Leading the pack is the For Friends Hotel, at the edge of the Inn Valley. Opening this year for its first season, the hotel's environmentally-sensitive design blends in to the landscape, with a combination of timber cladding and glass walls which emphasize the amazing Tyrolean views.
With 37 km of ski pistes and 30 cable cars and ski-lifts a short shuttle-ride away, the hotel is perfect for skiing aficionados – but the hotel is so beautiful you may prefer to never leave it.
Am Wiesenhang 1, Mösern, Tyrol, Austria (+43 5212 20300;for-friends-hotel.at). Doubles start at €170, including breakfast.
Also in Tyrol is Das Central, a five-star eyrie in the village of Sölden. With 144 km of pistes, the hotel boasts a grand scale, and a cellar with 30,000 bottles of wine. Apparently, the spa is impressive, containing three storeys with 10 saunas and 16 treatment rooms.
Auweg 3, Sölden, Austria (+43 5254 22600; central-soelden.at). Doubles start at €192, half board.
For the lowdown on the hotels, and the others which made the grade in Italy, France and Switzerland, check out the full article in The Independent.
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