Gasthof Hirschen Schwarzenberg

Artworks – the signature of the Hirschen – feature in all of the rooms, making each slightly distinctive. Like The Hirschen itself, the bedrooms, suites and 12 holiday apartments, called Hirschen Homes, come in all different shapes and sizes and are spread between the historic and new buildings - all within the architectural style of the setting. Supplying a range of stylish choice for the modern design traveller, there are 14 rooms in the inn, simultaneously elegant and timelessly traditional in a way that exudes a deep sense of calm and comfort. Treca mattresses, cotton bedding and roomy bathrooms replete with products from the queen of wellbeing, Susanne Kaufmann sit alongside heritage features such as parquet flooring and centuries-old frescoes on the ceiling. 

In the newly renovated timber Wälderhaus, there are 12 Hirschen Homes made up of suites and apartments which are spacious, contemporarily styled and convenient with kitchenettes, some coming with two-bedrooms. These timber cocoons are ideal for families or groups wanting to stay a little longer.

Gasthof Hirschen Schwarzenberg is a hotel famed as a foodie bolthole - raved about, in fact, and recently awarded 89 Falstaff points and three Gault Millau Toque.

When a young maverick chef takes over the helms, it is fantastic how he dips into the heritage of this inn's 300-year-old history and reinvents the classics with creativity. Head Chef Jonathan Burger, known as ‘the gourmet hipster’, has delved into the past to source old-table dishes served here centuries ago, giving them healthier, lighter touches and serving them as truly beautiful creations. Burger operates his kitchen more like a laboratory where he and his team of ten fellow pioneers explore new cooking methods to modify ancestral fermentations.

Family Fetz has their own herb and vegetable gardens, smokehouse and even a working dairy farm up in the alps called Alpe Rothenbach, where happy pigs roam and butter is churned alongside the famous Bregenzerwald cheeses. Austrian grapes headline the wine list, with an impressive wine cellar and vinothèque. Dining options include an old-style cosy Stube decked in history, as well as a great outdoor garden terrace, perfect for sunning yourself during the warmer months.

Adding another string to the Hirschen’s bow and bringing it firmly into modern times is the new bathhouse in the garden. Designed by Nona Architects, the timber and stainless steelstructure is a gorgeous testament to wellness with its relaxation rooms, saunas, gym and light-filled yoga studio. 

Outside a swimming pool sits nestled among the greenery of e garden and its 15 x 4-metre size mean a few lengths are very much possible, if the moment takes you. Also to be noted is the secret passage which takes you directly from spa to bar. Without the need the change or be respectable, the clandestine drinky spot is called the Bathrobe Bar, for good reason.

Natural hotspot, Bregenzerwald is home to the cute village of Schwarzenberg, and right at the heart stands the Gasthof Hirschen as the focal point opposite a wonderful medieval church with sweeping vistas on up to the mountains of the Vorarlberg region of Austria. 

Just a short drive down to the shores of Bodensee (Lake Constance) and the nearby city of historic Bregenz, Gasthof Hirschen is sandwiched between Zurich in the west and Innsbruck to the east.

He has also seriously upped the restaurant scene – proving a hit with both locals and those from further afield who come toexperience his culinary mash-up of traditional Austrian plates and urban fusions that caught his tastebuds while on his travels.