Peterhof Furx | Batschuns, Vorarlberg | Austria
Ten Alpine Chalets, Private Saunas, and Wooden Bathtubs High Above the Rhine Valley
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● Ten contemporary chalets at 1,200 metres, combining Vorarlberg’s tradition of timber architecture with a clean, quietly luxurious approach to mountain living.
● Each chalet comes with its own sauna and outdoor wooden bathtub—best enjoyed surrounded by snow, mountain air, and enormous views across the Rhine Valley.
● A wonderfully uncomplicated Alpine experience where regional food, fireside evenings, and the landscape itself provide almost all the entertainment you need.
Above the Clouds
There are mountain hotels with a view, and then there is Peterhof Furx. High on the Alpe Furx above Austria’s Rhine Valley, the landscape seems to fall away beneath you. Switzerland lies across the valley, mountains fill the horizon, and on the right morning clouds gather below rather than above. At 1,200 metres, weather becomes part of the experience. Fog drifts between the slopes. Snow softens everything into silence. Evening light moves across the peaks. And from inside your chalet, there’s very little separating you from any of it. Peterhof understands that this is the main event.
Ten Cabins on the Mountainside
The ten chalets reinterpret the familiar Alpine cabin without falling into either rustic nostalgia or polished mountain-resort cliché. Timber dominates, complemented by tactile surfaces, natural textiles, subdued lighting, and contemporary furniture. Large areas of glazing frame the panorama, while wood-burning stoves bring the focus back inside when temperatures drop. The result feels remarkably residential. These aren’t hotel rooms disguised as chalets, but private little mountain houses where you can close the door and disappear for a few days. And in Vorarlberg, where contemporary architecture and exceptional woodworking have become almost regional signatures, that simplicity feels entirely appropriate.
The Bathtub Is Outside
This may be the detail that makes Peterhof impossible to forget. Each chalet has its own sauna and a large wooden bathtub outside, positioned towards the landscape. Fill it with hot water, step into freezing mountain air, and watch the weather roll across the valley. In winter, snow gathers around you. In summer, the mountains remain visible long into the evening. After dark, there is little but warm water, cold air, and sky. No elaborate wellness concept required.
Fire, Timber, Silence
Inside, the experience is equally elemental. A fire becomes something to gather around rather than another decorative hotel feature. Loft-like spaces and timber surfaces add warmth, while the mountain view remains almost constantly present through the windows. There’s no need to fill the day. Walk. Ski. Read. Sleep. Sit outside. Heat the sauna. Get back into that bathtub. Peterhof’s strength lies in making doing very little feel like exactly the right plan.
Alpine Food Without the Performance
The restaurant keeps things similarly grounded. This is food that belongs in the mountains: Austrian classics, regional cheeses, seasonal produce, mushrooms, warming soups, schnitzel, and bottles from Austrian vineyards. The panoramic terrace changes personality with the seasons. Summer brings hikers, sunshine, and long lunches outside; winter turns the same setting into something altogether more intimate, with snow beyond the windows and warmth inside. Nothing needs unnecessary reinvention. A good plate of Alpine food tastes particularly convincing at 1,200 metres.
Vorarlberg Beyond the Chalet
Peterhof also makes an intriguing base for discovering a part of Austria that design lovers should know much better. Vorarlberg has developed an extraordinary international reputation for contemporary architecture and craftsmanship, particularly its intelligent use of timber and close collaboration between architects and local makers. Peterhof feels part of that culture rather than an imported design concept. Its modernity makes sense here.
Why It Works
Peterhof Furx reduces the mountain escape to a handful of things and gets those things very right: a beautifully designed chalet, timber and fire, good regional food, your own sauna, a wooden bathtub under the open sky, and one enormous Alpine panorama. There’s no need to manufacture tranquillity when the clouds are drifting through the valley beneath you. Sometimes luxury really can be as simple as having the mountains—and the bathtub—to yourself.
