Immerse yourself in nature and culture at this luxury spa resort in Bavaria

I was suspended in the water of the Bavarian Alps, watching the mist roll hypnotically over the towering snow-capped mountains as the mid-autumn sun rose. Steam emanated from the hot water around me, dissolving in the early morning chill. Otherwise, everything was still, and I realized that despite the jet lag-induced insomnia that got me here at dawn, I was completely at peace this time around.

This makes me very happy because I’m not a “spa person”. Ironically, neither is the man behind Schloss Elmau, the famous spa resort where I am. Dietmar Mueller-Elmau, 69, who owns the palatial property (schloss is German for castle) with fair hair, has made no secret of the fact that spas don’t appeal to him.

Restless and curious, he has no intention of returning to his family’s hotel in Bavaria because he has made a fortune selling his software company, which developed leading hotel management systems Fidelio and Opera. But fate planned otherwise.

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Schloss Elmau was originally built in 1916 by Dr. Johannes Müller, Mueller-Elmau’s grandfather, an influential Protestant theologian, philosopher and writer who advocated separation from self and desire. After the war (during which time the property was illegally confiscated by the state), the property passed to Müller’s children, hosting some of the world’s greatest performers under their patronage, including Yehudi Menuhin, Alfred Brundle and Benjamin Britton.

This established the hotel’s reputation as a cultural institution, which Mueller-Elmau maintains to this day. When he took office in 1997, he introduced political and philosophical debates, recasting Schloss Elmau as a “cultural sanctuary” where high art could flourish, a process he likens to “new wine in old bottles”.

Mueller-Elmau’s opportunity to “make new bottles” came in 2005 when the hotel was destroyed in a fire and he was forced to rebuild it. The new Schloss Elmau was launched in 2007, and the adjacent “Retreat” was added in 2015, just in time to host the 2015 G7 summit (the annual gathering of global leaders and home to the viral photo of Angela Merkel ( Angela Merkel, who was seen gesturing to Barack Obama).

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