I first heard about Forshofgut when having lunch with the impossibly glamorous Stephanie Rist. As well as having worked closely with the doyenne of spas, Susanne Kaufman, for over 10 years, she was also born and brought up in Austria’s Vorarlberg. And as is the case with any conversation between two mothers, inevitably it turned to the bane of our existence: how to fill the endless school holidays and decent kids clubs — and this was the only place that she would effervesce about.
Looking it up, I learn quickly that Forsthofgut is part of a growing cluster of Kinder hotels . No, nothing to do with those deliciously nostalgic chocolate eggs, but rather a trend with hotels in Europe that are created with the whole family in mind — without stuffing it down your throat or compromising on the aesthetic. From my research, it seemed that they mostly crop up in Alpine Austria and Germany and tend to attract a mostly local clientele.
We booked to visit in April — the perfect month, to paraphrase Mean Girls, when it was not too hot and not too cold, and we could still have a chance of catching a little ski time before the slopes closed for the summer. Though it would also be wonderful for a winter break, with ski season starting in December. For full disclosure, I do not come from a skiing family, nor is it something I’ve felt drawn to until this year, where I have treated every family holiday as a Gap Week to learn something new.
Plus, I’d get to learn with my five year ol.
