La Piazza Bistro In Merano

13/03/2025: Delicious food and a great location in the ski resort. I just expect a restaurant of this quality to also accept Amex cards. Customer service is lacking here.

03/03/2025: This refuge is not the typical place to stop for lunch while skiing. Indeed, from the outside it seems exactly like that, but a closer look is enough to notice that something is not in line with the usual mountain huts. First of all, it's at the top of a small outpost - not right on the slope, but reachable on skis after a short descent of about 150 meters from the cable car. Then there are those red deckchairs on the snow, not on the terrace, which immediately give the idea of ​​a break in the sun without too many formalities. Then you discover that the menu is complete, there is even a wood-fired oven (I didn't see it, but I deduced it from the perfect pizza, which only a wood-fired oven can produce) and you start to get suspicious. Curiosity wins, you go inside and find a five-star restaurant hidden under a mountain refuge. Then, among the skiers and tables, you notice a detail you don't expect: people arriving on snowmobiles, with luggage. Around you, a sea of ​​people with boots on their feet, some absorbing the winter sun, some sliding comfortably around you. A perfect place to forget everything, to stop time and enjoy the day without rushing. And if you do the math, many pay more for the fraction of the ski pass than for the drink they enjoy in the sun - and that says it all. Then you understand the true magic of this place: there are always people here, but not on the slopes. The further you are from here, the fewer people around you. And then, almost, it's better to stay a little longer. It doesn't have any logic but it makes a lot of sense.