Anyone that enjoys a cosy holiday with a touch of luxury will feel right at home at the NIDUM hotel in Tyrol thanks to its casual luxury concept. It’s clear as soon as you arrive that values are the top priority here, above all quality, so everyone will feel in safe hands – from the guests to the employees, and even the manager …

The own vegan cosmetic line at the Gradonna Mountain Resort contains the best of the herbs of the Hohe Tauern National Park, pure mountain spring water with a balanced proportion of minerals specially for the needs of modern skin. The healing properties of alpine herbs strengthen your well-being and beauty. The medicinal plants come from Tyrol and are processed here according to the Gradonna principles of regionality and sustainability…

How do you capture the essence of a place? One way to do it is through language. Learning basic words and phrases doesn’t just show respect, it also helps you to understand the people and their region a little better. It’s particularly interesting in South Tyrol, where melodic Italian meets rustic Tyrolean, resulting in as many dialects as there are valleys.

There are some moments in the mountains that are particularly beautiful because you can’t predict or evoke them. They just happen. This includes the appearance of animals in nature. Encounters with capricorns or golden eagles and the wild, unadulterated behaviour of the animals make up the magic of the moment. A good starting point for the search for the so-called Big Five is the Gradonna****s Mountain Resort at Kals am Großglockner.

Even as a child, she was welcomed by the guests at her parents’ establishment with a glass of schnapps in their hands. As a born and bred “Puschterin” [someone from Pustertal] and with experience in hospitality, Gudrun Huber now runs the Hofergut in her South Tyrolean homeland. With a great deal of passion and enthusiasm, she looks after both her guests and the almost 1,000-year-old property. She’s like the Fairy Godmother of the building. We asked her about where the walls express their historic charm, which collector’s items are hidden here and what she takes out of the smokehouse at night, plus much more.