Best Design Hotels in Austria

Surrounded by the breathtaking peaks of the Hohe Tauern National Park, DAS EDELWEISS Salzburg Mountain Resort offers 130 rooms and suites that combine contemporary alpine design with the warmth of family-run hospitality. Owned and operated by the Hettegger family for generations, this five-star resort is a serene mountain escape that balances luxury and authenticity.

Dining spans from gourmet tasting menus at Petrus Fine Dining to traditional Austrian cuisine at Sirloin Grill & Dine, while Das Edelweiss Mountain Cuisine celebrates local produce and innovation. The extensive Mountain Spa stretches across five floors, featuring adults-only zones, family spa areas, panoramic saunas, a rooftop infinity pool, and water slides for children.

Guests can also enjoy a state-of-the-art fitness centre, yoga classes, and direct access to the Grossarl-Dorfgastein ski area. A perfect blend of nature, wellness, and refined alpine living, this resort embodies the best of Austrian mountain hospitality.

Mandarin Oriental, Vienna marks the Group’s debut in Austria, bringing its world-renowned service and refined aesthetic to the city’s prestigious First District. The hotel features 138 rooms and suites, set within a heritage-listed Art Nouveau building originally designed by Alfred Keller in 1908. The interiors blend historical grandeur with contemporary sophistication, creating a sense of timeless luxury.

Guests can dine in elegant restaurants and bars celebrating Vienna’s culinary artistry, or unwind in The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, offering holistic treatments inspired by both Eastern and European traditions. The property also houses a state-of-the-art fitness centre, tranquil wellness spaces, and meeting venues that combine classic Viennese architecture with modern comfort. Situated on Riemergasse, moments from St Stephen’s Cathedral and Vienna State Opera, this new landmark offers a serene urban retreat infused with the city’s rich cultural legacy.

A modern take on the classic Alpine chalet, Avenida Mountain Lodges features a stone and timber exterior, with a comfortably furnished elevated terrace for drinks with a view. Guests are accommodated in individually furnished studios or apartments, all of which have a balcony or a terrace and benefit from a free garage parking spot. It’s just 1,500 m from the centre of Saalbach where you can find plenty of apres activity, but there’s also an on-site restaurant, Rosso, as well as a bar, a relaxation area and a sauna with infrared seats.

Stay in a sleek hotel in the Innenstadt district of the Old Town, an easy walk from all the main attractions; constructed from glass and metal the modern build offers a very different experience to the classic Tyrolean style. Accessible bedrooms and suites with terraces are available, all have minibars and PC hookups. An American buffet breakfast is provided each morning in the restaurant or in your room, and there’s a rooftop bar to watch the sunset drink in hand. Guests can make use of the onsite health club and jacuzzi, or take advantage of the hiking opportunities on the doorstep.

Open-plan rooms with locally sourced timber ceilings, distressed stone walls, natural stone, granite, exposed concrete, freestanding tubs and beds made up with crisp white linen that look directly onto the snow through wall-sized windows, bring the outside in. It’s contemporary yet rustic, with a kitchen garden and resident cows and chickens to supply herbs, veg, milk and eggs to the dining room’s service of family recipes. A Finnish sauna, a steam bath and an inside-outside pool with mountain views allow guests to fully unwind, as does the flaming fire beside which seats are arranged in the hotel’s Bauhaus Lounge.

Often described as the best thermal spa in the Alps, this is the place for water lovers. Enjoy magical winter swims as the steam rises from the unusual bowl-shaped outdoor pools (there are a total of twelve indoor and outdoor pools to choose from). Sweat away your cares in one of the seven saunas and enjoy tasty cuisine in the four restaurants and bars and take in the epic mountain vistas of the Ötztal valley. Visitors can stay for the day by buying a spa pass or book a room in the adjoining hotel. The site is instantly recognisable with it’s futuristic, quirky architectural design, while the interior design is chic. Facilities are state of the art and it’s easy to see why this hotel won the World Spa Award for the World’s Best Mineral & Hot Springs Spa in 2018.

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.

The Hoxton Vienna is a striking marble-clad modernist building designed by Carl Appel in the 1950s. This new establishment in Vienna offers a variety of attractions, including a Cuban-inspired rooftop bar, Cayo Coco, with spectacular city views and a swimming pool, a French-by-way-of-New York bistro named Bouvier, and the Salon Paradise cocktail bar. The hotel features 196 rooms decorated with mid-century Austrian designs and modern amenities. The interior, designed by AIME Studios, echoes the mid-century aesthetic and the iconic Wiener Werkstätte movement, featuring travertine walls, terrazzo flooring, and vintage furniture. The hotel presents a playful and elegant atmosphere with its diverse food offerings, creative event spaces like The Auditorium, and a focus on local art and partnerships, making it a vibrant new hotspot in Vienna.

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.

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.