ITALY, Natz - Am Brunnen Apartments
New apartments in South Tyrol in modern mountain style with swimming pool, many trips around the area
Address: Am Brunnen Apartments, Peter Kemenater Str. 23, 390 40 Natz-Schabs, Italy
Web: www.ambrunnen-apartments.com
The website is in German, English and Italian.
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Location
In Italy's South Tyrol (Trentino - Alto Adige region, Eisacktal valley), five minutes from the Brenner motorway, there is the Natz-Schabs (in Italian Naz-Sciaves) apple plateau. The Natz-Schabs region consists of 5 villages. Around 3,000 inhabitants make a living by growing apples, wine and tourism. There are many hiking trails, cycle routes and natural beauties in the vicinity. As for skiing, you have to drive to the ski resorts. The closest is the Meransen - Gitschberg ski area (12 km), the Plose ski area above Brixen (16 km), the famous Kronplatz is 47 km away. The towns of Brixen and Bolzano are within driving distance, you can visit the symbol of the Dolomites about 80 km away - the Tre Cime rock massif, which is listed in UNESCO (I will describe it below), you can take a trip to the lakes or go on a hike in the mountain areas (in winter ski ). And you can walk to Rodenegg Castle directly from the apartments. There is really an abundance of trips around the area.
Am Brunnen Apartments
Am Brunnen Apartments belongs to the Gasser family, and you can meet its members here personally at the reception or they will prepare breakfast for you in the morning. They are very nice people. You can communicate with them mainly in German, but they can also speak English and Italian.
Am Brunnen Apartments are the perfect base for a varied active holiday in South Tyrol. For the duration of your stay, request an Almencard at reception, which allows you to use all regional public transport for free, as well as free entry to more than 90 museums and tourist attractions throughout South Tyrol. It also applies to Rodenegg Castle. In addition to stylish accommodation in new apartments equipped in a modern mountain style, there is also a sauna and a beautiful indoor pool, see below. Parking is free either directly in front of the house or behind the house in the garages.
Apartments
At Am Brunnen Apartments you will find 3 types of apartments, all with a balcony, equipped kitchen, TV, wifi, bathrobes, and remote-controlled outdoor blinds. There is no cleaning service in the apartments. If your stay is longer than 7 nights, they will change your bed linen and towels. There is an elevator in the house. We had a Superior apartment, I will describe it in detail:
1) Mono apartment
This is the smallest, 35-40 m2, suitable for 2. A total of 8 apartments. In one large room there is a comfortable bed, a fully equipped kitchen (fridge with freezer, kettle, oven, ceramic hob, dishwasher), dining table, wardrobes. Modern bathroom with shower, hairdryer and basic cosmetics. Bed linen, towels and tea towels in the kitchen are a matter of course. The apartments also have a balcony. Breakfast is included in the price of this apartment.
2) Superior apartment
Medium-sized apartment, 55-57 m2, for 2-4 people. A total of 11 apartments. The apartment consists of one bedroom with a comfortable double bed and wardrobe, our bedroom had its own balcony with chairs and a table and of course there were boxes of geraniums, as is common in the Alps, beauty. In the spacious living room with kitchen there is a dining table, conference table, sofa bed, fully equipped kitchen (fridge with freezer, glass ceramic hob, oven, TV, dishwasher (incl. tablet), kettle, dishes, pots, towels, sponge and washing detergent, a basket and bags for the basket. I would like at least a capsule coffee machine here. Those who live in the living room have their closet in the hall and their balcony with a sitting area. In the stylish modern bathroom you will find a toilet, bidet, shower, plenty of towels (even large pool towels), hairdryer, lighted magnifying mirror, hand soap, shower gel with 2 in 1 shampoo, toilet paper. There is a bathrobe for everyone, including a company cloth bag so you have somewhere to put your things when you go swimming. I appreciate it, I always forget to take it when we're not going to the sea. Take your slippers, preferably rubber ones, the cloth ones are not very suitable for the pool.
3) Penthouse apartment
The largest apartments, directly under the roof, 73-83 m2, for up to 6 people. There are only two. This apartment has 2 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a living room with a fully equipped kitchen (fridge with freezer, oven, ceramic hob, kettle). In the living room there is a sofa bed for another 2 people.
Food
Breakfast can be ordered in the accommodation for 15 Euros per person. I can warmly recommend it, the selection is very decent! Quality juices, salami, cheese, fruit, vegetables, muesli and other dried food, a selection of salty and sweet pastries, butter, jams, Nutella, hard-boiled eggs. Upon request, the owner will personally prepare an omelette (and it was excellent), scrambled eggs or a choice of eggs. Coffee and tea also on request. Breakfast is from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Right next to the apartments is a small Spar, where you can buy both food and drugstores and other necessary things.
The nearest Putzer restaurant, which was recommended to us, must be reached by car. Although it would not be far on foot, there is no sidewalk along the entire path, you would have to walk along a fairly busy road for a while, so it is safer by car. But it's possible to walk elsewhere, across the meadows and then along the road, according to the map it's 2.5 km and 45 minutes on foot. It is 1.6 km and 2 minutes by car, so as you wish. There is a large parking in front of the restaurant and there is also a hotel here. The restaurant has its own brewery and several beers on tap, so we immediately fell in love with it and have been here several times :) The choice of food is also very wide, they make great pizza, typical Tyrolean dishes and international ones. You can sit inside or outside, the restaurant is really big, you can pay by card. On some days, there is also live music.
Wellness
The apartment building has a luxurious indoor pool and a Finnish sauna. If the weather is nice, you can go out to the outdoor terrace and sunbathe on cushioned couches or deckchairs. If you want privacy, it is possible to order a SPA just for yourself, including refreshments, for 80 Euros.
Tips for trips
You can also reach this castle on foot along a marked path. However, according to the signs, we got lost, I recommend following the route in the maps on your mobile phone. And I'm telling you right away, it's not a walk in the park. First you go down to the very lowest point to cross the river over the bridge, and then you climb almost vertically up to the castle, I almost died :) But you can also get there by car, and then you're walking straight. There is a large parking lot and several restaurants at the top. The castle is open from May to October. Even in summer, it is open to the public only 2-3 times a day! So you have to hit the tour hour. The entrance fee is 8 Euros per person, it can only be paid in cash. You don't pay anything with the tourist card that they give you in the apartments. You can choose an Italian or German speaking guide.
Rodenegg Castle is one of the most interesting fortresses in South Tyrol. The castle was built by Frederick I. in the 12th century and belongs to the descendants of the famous singer Oswald von Wolkenstein. The family still lives in part of the castle. Therefore, only some spaces that serve as a museum are open to the public. You can admire frescoes from the Middle Ages.
Tre Cime
It is located in northern Italy. Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen in German) is a rock massif consisting of 3 peaks, it is often referred to as the symbol of the Dolomites and is listed in UNESCO. Shields grow vertically from the rubble fields. The highest is the middle one, its peak reaches up to a height of 2999 m above sea level. Until 1919, the peaks formed the border between Austria and Italy. Heavy fighting took place here during World War I. The shields are a favorite place for climbers, we even saw them there and hats off. One of the most difficult stages of the Giro d'Italia cycling race ends below the peaks of Tre Cime. I don't understand how anyone can get away with it!
It is less than 80 km by car from Am Brunnen Apartments. However, if you plan to go here during the summer holidays, be prepared for crowds and I recommend being here till 9 a.m. or even earlier. We were there after 10 h, and they didn't let us up anymore, the parking lot was full. The cars below were parked everywhere, in every ditch, some of them had walked a long way from the bus. We managed to park in the paid parking lot by Lake Misurina and walk about 10 minutes from there to the parking lot from which the shuttle buses went up. The ticket cost 10 Euros per person, 1 ride. You can either buy it at the booth at the bus stop or by card directly on the bus (cash cannot be paid on the bus). If you were to go up by car, there is a barrier under the hill and you have to pay, the journey is paid 30 Euros per car. Buses run every half hour until 7 p.m., when the park gate closes. If there are a lot of people, it keeps spinning. I strongly recommend not to go here in July and August, sometimes it was difficult to overtake someone on the narrow roads stuck into the slope. There were also crazy queues in restaurants.
Tre Cime deserves a separate article - I wrote it for you here - Tre Cime.
Plose ski (in summer tourist) area
Get in the car and drive to Seilbahnstrasse 17 (Italian Via della Funivia 17), Brixen. The resort is located above Brixen. You can go to the cable car by car. There is quite a large free parking lot. In 2023, a completely new cable car named Plose was put into operation. I recommend you take a map of the area here so you know where to go up, where the cable cars are, restaurants, how things go and many other useful info. A return ticket costs 24 Euros. There are two more cable cars at the top, and our ticket was valid for them as well. Cable cars can also carry bicycles. In winter, there are more cable cars, it looked like a fairly large ski area, then you can go all the way down to the cabin. A fairly dense Plosebob bobsleigh track was also being built at the top, it will be opened in 2024. Some sections looked quite steep and you even go underground into a tunnel, it will probably be a great experience.
The area is suitable for tourists (trails of various levels of difficulty), cyclists and, in winter, skiers. Special routes for cyclists are also marked on the map.
The first restaurant is down on the cabin, the next is up on the cabin, everything looked pretty new. Another beautiful restaurant and hotel - Berghotel Schlemmer - is on the cabin (Pfannspitz) on the far right. Excellent food, beautiful view from the terrace. Just be careful, the cabin has a lunch break from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m.
Well, again, I could go into great detail about the area here, and I will! But in a separate article, stay tuned! :)
And on the way from the mountains, we stopped in Brixen, when we were already passing through it.
Brixen
Brixen (Bressanone in Italian) is of course known to us Czechs mainly thanks to the exile of K. H. Borovský (Czech journalist and writer) in the 19th century. Today there is a memorial plaque in Czech on the house where he lived. You have signs all over the city, the house is located at Via Pentolai 1. But now it is privately owned and you can only see it from the outside, we thought there would be a museum or something, but nothing. But the center of Brixen is definitely worth a visit. It is a beautiful picturesque historic town. There are two churches on the main square Domplatz (Piazza Duomo), both freely accessible. One is the Brixen Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and in the corner is the parish church of St. Michaela. On the square there is also a fountain, the town hall, and many benches and cafes where you can sit in peace. You can also walk around the bishop's palace or through the picturesque medieval streets with shops. And much more. I will write a more detailed article again.
So as you can see, there is a lot to see in South Tyrol, here is just a small fraction. I definitely recommend visiting the region.
The article was created in cooperation with the Gasser family, I thanks a lot for being able to test the apartments for you, enjoy beautiful trips around the area and hopefully convince you to visit as well. There's a lot to see!
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