
Bolzano, South Tyrol
Parkhotel Laurin
Setting
The house stands on Laurinstraße in the middle of Bolzano, on a quiet side and still central. The station is around 200 metres away, the arcades, the fruit market and the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology with Ötzi a few minutes on foot. The valley stations of the cable cars to Ritten and Jenesien are in town as well. Bolzano airport is 7.8 kilometres out.
History & architecture
Built in 1910 to designs by the Munich architects Alois and Gustav Ludwig, a hotel ever since and today a listed building. The interior mixes historicism and Art Nouveau: handmade furniture, original door handles, stucco and period colours. The Laurin Bar is famous for the frescoes Bruno Goldschmitt painted in 1911, telling the legend of the dwarf king Laurin; they were restored in the early 1990s. The hotel has its own park of mature trees, with the pool set among them.
Rooms & suites
Around 100 individually furnished rooms and suites are spread across twelve categories between 18 and 75 m². This trip is booked in the Laurin Suite of about 57 m², which with its own entrance feels more like a small apartment than a hotel room. Art hangs throughout the house, in the corridors as much as in the rooms.
Dining
The Restaurant Laurin occupies a room of palms, Art Nouveau furniture and contemporary art and holds two toques from Gault&Millau; the cooking is Mediterranean-Alpine. Alongside it is the Contanima restaurant. Evenings gather in the Laurin Bar beneath the frescoes, and in summer in the park. Breakfast is served as a buffet.
Park & pool
The hotel's park is unusually large for a city hotel and full of blossom in spring. Among the trees lies the redesigned pool with whirlpool stations, a lawn for sunbathing and a pavilion of pale timber. In summer food is served here too.
Around the hotel
Bolzano is best explored on foot: the arcades, Waltherplatz, the cathedral and the fruit market all sit close together. Half a day suits the Ritten cable car, a full day a drive into the Dolomites or out to the wine estates of the Adige valley. The hotel also holds regular jazz evenings.















