It’s not usual these days to get excited about travelling to your destination – the schlepp to the airport, not to mention through the airport and all its security rituals, has long ago put a dampener on all that. Then you get to the gate, and it’s the usual hurry up and wait scenario. Deep sigh. So imagine my surprise when my fellow passengers were off their seats, taking pictures and pointing excitedly at the approaching aircraft for their flight. Why? Because this was SkyAlps and in glided the most elegant prop plane imaginable.
This was the start of my journey to the tiny airport of Bolzano, SkyAlps’ base, and a charming, historic town. I was, though, going further to Trentino and the Italian Dolomites and the journey (there was a drive of around 90 minutes) continued equally splendidly. In the Romantic poets’ argument about the sublime and the beautiful, this was a route that fell most definitely into the sublime category, scenery that can strike awe into the very soul, a deep gorge with mountain streams and draped with artistically moody low cloud. Then the other side of the gorge the road opened out as we passed a lake with a castle on its edge that could give Eilean Donan a run for its money.
My actual destination was Lefay Resort and Spa Dolomiti (there is another one on Lake Garda) a place that you could call sublime in the 21st century sense – beautiful, luxurious and relaxed. It’s on a spectacular site and built to make the most of that setting with floor to ceiling windows everywhere, a riff on traditional alpine architecture with plenty of wood and flickering fires but with a strong contemporary feel.
The rooms – or rather, suites – have the same breath-taking views with plenty of added extras like mood lighting, generous terraces, dressing rooms and your very own flickering fire. The service is exceptional and the food is not just good, it’s super healthy, too.
This is, after all, a spa and there is a spa menu alongside the normal one at dinner so you can choose accordingly. You could, indeed, even try for a bit of weight loss at Lefay (though you’d have to forgo some of the most tempting dishes). There is also the opportunity for plenty of exercise – there’s a state-of-the-art gym, classes from box-fit to Pilates and, most importantly, the great outdoors.
In the winter, people come for the skiing and in the summer substitute hiking and biking in the mountains. You can even enjoy the great outdoors from the hotel itself as there’s an inside-outside pool, heated so that in the colder weather, steam billows above its surface. There’s a serious – and huge – indoor pool for doing laps and a whole hydro-relaxation area with a pool as warm as a bath and, surrounding it, a variety of saunas and steam rooms.
There’s yet more water available as a form of treatment perhaps most enjoyably in the Salt Lake. This is a twilight circuit that begins in the salt grotto (good for breathing problems and lung function), then continues in a blissful float in warm water with a level of salts that give it the buoyancy of the Dead Sea. After that you relax on a water bed. Bliss.
The Salt Lake is in the hydro area – seen by Lefay as very much the centre of the wellness path. Given their blend of east and west – Classical Chinese Medicine is very important here – you can go on a wellness journey informed by these precepts (you begin with a medical examination to check for any imbalances and create the best programme). There are also several specific wellness packages designed to improve fitness, say, or to detox. Alternatively, you can go to enjoy the scenery and the resort experience and pick your own treatments. I decided to do just that.
I started with a sports massage – not something I usually go for and it wasn’t because I’d been doing a lot of sport. However, it worked for the simple reason that Marco, the therapist, was happy to tailor it to suit my needs and, when I explained I had a bit of a shoulder injury, he addressed that for almost the whole time (albeit balancing it out with the other shoulder).
A sports massage is not exactly a relaxing experience and goes deeper than those that are designed to relax you but it was very effective and the release of the tensions that were holding my injured shoulder tight was palpable.
The next day, though, was very different. This time, it was a relaxing massage, called Scambio nel Vento (or “change in the wind”) and – back to the Chinese approach – the idea is that the massage transforms the winds of stress and nervousness into a relaxing breeze. It was nothing like any relaxing massage I’d previously known. For a start, it begins with the head. I am lying face down on the bed and for at least ten minutes, therapist Francesco cradles my scalp, barely moving except for a gentle circular rhythm and the occasional pressure point.
These relate to the gall bladder, liver and bladder meridians which are all related to postural muscles and hence to headaches, anxiety and stress. After a few minutes, my breathing had slowed involuntarily. The massage moved on to my back and legs with the application of hot oil and slow, light movements interspersed with pressure points. It was mesmeric – even the slow uncovering and recovering of the towel as Francesco worked his way around seemed part of the ritual. Relaxing? I was positively floating.
After this came the facial with Elizabeta. Lefay have their own cosmetics range “Tra Suoni e Colori” based around medicinal plants and with no colouring agents or chemical preservatives. They have a high concentration of vitamins, minerals, sugars, proteins and phytocomplexes and aim to activate cellular metabolism through their immunomodulating substances.
They feel light and clean to the skin and have a delicate scent of alpine flowers. This was an anti-aging facial which uses their Anti-Age Triple Action products that are loaded with antioxidants, hyalauronic acid and extra virgin organic olive oil. There followed in quick succession a velvety cleanser, a toner spray with rose and violets, a rich mask (with a scalp massage while it was working), a serum, eye cream and intensive restructuring cream. After all of which, my skin felt positively dewy.
Certainly one of Italy’s best spas, Lefay has got just about everything – setting, service, spa. Marks out of 10? Make that a 12.
Rooms at Lefay Dolomiti start at €375 with breakfast. For more information, including details of Lefay Spa World, please visit www.lefayresorts.com.
SkyAlps fly from London Gatwick to Bolzano twice a week in summer and three times a week in winter from 184euros each way, children under 2 free of charge. For more information, please visit www.skyalps.com.
