Parkhotel Laurin, WorldHotels Elite

In the centre of Bolzano, the Parkhotel Laurin WorldHotels Elite hotel is an elegant hotel set in a lovingly restored 1910 building, where art fills the public rooms, a bar glows with painted murals, and refined bedrooms offer marble bathrooms, satellite TVs and free Wi-Fi. An acclaimed restaurant serves Mediterranean and South Tyrolean cooking, a swimming pool and a summer lounge bar open onto a private city park, and well-equipped meeting rooms host events for up to 200 guests. Original artworks line the corridors throughout, and the leafy park makes a quiet retreat in the middle of the city. Bolzano is the sunny capital of South Tyrol, an Alpine crossroads where Italian and Austrian cultures meet among vineyards and mountains. Arcaded old streets and a busy market square fill the centre, the famous Iceman Otzi rests in the archaeology museum, and cafes serve both espresso and apple strudel beneath the colonnades. All around rise the pink-tinged peaks of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage range of jagged summits, cable cars climb from the city to high meadows and walking trails, and vine-clad slopes produce celebrated Alto Adige wines. Castles and orchards dot the green valleys that fancy out of the town.