Hotel Sant'Orso Mountain Lodge & Spa ★★★★

Aosta Valley is the smallest region in Italy; a little spur located between France and Switzerland. In the 1930s, what was then called the Sant’Orso Grand Hotel was the haunt of fashionable Italians and European travellers who chose Cogne as their destination. You can see what drew them to this place: located in the heart of Cogne, the hotel overlooks the endless Sant'Orso meadows, offering breath-taking views of the massif of Gran Paradiso, the only 4,000-metre high mountain which stands entirely in Italy. These days you can also admire the views of this fairy-tale Alpine setting from the panoramic swimming pool in the Spa Lebois. The mountains here are a magnet for hikers, trekkers and skiing enthusiasts in winter. And not only this, the hotel is surrounded by a garden of 2,000 square metres, so you can stroll in the grounds and enjoy the mountain air without putting your walking boots on.

The staff, when we arrived, were charming and welcoming. Our room was really spacious with a tartan-inspired pattern on the walls, making it cosy and fun. A wooden floor and classic pine furnishings added to the cosy chalet atmosphere. We enjoyed sitting out on the terrace in the morning with a coffee while planning our walk for the day, and sitting out under the stars at night after a long day’s hiking. The rooms have free Wi-Fi, mini-bar and a safe, and the bathroom was modern and roomy.

A good buffet style breakfast set us up for the day, the staff helped us with planned routes and tips for stopping places and we set out for the mountains. There’s something about the air here that makes you feel full of energy before you even start, and the vistas of the snow-capped mountains kept us inspired. Somehow our steps were even lighter on the homeward journey – we had the luxuries of the Spa Lebois to look forward to!

The Spa is a new addition for the hotel, and they really have been to town to make it the best spa experience you can find. The whole centre is 400 square metres, and that gives room for saunas, Turkish bath, a huge indoor swimming pool with hydro-massage, and best of all we treated ourselves to the luxury of a massage to sooth away those walking aches and pains at the end of the day. If we didn’t have a massage, our favourite alternative was to bask in the sauna, in a pretty little out-door chalet, and then plunge into the pool outside – that is serious refreshment!

Refreshments of a different kind were the order of the day after our recovery routine. The Ristorante Sant’Orso offered a different selection of dishes, based on traditional local cuisine, with the emphasis on fresh pasta and local produce. The sweets were great too – every evening I was glad of the next day’s exercise to assuage my guilt! We managed a couple of trips to Aosta centre, 25 kilometres away, and enjoyed the experience of a cool, cool northern Italian city. We kept thinking we might look in at the hotel’s cinema, but never did – we found that on this holiday the mountains and the lovely surroundings of the Hotel Sant'Orso Mountain Lodge & Spa **** were entertainment enough!