Summertime Serenity: Embracing Alpine Tranquility at Jufenalm

Jufenalm is a mountain lodge in the Austrian Alps, reached by a small road that ends at the house rather than continuing over the pass. There is no village to walk into and nothing to tick off. That is the whole proposition: three nights of forest, pasture and long evenings for clients who have done the cities and now want the opposite. It sells to a specific traveller, and it disappoints anyone expecting a resort.

The house and its character

The style is alpine but not traditional – bare timber and stone handled with a bohemian eye, old rugs, mismatched furniture, dried flowers and a good deal of candlelight. Rooms are small in number and individual rather than uniform. The kitchen works close to the source, with meat, cheese, herbs and vegetables from the surrounding valleys, and the menu changes with what has come in that week. Breakfast is long, dinner is served at one sitting, and there is a fire pit outside that becomes the centre of the evening once the sun leaves the ridge.

Days on the mountain

The walking starts at the door. Waymarked paths climb through spruce forest onto open pasture, where the summer huts are still worked and sell their own cheese and buttermilk to anyone who knocks. There is a route for every level, from an hour along the valley floor to a full day on the ridges, and a mountain guide can be attached for the harder ones. Between walks the day fills itself: a cold-water swim, an afternoon with a book on the terrace, a sauna, a drive over the pass for a change of view. Wildflowers peak in June and July; August brings the warmest evenings; September gives the clearest air and the emptiest paths.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It suits couples, honeymooners, writers and anyone recovering from a fortnight of European cities. It suits small groups of friends who will take the house as it is. It does not suit clients who need a lift to every floor, a concierge desk at midnight, or a choice of five restaurants – the setting rules those out, and it is better said now than discovered on arrival. Mobile signal is patchy in the valley and that is generally reported as a feature. Clients who want the same landscape with more movement should look at the four-day Garmisch and Innsbruck hiking journey or the four-day Tegernsee, Salzburg and Wolfgangsee journey, and a day in the nearest city is covered by our Salzburg walking day. Chauffeur arrangements are described under private transfers and tours; to hold dates, request availability and net rates for this stay.