Sporthotel Spögler

Dinner was even worse than the beds, which were shit. There was complete chaos around allergies, and the main course they offered was burned stir-fried (?) lettuce with a slice of cheese and a tomato.

Everything we ate was fresh and absolutely wonderful. The food is all homemade on the premises, and after twenty years of travelling regularly in Italy with my Italian partner, and eating at countless restaurants and cafes, I can’t praise the quality enough. The staff waited on us at our table too, and you’ll enjoy your visit and want to come back many times.

I didn’t stay at the hotel itself, so I can’t comment on the accommodations. I was there to collect the keys to Residence Kaisersweg, and the old German-speaking woman at reception treated me rather suspiciously. I presume she had deep ingrained preconceptions about non-European-looking men with beards. My girlfriend, who looks more European, was treated better, though not graciously. Later, when the women in my group told an older man at reception about their plans for the dolomites, he condescendingly told them mountain hiking wasn’t for them, and that people get stuck up there and need rescuing all the time. I’d steer clear.

The food was good and the location was pretty, but the service was terrible. I needed the loo when we arrived, so I sat down a couple of minutes after the rest of my group. The wait staff were busy, so I waited. And waited. I might as well have been invisible. When I finally caught a waiter’s attention, he said he’d be with me in a moment, then served about six other tables. Some people in my party had finished before I even got a menu. I would have left if this hadn’t been a classic day trip in the middle of nowhere, with this as the only place to eat.