South Tyrol travel adventures

I spent five lovely days in the mountains in South Tyrol in Italy last week.

Drive

I worked on Thursday till noon from home. We packed and hit the road around 14 o’clock. I expected less traffic and smooth drive but we got stuck in a traffic jam for 1.5 hours. We almost took a detour to avoid the jam but the radio reported 4 km jam with only 20 minutes wait time, this turned into a 12 km jam with 1.5 hours wait time with no food or drinks. Next time we will stock up on a survival kit for such situations.

Hotel

We arrived at 20 o’clock to the hotel and I already thought that we will starve till the next morning because we missed dinner but the staff was amazing and the kitchen waited for us till check into our room and served our dinner as usuall.

The hotel is a 4-star Falkensteiner which already speaks in itself for quality. We’ve been here last year too and loved it so we decided to return this year too for Valentine’s Day and my birthday.

The hotel is luxurious and the rooms are spacious and rustic-style. The hotel has a nice, although rather small, spa with a pool, jacuzzi, sauna and massage.

Food

We booked a package with breakfast, afternoon snack and 5-course dinner. Needless to say that there was plenty of food all day every day. I had my usual eggs or pancakes for breakfast, some soup in the afternoon and enjoyed an amazing dinner every day.

Fitness

The hotel has a small but nice fitness room with cardio machines (treadmill, cross trainer and stationary bike) and some machines for weight lifting, unfortunately no dumbbells or barbell.

I spent the first 3 days at the hotel. After breakfast I went to the fitness room for 2 hours and completed a BBG 1.0 resistance training and a LISS session on a cardio machine while watching tv. I went to the spa afterwards for some quiet time, to read a book and soak my sore muscles in the warm water. I was alone every time and it was such a bliss!

Gitschberg-Jochtal ski region

I went on the mountain on the other two days, walked around on the top and watched people ski. The ski region is great for non-skiers like me as well, I could go all the way to the top with a pedestrian ticket and enjoy the sun and the snow. There are two hiking paths on Jochtal which goes for 2.5 and 5 km respectively along the ski slopes. After a coffee break I walked back to the hotel and went to the hotel gym for a LISS session.