Rote Wand Gourmet Hotel

Zug is a hamlet a few minutes up the valley from Lech, and from the lane the Rote Wand still looks like the inn it once was: a Walser farmhouse dating from 1651. Josef and Burgi Walch took in their first guests in 1959. Their son Joschi took over in 1987 and has since turned the inn into five buildings linked below ground without letting it feel like a large hotel. Arriving guests are welcomed with cake and whipped cream.

Food is the reason most people come. In the old schoolhouse of 1780, directly in front of the hotel entrance, Julian Stieger cooks a surprise menu for a handful of guests seated around a horseshoe counter, and the Chef's Table holds two Michelin stars. The Rote Wand Stuben serve Wiener schnitzel and fondue under a Michelin green star, the Culinary Lab hosts cookery classes and dinner clubs with winemakers, and the game comes from the family's own hunt.

The spa covers more than 1,500 square metres, with an outdoor pool heated to 32 degrees in winter and a view of the Madloch, a family sauna where swimwear is allowed and a separate ladies' area. Families can choose between Family Suites and two-bedroom Lodges and use the kids club, and dogs are accepted for a daily charge. The Zugerberg gondola into Ski Arlberg starts a few hundred metres below the hotel, and the Madloch ski route ends in the hamlet.