The  Hotel’s breakfast restaurant provides guests with a fresh and healthy start to the morning as dishes are made using only the finest local produce. Although the hotel does not have a restaurant for evening meals, it is close to some of Graz’s best restaurants therefore guests are encouraged to get out and experience all that Graz has to offer.