Naturhotel Forsthofgut, Kinder Hotel Mountain Heaven, Austria

Last summer we went to the mountains for the first time and were completely blown away by what an incredible family holiday it makes. It helped that we were staying at Naturhotel Forsthofgut, an incredible ~ make that beyond incredible, family friendly boutique luxury spa hotel surrounded by the Austrian mountains we stayed on an ad-discounted rate. But when I say family friendly, I mean the Kinder version of family friendly. A whole level up. I honestly think it will be hard to ever beat. Let me tell you some of the things that we loved about it and all of the details you’d probably like to know…

- first up, where is it? Natur Hotel is in Leogang, Salzburg, Austria. We drove there as part of a European road trip which was surprisingly doable! It took around 12 hours. We took a ferry from Dover to Calais late afternoon & then drove through the night through Belgium, Luxembourg & Germany. We had a minor {actually pretty major, scary drama at the time} drama en route where our caravan axel sheered off on a German motorway which delayed us by about 3 hours {and involved me & the kids got a ride in a police car to a German police station & Ben had to await a rescue truck}! But then arrived mid morning. If you haven’t got time for a longer trip then it’s super easy to fly to Salzburg and then either hire a car or book a transfer, the journey is just over an hour. Or take public transport from the airport and then request a hotel pick up locally.

- why did you love it? It had such a unique vibe of being a super luxe, spa resort whilst also having some of the best facilities for children we’ve ever seen. It’s a mix of traditional Austrian chalet with incredibly designed modern architecture which all seamlessly ties in and fits the mountain views, somehow it manages to enhance the view rather than distract or detract from probably one of the most stunning views you’ll ever see. The food was the highest quality, all delicious, almost all organic but also made you feel so well. There was a huge program of activities included and hours and hours of childcare included from age 2! The setting was unparalleled, it didn’t actually look real. Everyday looked so different there with the ever changing mountain scene that we couldn’t take our eyes off. We loved the pool, the lake to play on, the saunas, the adults only spa area, the fact that every time we’d leave our room we’d discover a new Montessori esque play area for the kids, then there was the art studio, the horse riding stables, the mini farm. And it was in such a great location to get the cable car to have a whole mountain playground to explore and enjoy too which felt like an extension of the resort.

- It’s the perfect size. Not too big yet not too small to be intimidating. As you arrive there’s a board with all of the surnames of the families arriving, it’s boutique, family run and intimate enough to feel really well looked after.

- What should we note? You won’t need to take much, if any baby gear with you. It’s not a buggy friendly area but you can hire/borrow baby backpacks for hiking. Get the app before you go to look at the schedule and book in any activities you want to join in. Here’s a helpful list of everything that’s included.

Download the app before you visit and take a look at all of the activities scheduled so you can start to make a bit of a plan. Some need prebooking like the family art sessions or the horse riding. But most are pretty flexible.

- how long should we stay? We had 4 nights. I don’t think you’d want any less than 3. I’d say stay as long as your budget allows, there’s so much to do {almost too much to fit in and relax enough as well ha} and an activity schedule for all ages and interests that changes every day. There are guided hikes, gym classes, a full wellness spa, mountain biking trails, tennis courts, horse riding and I’ll go into all of the kids facilities later on.

Tell me about the food. Oh, the food!! So the package here is called luxury 3/4 board. You have a full, very impressive buffet at breakfast. I say buffet but it’s not your typical offering, it’s designed in a market kind of style. There’s a whole bakery room filled with all different kinds of breads and pastries, a hot counter with fresh waffles or pancakes, daily specials, almost everything is organic, huge bowls of berries {parents of toddlers - you know how many berries they get through!}, unlimited avocado, fresh organic cress with scissors to cut your own, cold pressed juices, fruit baskets, a whole tea station. It really was some of the highest quality food I think we’ve ever had at a resort - and we’ve been v lucky to stay at a lot. The staff will give you little paper lunch bags to fill if you’re off on a hike {we’d take peanut butter sandwiches & some fruit for the kids}.

Then there is a mini afternoon/lunch buffet which changed each day. There’s always the bread & fruit stands. Some days it was a hot strudel and custard, both a sweet and savoury option {if it’s a strudel day then FILL your boots with the traditional apple strudel, famous in this part}. It’s really relaxed, you can just go up anytime it’s open and get a plate to take outside with you or to eat in the lobby or even in your room. One day there was a bolognese & spaghetti, another lots of cold cuts.

Then around 6.30, dinner starts. It’s a five course affair with an impressive tasting menu that changes every night. We were so impressed with the balance of it being such incredible food that felt super luxurious & special but also relaxed and child friendly. That’s no easy feat, in fact that was what I’d sum up the whole resort to be like. I’m dubbing a new term, Kinder Luxe.

- You keep your same table every day/night and the staff could not have been more helpful and lovely. They give you a children’s place mat for them to colour & then they laminate it, bring you games for the table. Food wise for children there’s a buffet they can help themselves to, including an ice cream station they obviously loved, and an a la carte menu that they bring out really fast - which was definitely appreciated for hungry tired children. It’s all focused around being healthy but equally food that kids like to eat {fish fingers, pasta and the like}.

- For adults, there are 3 menus every night {alpine- Mediterranean, Vegan and a regional menu from within 50km} and you can choose a course from each menu and as many as you like. It’s pretty much unlimited. 2 of the courses are as a buffet which had the most incredible salads I’ve ever eaten. You can make your own and then they have lots of seeds/dressings to add. One night had a seafood starter buffet. The desserts were again a mix of a cheese course/dessert buffet and the a la carte menus.

- There are 3 extra a la carte restaurants at an extra £ if you fancy mixing up the food {we didn’t feel the need to when it was that good}. But there’s a Japanese, a traditional Austrian 1617 gourmet restaurant, and a special fine dining chefs table for up to 10 people.

- I think my only criticism is that our dining room was a bit dark, perfect for cosying up in the winter months I expect but in the summer we’d have preferred more natural light. Maybe you can ask to change, it didn’t bother us enough to need to.

- what’s nearby? Every stay includes a Saalfelden Leogang Card which gives you 2 rides on the cable car up & down each day, local free museum access and free public transport. It’s worth around €70 each day and includes some other local attractions {although if you’re staying at Naturhotel you won’t need the public swimming pools & saunas}. You get this on check in handily added to your app so you’ve got a barcode ready to scan at the cable car.

- Make sure you build enough time in to go up the mountain. The cable car base is just a 5 minute walk from the hotel in the little village and it will transport you to another world! We couldn’t get over the beauty of the mountains, the alpine adventure sensory playgrounds, the little streams to play in with natural bridges and dams to make, the toys left there, the cleverly designed wooden ball runs that gave hours of fun {don’t miss these and the cute wooden vending machines to get the balls from!}, the freshest air. Just the most idyllic play spaces for children with views to die for. If you go up to the first station you’ll reach all of that. And then you can hike a short way up to a stunning lake. It was unlike anywhere we’ve ever been! The kids spent ages trying to catch tadpoles in there and balancing along the stepping stones. The water was freezing! You know those days that you know you’ll remember forever? It was all so idyllic, a Sound of Music fairytale kind of vibe. There’s impressive mountain biking trails to watch and a flying fox trail if you’re more adventurous than we are! And the famous ‘Milka’ cows with their bells ringing.

- You can get the cable car up further & hike all the way down which we did one day, it’s well signed the whole way down with austrian flags to spot on the trees. We were so impressed with Freya’s excitement for the hike! At the top there was an alpine rollercoaster which was a lot of fun too.

- Slightly further afield, around a 20 minute drive away through the lush valley is a very family friendly summer 1.6km toboggan run Summer toboggan run at the Biberg in Saalfelden which we stopped at on our way to our next destination, lake Garda. Just try to get there early at peak times to avoid the long queues that build up and also be aware the chairlift is open to get up there {I held onto the kids so tight!!}. You can ride with kids on your lap and control the speed.

What will the kids love?

- If you’ve got a child over 2 then childcare is included from 9am-9pm everyday and they take them for lunch & dinner. You can dip in & out as much as you like, you just let them know when your child will likely be attending. Some activities are for parents to attend, the ones in the kids club aren’t. That was the only downside for us I guess, if your kids don’t want to be left in there, it’s not an open club. Luckily there are lots of other play spaces and family activities that you can do together.

Also to note on the childcare, you can’t go offsite whilst they’re in the kids club and if they’re upset they will call you straight away to pick them up. I think that’s a good thing but just to note if you are planning on being in the spa or something, you might get a call! We actually went to the adults only rooftop pool one day and could see our children go on the group farm trip from the kids club which was very sweet to witness from afar!

- With or without the childcare, it’s an absolute kids ~ and therefore parent’s ~ paradise. Look at all of this! It’s all based around Rocky the club’s reindeer mascot.

- Every time we left our room, we would discover another play space. There are baby rooms open at all hours for those early morning wakes, outdoor trampolines, a tractor play area, a sandpit full of diggers, wooden Montessori climbing structures, a petting farm, mini trikes to ride around, a parkour ninja room with huge foam pits underneath, climbing walls.

And then there’s a full schedule of activities which changes daily @naturhotelforsthofgut, everything from cooking to woodworking is included

- Our kids particularly loved painting in the art studio, making pizzas at the mini club, horse riding & visiting the farm to feed the animals.

- There’s a ball run on site with a cool vending machine to dispense the engraved wooden balls which are nice to take home as a memento but it was a little steep for little ones to enjoy as much as the ones on the mountain.

- And I haven’t even mentioned the pools yet! A mix of indoor and outdoor. There’s an indoor splash park for kids which I imagine in the winter when it’s all frozen & snowy outside is especially great, a mix of different water slides in a shallow pool for all ages and a thrill seeking one that goes through several floors for bigger kids or adults who want to try to beat their time {but husband gets very competitive} and a large indoor pool with lots of comfy loungers to sit on. Then a large half indoor/outdoor pool that goes on top of the lake. And an adults only rooftop spa pool.

- The lake was lots of fun with paddle boards on to play around on. There’s a high tech gym and a plethora of classes from yoga to strength training, sauna infusions, it’s a wellness mecca.

- Make sure you get some time to visit the adults only spa, saunas and relaxation rooms. The rooftop pool was breathtaking with those views. But be aware the local custom is for naked sauna visits so leave your clothes at the door… {there are family saunas where clothes stay on if you prefer}

- We visited in summer but in the winter it cleverly transforms into a ski resort with a ski in/ski out area, lockers to store your ski gear and all of the hotel is connected with underground tunnels to get around so you don’t have to go above ground to get cold if you’re going to breakfast or for a swim. I also think that Spring & Autumn would be stunning here with the changing seasons.

- we booked on to an alpaca trek which was something we’ll always remember {a paid extra rather than included}, Raffy in particular was in his element getting to take them for a walk but you can go and visit them in the petting zoo if you wanted to just see them.

The rooms; We got upgraded to a very impressive garden loft suite over 2 floors in the lake house as it was discounted as a media visit. The kids slept upstairs on a double sofa bed with bed guards. If budget allows, we could not fault it, it even had its own sauna! We all had so much space, even a large hallway area with views to die for. And we all really enjoyed hanging out on the two spacious deck areas on the balconies, just looook at those mountain views. Seriously dreamy. But if we stayed again, which I’m sure we will, I’d happily go for a family suite with the bunk beds like this one.

One thing to note with Austrian duvets follow the German/Scandinavian way which is where you get two duvets on a bed, it’s meant so that there’s no fighting over it and each person can control their own temperature. Kind of clever! But definitely takes a bit of getting used to at first. There’s an extensive pillow menu to choose from on your pre-check in form to make your sleep as restful as possible.

You can find all details of room types, how many they sleep {they actually have some great options for families of 5 or even 6 which is rare} & pricing here.

We did not want to leave! Families come here year after year and it’s not hard to see why.

From here we drove to Lake Garda for the next part of our European road trip, it’s a 4 and a half hour very doable & scenic drive through the mountains.

If you have any questions about anything to do with Forsthofgut, please let me know, always very happy to help as when you’re booking a trip like that you just want to know it’s exactly what you’re hoping it will be!

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