A castle retreat in a private Alpine valley
Schloss Elmau sits on its own in a quiet valley below the Wetterstein mountains, about an hour and a half from Munich. It is a spa retreat and a cultural one: evenings bring classical concerts and readings, days bring the spa, mountain walks and lakeside swims. World leaders met here for the G7 in 2015 and 2022, which says something about its privacy.
Summer for walking and the outdoor pools; winter for snow, the spa and Christmas in the mountains.
It pairs naturally with Munich and Salzburg, or as a calm finish after Vienna and Prague.