Grand Hotel Savoia & Spa

With a name like the Grand Hotel Savoia, and a guest book containing the signatures of American presidents and British prime ministers, it’d be reasonable to expect a palace of the gilt-and-marble variety, the sort of place where hardly a lick of paint has been added since the Great War. But you’d be wrong. The reason you’re reading about Cortina’s original grand hotel is that they’ve been rather free with the paint, among other things — the 2009 renovation turned an old-fashioned Alpine classic into a thoroughly contemporary and not at all unstylish Alpine luxury hotel.

The Dolomites, especially in winter, are key to Cortina’s appeal, but the Savoia is more than some glorified ski lodge. The cigar bar, the winter garden, the Savoy restaurant — all offer distinctly cosmopolitan charms, as do the accommodations, with their neutral palette, their hardwood floors, their high-end Italian furnishings, distilled to a sort of minimalist purity. Some smallish single rooms make for an affordable entry level, but they very quickly increase in size from there, on up to a collection of suites that are positively residential in proportion.

It’s possible to take the Savoia as an Alpine spa cure, equipped as it is with a capacious wellness center, complete with indoor pool. Or combine this aspect with a bit of Dolomite adventure, from skiing to climbing to hiking — and all of it centered around the comforts of a new breed of grand hotel.

How to get there:
Cortina is 150 km from both Venice and Innsbruck, and 120 km from Treviso.