Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Germany / Kranzbach / Das Kranzbach Hotel & Wellness Retreat
Das Kranzbach Hotel & Wellness Retreat
Kranzbach, Germany · Independent · High Luxury
In 1913 the Honourable Mary Isabel Portman, a London aristocrat who played a Stradivari violin and studied music in Leipzig, bought a meadow near Garmisch and commissioned architects Detmar Blow and Ferdinand Billerey to build a manor in the English Arts and Crafts style: the only such building in Germany. War broke out before she could return; the house became a US Army officers' retreat after 1945 and a hotel in 2007.
- 131 rooms
- Opened 2007
- Interiors: Ilse Crawford
About Das Kranzbach Hotel & Wellness Retreat
- Englishwoman Mary Isabel Portman commissioned the Bavarian Alps mansion in English Arts and Crafts style, but WWI led to her internment as an enemy alien and she died in 1931 without seeing it fully furnished.
- The property later served as a convalescent home and hospital, and appeared as a film location for Das Schweigen im Walde.
- It reopened as a 131-room wellness retreat in 2007, with interiors by London designer Ilse Crawford across a 3,500-square-meter spa.
History
Das Kranzbach began as an English country house improbably set in the Bavarian Alps near Krün. It was commissioned by the Englishwoman Mary Isabel Portman and built between roughly 1913 and 1915 in the English Arts and Crafts style to designs by architects Detmar Blow and Fernand Billerey. The First World War shattered Portman's plans — she was interned as an enemy alien — and she died in Montreux in 1931 without ever seeing the house fully furnished.
Over the following decades the property served variously as a convalescent home and a hospital, and it appeared as a film location for "Das Schweigen im Walde." In 2003 it was acquired by Jakob Edinger, and after a major restoration and expansion it reopened as a wellness retreat hotel in 2007.
Today the hotel offers 131 rooms — 31 within the historic Mary Portman House and 98 in a contemporary extension — with interiors by London designer Ilse Crawford and a 3,500-square-metre spa.
The setting
16 km from Partnach Gorge. 15 km from Bavarian Zugspitze mountain railway.
Restaurants and bars
- Pool-Bistro — Poolside
Experiences
- Meditation House by Kengo Kuma — A retreat place among the trees just above the main house, designed by Kengo Kuma for stillness.
- Badehaus pools and saunas — 5 indoor and outdoor pools, 8 saunas and steam baths, and relaxation rooms with open fireplaces, reached by a wood and glass bridge.
- Ladies Sauna & Relax — A separate sauna and relaxation oasis reserved for women within the Badehaus.
- Spa and sauna area — Light and spacious spa and sauna area with views of the meadow, forest and mountains.
- Treatments — 27 treatment rooms providing massages, cosmetic treatments and bath therapies.
- Outdoor relaxation area — Large, wind-protected outdoor relaxation area with recliners and blankets.
Amenities
- Spa
- Indoor pool
- Sauna
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Yoga
- Pet-friendly
- Adults-only
Awards
- MICHELIN Two Keys (2026)
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