Time travel in the Italian Alps: a glam stay in a 70s design hotel

When I was about seven years old, my aunt brought me back a souvenir from her trip to America – a yellow trouser suit with yellow-and-purple zigzag-patterned flared trousers. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen and, 50 years later, as I walk into the Seehotel Ambach in Italy’s South Tirol, I can’t help thinking how it’s just the kind of look I should be rocking in the 1970s lobby.

We are greeted by a riot of yellow and orange and a selection of the Italian design industry’s greatest hits from the 70s by Joe Colombo, Ettore Sottsass and others. More recognisable to those not in the know about Milan’s design elite are ashtrays advertising Cinzano, glasses promising the delights of Martini and evocative period commercial poster art. At first it’s hard to get your bearings. It’s not unlike walking into a packed vintage shop on Portobello Road or in Margate, except it’s 33C outside and I can see Lake Caldaro glistening through the window.

Seehotel Ambach was opened in 1973 by Anna Ambach, who continued to live in the hotel’s main suite until her death in 2014. Her nephew, Klaus Maran, inherited the hotel and runs it with his family today. They recount how architect Othmar Barth’s radical design for the hotel shook up the local scene and how Ambach fought for it to be built. In protest, the local mayor refused to grant occupancy permission after the building was completed.

It’s not hard to see why the neighbours might have failed to embrace Barth’s radical vision of a white-and-yellow brutalist boomerang a world away from the classic Tirolean style. But it is actually rather beautiful, set against the backdrop of the rugged mountains of the Italian Alps.

In recent years, the family has brought the hotel up to date. Elements that could be restored were preserved or updated, so, while the bathrooms have had a complete overhaul, the bedrooms are still largely the same as they were in 1973 with minor alterations to fit the modern traveller (the original beds have been extended). Most of the lamps, furnishings and design objects have been there from the beginning, with a few items carefully sourced and added later.

The public areas remain straight out of the 1970s with their white, rough cast walls and furniture channelling good-time vibes. It really is like time travelling. What’s not to love for those who yearn for the days of disco, Charlie’s Angels and glamorous travel? The only misstep is the modern europop playing in the bar: where’s Diana Ross telling us there Ain’t No Mountain High Enough or Marvin Gaye imploring Let’s Get It On?

Once you’ve walked through the lobby and exited the hotel on the other side you are met by breathtaking views of the lake set against the backdrop of the Tirolean mountains. Set in 11,000 square metres of parkland, where you pitch your sunlounger is up to you and there are plenty of trees, including ancient willows and birches, to pitch under.

The park has the Badehaus – a spa with a whirlpool, Finnish sauna and rain room – and an outdoor pool, both added in 2018, but it is the lake that is the big draw. Two jetties lead through grasses and bulrushes down to the water’s edge and en route you can help yourself to a pedalo, paddleboard or kayak.

Lake Caldaro, the largest and warmest in South Tirol, and about 30 minutes’ drive from the city of Bolzano, is an important natural habitat for birds and amphibians, and as you lie on your lounger, you’re likely to be sharing the surroundings with a gaggle of geese or a family of ducks. I imagine they, too, have been there for half a century. As the Eagles put it, Seehotel Ambach is “such a lovely place, Such a lovely place”.

Accommodation was provided by Seehotel Ambach. Rooms from €168 per person per night, half-board in September. A day stay with full use of the facilities including the Badehaus is €58.

Time travel: three more hotels preserving the past

1950s: Le Corbusier Hotel, Marseille

A brutalist-lover’s dream, the Unite d’Habitation will transport you right back to the 1950s. The building, started in 1947 and completed in 1952, was built to meet the burgeoning demands of a booming population. Two of the floors form Hotel Le Corbusier and most of the interiors are intact, with original design elements by the Swiss architect and furniture by Charlotte Perriand. Best of all, it won’t break the bank. Rooms from €116 a night in September.

1930s: The Haweswater Hotel, Bampton, Cumbria
Step back in time to 1937, with a visit to the wonderfully isolated hotel of 17 rooms and a (modern) lakehouse. Packed with 1930s fixtures and fittings, staying at this art deco hotel will have you thinking about Agatha Christie and mysterious snowstorms. Rooms from £143 a night in September.

1920s: Walpole Bay Hotel, Margate

There’s a steady stream of trendy new hotels opening in this Kent seaside town but the Walpole has been there since 1914. The family who run it today are all about celebrating its heritage and it’s worth a visit just for a ride in the original 1927 Otis trellis-gated lift that serves all five floors. Rooms from £135 a night.