Grandhotel Tatra

The restaurant floor has a glass section through which guests can look down into the wine cellar five metres below. If the timing is right, guests are invited down the 13 steps for a tasting among the 4,000 bottles — Moravian, Slovak and international, kept at a constant 16°C. The cellar functions more as a private dining cellar in miniature than as a vinotheque, and a meal taken down there is a different evening from one taken upstairs.

If arriving by car, you will find yourself weaving through steep wooded roads before you lay your eyes upon Grandhotel Tatra's stoney structure, calmly overlooking the valley below. There is a freshness in the interior design once inside, with incandescent bulbs warmly lighting wood and stone, neatly complemented by the warm bright smiles of the reception staff, keen to get your stay off to a glowing start

Up in each room, guests will notice a host of delicate and thoughtful little touches that seem to be as plentiful as the number of places you choose to look, giving you the unmistakable feeling that you have lucked out and found somewhere genuinely individual. If you are after an uber posh mountain schloss with fad food diets, this is not the place for you; but if you love wholesome organic seasonal ingredients in your food, real wood in your fireplace and staff who are sincere, relaxed and welcoming, Grandhotel Tatra is the home away from home that you are looking for

Breakfast is an open buffet, and you will be hard-pressed to find an item that doesn't contain an element that is unique to the region — home-made jams and speciality cheeses from local villages to go with freshly baked bread; thin pancakes or fluffy waffles topped with blueberries and thick lashings of honey from the local bee-keeper. Not forgetting the most delicious and ever-changing array of home-made cakes, all accompanied with organic tea, grown in local meadows and mini green and red smoothies packed full of fresh fruit and vegetables from local gardens. Dinner at the hotel's restaurant is similarly brilliant in how effortless and tasty it makes healthy eating — chef Tomáš Smoček's kitchen carries one Gault & Millau hat for the work. A post-meal saunter to the lobby bar for a nightcap may be all one can manage before getting in to deep beds for a restful night's sleep

Waking up refreshed, guests can jump on a BMW electric bike and explore the steep winding roads, through the Jezerné valley, leading to Karlov lake. This evocative spot has been the scene of local legends and even inspired a fairy tale by Karel Jaromír Erben. It is a wonderful spot for a picnic too. Or if here in winter, Grandhotel Tatra is a great base for avid skiers, with the Synot Kyčerka resort under shared Synot operation and the wider Beskydy ski terrain spread across the surrounding valleys. After a busy day of exploration, you will want nothing more than to relax in the private spa with its own jacuzzi and sauna, take a Filipino-tradition massage from the wellness centre's specialist therapists, or simply bask in the heat of an open fire whilst soaking up the green panoramas of the surrounding valleys from the hotel terrace.