Sonnenalp Hotel

About Sonnenalp Hotel

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Sonnenalp is a family-owned hotel in the heart of Vail Village, known for its Bavarian-inspired style and European hospitality. It pairs the Sonnenalp Spa and a heated indoor/outdoor pool beside Gore Creek with spacious suites, many with gas fireplaces and balconies, and a cluster of restaurants and bars that are Vail institutions in their own right.

A Bavarian heart in Vail Village

The Sonnenalp sits on Vail Road at the edge of Vail Village, within walking distance of the lifts, the shops and the restaurants of the pedestrian streets. Its look is unmistakably Alpine: painted wood, carved balconies and a warmth of welcome that the family owners have kept for generations. Rooms and suites look over Gore Creek or the village itself.

The Sonnenalp Spa and the pools

The spa is the hotel’s calm centre. Between the treatment rooms and the outdoor terrace lies a heated indoor/outdoor pool, so you can swim from the warm hall straight out under the mountain sky, and outdoor whirlpools sit beside Gore Creek. The menu covers massages, facials and body treatments, and there is an oxygen bar, open daily from 10am to 5.30pm. Treatments run from 10am to 5pm on weekdays and 9am to 6pm at weekends; the pools, hot tubs and fitness centre are open daily from 8am to 8pm, and hotel guests may use all the facilities during their stay.

More like a private mountain residence than a traditional hotel room, in the hotel’s words.

Children under 16 may use the indoor and outdoor pools with an adult, while the steam rooms, saunas and fitness centre are for adults only. Children are not allowed in the treatment rooms, and the hotel suggests the Kids Club while you are in the spa. The indoor pool is kept quiet, which is exactly the point.

Rooms and suites

The Sonnenalp is built around space. Juniper hotel rooms measure 350–420 sq ft, Lodgepole junior suites about 490 sq ft and Blue Spruce junior suites about 570 sq ft, with Cross Creek junior suites at around 750 sq ft. One-bedroom suites (Bald Mountain and Gore Creek) are around 770–795 sq ft, Golden Peak two-bedroom suites about 1,050 sq ft, Vail Mountain two-bedroom suites around 1,350 sq ft and Castle Peak two-bedroom suites 1,600 sq ft. The One Willow Bridge Road residences have two to four bedrooms over 1,600–2,900 sq ft. Many suites have separate living rooms, gas fireplaces and balconies, and bathrooms have heated marble floors and double vanities.

Eating and drinking

Few hotels in the Rockies feed you as variously. Ludwig’s serves the hotel’s celebrated breakfast on its terrace and creative, regionally inspired dinners in the evening. The Swiss Chalet is all fondue and raclette in a mountain-cabin room; Bully Ranch is the long-standing village favourite for lunch, dinner and a lively happy hour; and King’s Club pours cocktails by a roaring fire with live entertainment. Treff Café is the European-style bar for a morning latte or an evening pint, and in summer there is a poolside menu.

Families and the wider club

The Sonnenalp Kids Club runs for ages 5–12, Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm to 9pm, by reservation, with arts and crafts, games and dinner-and-movie nights, so parents can have an evening to themselves. Babysitting can be arranged, and a ski concierge looks after equipment and lessons. Hotel guests may also play the Sonnenalp Club’s 7,100-yard links-style golf course in Edwards, 16 miles down the valley, with tennis and a lap pool there too.

Our advice: book a junior suite or larger for the space and the fireplace, swim the indoor/outdoor pool at dusk after skiing, and keep one night for fondue at the Swiss Chalet. Families should reserve Kids Club evenings when they book.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Sonnenalp Hotel before you go.