When faced with the otherworldly beauty of peaks, glaciers and gorges in a mountain range, sometimes our overwhelming emotion is one of awe. And awe is — experts increasingly believe — good for us by reducing stress and improving mood.
In 2015 a study led by Professor Paul Piff from the University of California, Berkeley, suggested that experiencing awe led people to become more generous and to tend to make more ethical decisions. So there may be more to our wish to head up mountains than first meets the eye.
Luckily for us, 20 per cent of Europe is made up of mountains. The continent is crisscrossed with wonderfully accessible and ancient walking trails, which range from the dizzying heights of the Caucasus Mountains to the wildlife-rich Carpathians and across the Alps to Andalusia’s high plateau.
Thanks to a strong mountaineering and hiking culture, sleeping close to the stars in a mountain cabin, hut or refuge is easily done too. The European Mountaineering Association believes there are nearly 2,000 across Europe. Many have been part of the landscape for centuries but they were falling into decay until being rescued, either by communities, organisations or individuals. Some are now unrecognisable — on the inside at least — with underfloor heating, designer furniture and kitchens. Others have been kept as traditional as possible and there are some where you’ll even sleep on straw beds.
Europe’s oldest mountain huts usually deliver on solitude, but you’ll also find some that are in high-altitude villages or near restaurants. Just as useful are the vast and functional refuges, or hostels, that are ideal for longer and more remote hikes. In these, you’ll often find equipment to hire and instant companionship.
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Plenty are even accessible without hopping on a plane. Geneva is just six and a half hours from London by train, and a new Nightjet sleeper train adds romance to the overnight trip from Paris to Vienna. All the more reason to embrace peak season.
1. Cottage Ojstrica, Velika Planina, Slovenia
Shepherd’s hut with sauna and ski touring
Reachable only by foot or cable car, Velika Planina in Slovenia’s Kamnik-Savinja Alps is one of Europe’s best-preserved herdsman settlements. At its heart are a handful of 16th-century huts shrouded in spruce shingle tiles. Some are still used by herders each June when cattle move up to graze high-elevation grasses, but others — including the Cottage Ojstrica with its 360-degree mountain views — have Finnish saunas and underfloor heating. They are rented out year-round to allow ski touring on the Skuta glacier and doorstep hikes up 1,665m Mount Gradisce and to the Vetemica caves.
Details One night’s self-catering for two from £89 (koca.si). Fly or take the train to Ljubljana
2. Highland Base, Kerlingarfjoll, Iceland
Glaciers on the doorstep
By the year 2000, global warming had melted the last of Kerlingarfjoll’s year-round snow to reveal a constantly shifting, rusty-red volcanic landscape deep in Iceland’s central Highlands. While the focus at this nature reserve is still on skiing, you can also snow-shoe in winter and hike in summer, with trails snaking around 10,000-year-old glacier formations, rhyolite rock and steaming geothermal springs. Opening in July, Highland Base’s six new private lodges, each with two bedrooms, will add luxury stays to the mix, especially with a neighbouring hotel to take the hassle out of sorting excursions.
Details One night’s B&B for four from £570 (highlandbase.is). Fly to Reykjavik
3. Altypic, Valais, Switzerland
Trekking and hillside raclette
This traditional wooden mayen combines an 18th-century exterior with a Scandi-modern interior. Tucked into a hillside in Val de Bagnes, it’s close enough to the village of Bruson that you can stock up easily, but far enough away to hunker down with a sense of isolation. The owner Jessica Bayard can organise raclette evenings, hampers of local produce and e-bike hire. The gastronomic Palp Festival takes place in the village each summer, and surrounding hiking paths include a trek to the summit of Six Blanc at 2,445m.
Details Two nights’ self-catering for four from £223pp (altypic.ch). Fly or take the train to Geneva
4. Là Haut, Haute Savoie, France
Waterfalls, goat farms and a hot tub
Meaning “up there” in French, this fully catered mountain chalet sits 1,830m above Lake Annecy and has panoramic views of Mont Blanc and some of the deep canyons and waterfalls of Massif des Bauges — a Unesco global geopark. Moments from the top of the La Combe de la Sambuy chairlift, it’s in a remote setting with buckets of adventure on the doorstep. Hikes suit all ages and stages, from a gentle meander to meet Virginie, an alpine pasture farmer at La Bouchasse goat farm, to the La Cordée des Dahuts via ferrata route. As the sun sets, a wraparound terrace, wood-fired hot tub and sauna will tempt everyone back to base.
Details Five nights’ full-board for 20 from £31,000, including transfers (lahaut.net). Fly or take the train to Geneva
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5. Bjornfjell Mountain Lodge, Alta, Norway
Picture windows and reindeer for dinner
On average, Norwegians spend 60 days a year communing with nature in their hyttes. Built with Arctic adventures in mind, the five Bjornfjell Mountain lodges (sleeping between two and six) are a stylish take on friluftsliv culture. Framed by mountains (and occasionally the northern lights light show), they have open-plan living areas and large picture windows. For those who would rather not self-cater, the neighbouring Sarves Alta outdoor centre has hearty homemade meals with reindeer, wild mushrooms and arctic berries when in season.
Details Five nights’ full-board from £2,289pp, including activities (upnorway.com). Fly to Alta
6. Chuestall Hitta, Valais, Switzerland
Transformed cattle shed and glacier trails
Looking out over the peaks of the Valais Alps, including the Matterhorn, Chuestall Hitta was converted from a cattle shed by the villagers of Riederalp in 2010 and is reached by hiking trails or snow shoes from the Moosfluh mountain station. Up here at 2,200m, doorstep hikes include trails to the Great Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps with 11 billion tonnes of ice. Riederalp’s enterprising locals have also turned a nearby building into an 80-cover restaurant, but when its diners leave you’ll have the hilltop to yourself.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for two from £942 (chuestall-blausee.ch). Fly or take the train to Sion or Milan
7. Ufogel, Tyrol, Austria
Architectural folly with meadow views
Resembling something between a UFO and a bird (vogel in German, hence the name), architect Peter Jungmann’s building perches in the Tyrolean village of Nussdorf-Debant. Despite its compact larch and glass exterior (the smell of wood drifts through the structure), the cabin is spacious inside, comfortably sleeping and catering for five. Panoramic windows look beyond meadows to the jagged contours of the Lienz Dolomites and Hohe Tauern National Park. Gentle adventures nearby include cycling and hiking on the Nussdorfer Berg and Debanttal trails and exploring the medieval centre of Lienz, just a five-minute drive away.
Details One night’s self-catering for two from £141 (ufogel.at). Fly or take the train to Vienna
8. Terraegna Mountain Hut, Central Apennines, Italy
Brown bears and picturesque sundowners
Like an emerald spine down the heart of Italy, the Central Apennines are home to some of Europe’s oldest beech forests and largest predators, Marsican brown bears and wolves. Although the animals are elusive, one of the best ways to learn more and possibly spot them is on a Rewilding Europe Travel adventure. After long days exploring the park, nights are spent in a local hotel or the recently refurbished Terraegna refuge. Between the Pescasseroli and Bisegna mountains and mostly accessed by foot or bike, it’s an idyllic spot for sundowners or listening to howling wolves by moonlight.
Details Four nights’ half-board from £1,105pp, including activities and transfers (rewildingeuropetravel.com). Fly or take the train to Rome
9. Refugio Poqueira, Sierra Nevada, Spain
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Firelit seclusion
Managed by the Andalusian Federation of Mountaineering, Refugio Poqueira is the real deal when it comes to mountain-top sleeps. The simple stone building, on a natural shelf at 2,500m, has space for 100 beds in seven dorms. Many hikers stop for the night when ascending nearby Mulhacen or the peaks of Los Machos and Veleta. On a nine-day hiking trip, you’ll spend a night here during the week to avoid crowds. Evenings are spent stargazing or huddled around vast stone fireplaces drinking vino caliente (mulled wine) and eating hearty homemade stews.
Details Nine nights’ full-board from £1,890pp, including transfers and activities (pura-aventura.com). Fly to Granada
10. Rifugio Bella Vista, South Tyrol, Italy
High-altitude Italian hospitality
For those who like to earn their dinners, Rifugio Bella Vista sits on the Hochjochferner glacier on the Austrian-Italian border and is accessed via a footpath that climbs 800m in two miles. Up here, at 2,845m, the air is as brisk as the landscape is barren. The refuge has some soft touches (24-hour electricity, bedding, wine), but even nicer is the cosy stone hut for two, Customs House, which sits in splendid isolation 800m away. You can opt to spend a night here on Inntravel’s Traditions of South Tyrol trip.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £1,205pp (inntravel.co.uk). Fly or take the train to Verona or Innsbruck
11. Anako Lodge, Valais, Switzerland
Restored buildings and hot tubs
The architect Oliver Cheseaux first spotted these decaying agricultural buildings — known as raccards, granges and greniers — while paragliding over Val d’Herens. He has transformed them into modern holiday cabins without losing their exterior charm. The result is a wonderfully rural and unspoilt pocket of the Alps with open-plan, easy-living comfort (some cabins have hot tubs). It’s quieter than nearby resorts such as Zermatt, and rural traditions run deep here, allowing for slower excursions such as visiting cheese farms and living museums. For thrill-seekers and hikers, giant Dent Blanche towers at 4,300m overhead.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £1,247 (anakolodge.ch). Fly or take the train to Geneva or Sion
12. Scheune, Interlaken, Switzerland
Wildflowers and a heritage barn
The Swiss answer to the Landmark Trust, Magnificasa is a collection of carefully restored buildings that now welcome visitors. “Scheune” translates as “barn”, and it’s as bucolic as it sounds — in summer, wildflower meadows and fruit trees surround this 200-year-old log cabin, while inside is modern furniture and a bedroom in the hayloft. It’s in a quiet spot in the sprawling village of Beatenberg, close to Switzerland’s most popular hiking country. The snow-capped Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau glisten in the distance.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for two from £876 (ferienimbaudenkmal.ch). Fly or take the train to Bern, Geneva or Sion
13. The Loft House, Häalsingland, Sweden
Scandi minimalism with a spa
The Loft House is the first of four cabins that the architect Hanna Michelson is designing for the Bergaliv Landscape Hotel. The design is all about Scandinavian minimalism. Looking out across the Ljusnan River, the cabin is close to the Helgonleden pilgrimage trail, so hiking opportunities are plentiful, while the nearby Orbaden Spa & Resort offers pampering whenever needed.
Details B&B twin beds for two from £360, including a spa session (bergaliv.se). Fly to Stockholm
14. Fifth Season Hut, Kazbegi, Georgia
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Floor-to-ceiling views in the high mountains
Juta is one of the highest mountain villages in Georgia and has hiking trails into the Caucasus Mountains, including the 3,842m rock massif of Chaukhi. The Fifth Season Hut is the starting point for most hikes. Rooms have floor-to-ceiling views, and the cosy café, sprawling garden with sunloungers and hammocks, and the well-stocked library, can make it hard to leave.
Details Twelve nights’ full board from £2,870pp, including transfers and activities (wildfrontierstravel.com). Fly to Tbilisi
15. Collado Jermoso, Leon, Spain
Gorgeous gorges and stunning sunsets
With peaks that rise to 2,650m and spectacular deep gorges, Spain’s Picos de Europa range has some of Europe’s most scenic hiking. A new trip from Much Better Adventures is a challenging one — it hikes from hut to hut while ascending four peaks. Gentler but equally stunning is a six-day trek, including a night at the Collado Jermoso refuge, which is located above the Valdeon valley.
Details Six nights’ full board from £787pp, including transfers and activities (muchbetteradventures.com). Fly to Bilbao
16. Bunea Cabin, Carpathia, Romania
Lynx and bears in the Transylvanian Alps
Romania’s Fagaras Mountains, also known as the Transylvanian Alps, are still home to wolves, boars, eagles, lynx and bears, thanks to the Foundation Conservation Carpathia. This trip to the region includes a stay at Bunea, a wildlife-watching hide and eco-cabin only accessible by going off-road in the remote Dambovita Valley.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £7,455pp, including transfers and activities (journeyswithpurpose.org). Fly to Sibiu
17. Allgäu, Swabia, Germany
Loft-style living in the Bavarian Alps
On a former mountain farm in a clearing surrounded by dense forest, this three-bedroom chalet was sensitively renovated in 2017. The outside walls are of traditional wooden shingle, while the interior is in an open-plan loft-style with beams, modish furniture and clever lighting. The Bavarian Alps offer hikes to castles, lakes and gorges, including the nearby Breitachklamm, which is up to 150m deep.
Details One night self-catering for up to six from £718 (landfolk.com). Fly or take train to Zurich
18. Costetoi Hut, Trentino, Italy
Meadow-view terrace and village pizza
Costetoi is one of the more modern cabins listed on a website offering an authentic hütten (mountain hut) experience across the Austrian and Italian Alps. Solar panels provide electricity and space is generous — three bedrooms and a fenced outdoor terrace that spills on to a meadow with views towards the Dolomites. The nearest village, Costalta, is just over a mile away, has two bars, a bakery and a pizzeria — ideal after days of exploring the hiking region of Val Visdende.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for six from £1,149 (huetten.com). Fly to Innsbruck
19. Triglav Lakes Lodge, Julian Alps, Slovenia
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Stay between two gorgeous lakes
There are more than 100 mountain huts and cabins in Slovenia, known as doms. The Slovenian Alpine Association manages most of them and, although basic, most have washing facilities and hearty homemade food. Triglav Lakes Lodge, built in 1880, is one of the most popular. It occupies a particularly beautiful spot between two lakes in the glacial Seven Lakes Valley — spring brings a riot of wildflowers. The refuge sleeps up to 200 in a mix of small rooms and dormitories.
Details Two nights’ room only from £380pp (huttohuthikingslovenia.com). Fly to Ljubljana
20. Eco Village Nevidio, Savnik, Montenegro
Cabins built by an Everest veteran
Founded by Dragan Gaso Lalovic, who climbed Mount Everest, this collection of cottages feels practically playful. With high, pitched roofs and small balconies with flower-filled window boxes, they sit in meadows around the unspoilt village of Poscenje and each sleeps four to six people. While they are handy for serious hiking around Durmitor National Park, there’s also plenty of opportunity for relaxation, including a traditional restaurant.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £865pp, including transfers and guiding (undiscoveredbalkans.com). Fly to Podgorica
21. Maiensäass Molas Sot, Albula, Switzerland
Gingham curtains and cowbells
An ideal place to roleplay the film Heidi, this off-grid hut offers simplicity near the glamorous resort of St Moritz. Everyone sleeps in the same barn, water comes straight from the mountain spring, there’s a cooking grill in a yurt, and an outdoor stove links warm water to an outdoor wooden bathtub. Gingham curtains at the windows and cowbells are your decorations. Nearby attractions include Parc Ela, Switzerland’s largest regional nature park, home to unspoilt villages, the Unesco world heritage-listed Landwasser viaduct, and biodiversity-rich high plateau Alp Flix.
Details Two nights’ self-catering for eight from £460 (chalet.myswitzerland.com). Fly to Zurich
22. Alpine Mayen 4 Vallées Sion, Switzerland
Clever conversion of a historic cabin
Dating back to 1904, this converted self-catering mayen sits on one of the footpaths surrounding Veysonnaz, a quiet resort in the heart of the Valais. The cabin is 300m from the nearest road and surrounded by wildflower pastures. Nearby bisses — irrigation channels — provide gentle hikes but for those who aspire to be mountain goats, they can climb Mont Rouge to admire views across the Rhône Valley. There are also mountain biking itineraries nearby, and two e-bike rental places in the village.
Details Three nights’ self-catering for two from £1,060 (chalet.myswitzerland.com). Fly to Geneva
23. Oriel du Sénépy, Isère, France
Cliffside nature walks and lakes
This lake-filled area has a huge variety of summer adventures. You have everything from France’s second-largest market in Vienne to the great Vercors Massif and the surrounding forest that’s home to ibex, chamois and vultures. Oriel du Sénépy has four cottages and cabins facing the cliffs of the Vercors. Hikes include a loop to the Combe Noire. Your host, Nicholas, enjoys taking guests on walks around the plateau before serving breakfast or dinner.
Details Half-board doubles from £136 (gites-oriel-senepy.fr). Fly or take the train to Grenoble
24. Monte Rosa Hut, Valais, Switzerland
Metallic modernism near Zermatt
Nicknamed the Mountain Crystal, this aluminium-clad, angular building is a refreshing step away from Swiss mountain kitsch. Sleeping up to 120 in airy birchwood bunkrooms, the refuge generates more than 90 per cent of its energy via solar panels and has a microfiltration system to clean greywater and sewage. Sitting at the foot of Mont Rosa, the hut is surrounded by challenging hikes. In summer, access is via one of two four-to-five-hour hikes from Rotenboden. Mountain guides are recommended for the less experienced.
Details One night’s half-board from £94pp (monterosahuette.ch). Fly or take the train to Geneva or Zurich
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