The Art of Being Alone

Air like glass, and trails where your own footsteps are the loudest thing you’ll hear. October on the Arlberg belongs to people who want it quiet, and the Arpuria is where they stay.

October on the Arlberg has style. The slopes turn ochre and gold, and you can smell snow coming. If you like your mountains quiet, this is the best time to be here – and the Arpuria is where to be.

Learning to be alone
Going away with someone is easy enough. Going away on your own takes a bit more nerve, and it gives you more back: room to think, and the kind of rest that actually lands. The Arpuria knows what solo guests are after. An adults-only house tucked away at the edge of the forest, where discretion comes as standard.

A very short list of things to do 
Mostly: get outside. Walk the Moostalweg, where the valley and the ridge sit in one view. Or take the Rendlbahn up in the afternoon and just sit with it. If you’d rather have trees than sky, the Rosanna Gorge is cool, green and pleasingly dramatic.

Then warm up 
Back at the hotel there’s the Aria Spa. An indoor pool with the mountains in the window, saunas looking straight out into the trees, and a massage afterwards that sorts out your legs and your head in roughly equal measure.

Dinner for one 
Eating alone is badly underrated. The cooking at the Pura is precise and quietly confident, and the dine-around half board means you’re never eating the same thing twice. Bring a book. That’s the evening sorted. 

Three tips for a solo trip 

• Come midweek. Tuesday to Thursday, the mountain is more or less yours. 
• Bring layers. The October sun is misleading and the wind already has an edge to it. 
• Book one night longer than you think you need. You‘ve earned it.

Time on your own is priceless. On the Arlberg, it also happens to be bookable. Suites, spa and autumn offers at www.arpuria.com/en.