Zeppichl In Merano

16/04/2024: My wife and I visited Igor and his lovely place in June. Just after the snow melted sort of between seasons? I found the place scrolling thru YouTube somehow and became entranced with the biking and skiing especially watching his family enjoy the surrounding majesty of the Dolomites. I think the first clip I saw was w Igor and Claudia hiking up To some little Capella having some cured meat and cheeses ands and heading down with a glass of wine in hand taking care not to spill and see who gets down first :) We headed over to chk the cycling which is world class. We would chk in w Igor download the ride and off we would go. Hah. I told my wife it was the “Snowbird” of the bike world. It didn’t go over well but the e-bikes helped. ALOT. for us anyway. Plenty of suffering to be had but since a lot of people have reviewed the restaurant we thought it would be fun to share our experiences. Getting there isn’t super direct but decent enough. If the trains are running. Except for the day we went there. Haha. So, being adaptable we called an Uber and ride shared w a nice lady doing a yoga retreat. $100€ later we arrived at the Ustaria. I tend to stress a bit when travel plans get derailed especially if you are trying to optimize your stay somewhere. That doesn’t involve sitting at a little railway station in Italy in a Sunday watching the wind blow the trees around. Upon arriving we made our way past the the quiet bar into a dining room where we were served some lovely, comforting pasta and some beers and wine. All Good. From there it just got better. The cycling was as beautiful a place on this planet to ride. We trudged up to Pralongia following our Garmin overlord and bombed down to Alta Badia stopping off at a rando golf course for fortification. Needless to say at the end of the day we were chuffed. Dinner was super hearty and the wine list was really great. The rooms? Chefs Kiss. Surgically clean. Window opened on the little stream in the back where the guys in milk trucks would stop for a double espresso in the am and a shot of schnapps at night. The bar was a fun mix of guys w lots of road dust in them and people in spandex. Igor would come out on occasion and sweep up. That was funny. Oh. And the mattresses? Mwah. Great spot. Wonderful people. Going back to ski next year.

13/03/2024: A must! It's not just the many beautiful videos that Igor makes with his family in Alta Badia that are great! You definitely have to eat and go to the bar. The whole village meets here. You will receive excellent service from a very motivated team and it tastes very, very tasty! Fantastico! Gracie! We'll be back very soon. Thanks !!