Ulrich Knoll

ArchiveNews German Design Award 2025 for URLAUBSARCHITEKTUR

We have received the German Design Award 2025 for our current book trilogy. At the award ceremony on 7 February 2025, Kathrin Schmuck \ Bucharchitektur and Ulrich Stefan Knoll accepted the award.

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In Conversation Kasper Egelund (Vipp): »My whole concept grew out of failure«

Time for a chat! We talked to Kasper Egelund, third generation co-owner and CEO of the Danish design brand Vipp about architecture, design and his passion for holiday houses.

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ArchiveNews German Design Award Winner: Our books

Our current book series was honored with the German Design Award 2025 as well as with the ICMA Gold Award 2024. The award-winning, three-piece set is available in our shop.

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Insights Tollense Valley. Never heard of it? Go there!

Architect Andrea Ruiken-Fabich and her husband saved one of the region's most important architectural monuments, Schloss Schmarsow, near Greifswald. A film now shows the rich cultural and natural landscape surrounding the historical building.

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One Picture Longing for summer

Our author Tina Barankay is actually a winter child. However, the image that still inspires her to immediately plan a trip to the south is revealed here.

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Positions Tourist infrastructure as a location factor

Reiner Nagel, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Foundation of Baukultur, in interview on golden energy, the cultural relevance of tourism architecture and his personal holiday preferences.

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HomeStory Silent beauty in the Blue Land: DIRINGLO

With the Diringlo, an architect and an entrepreneur have preserved a historical gem of southern Bavarian residential culture, embedded in one of the most beautiful natural and cultural landscapes in Upper Bavaria.

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SpaceStories Not afraid to leave gaps

Entrepreneurs Birgit and Mathias Mahnke have dedicated themselves to the creative revitalisation of old industrial properties in eastern Germany and have skilfuly proven that coincidence can be planned.

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One Picture Picturesque River Deity

The editor of our online magazine sometimes sits at his desk as if enchanted by the beguiling song of the sirens. And dreams himself back to the Middle Ages.

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A landlady’s life Peak season – time for complaints

Complaints in the high season are a topic of their own, our landlady thinks. Read here what she is particularly concerned about around the summer holidays.

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ArchiveFindings A Combat Statement to Airbnb & Co.: Florence Wants to Ban Short-Term Rentals

As the news agency Reuters already reported in June, Florence seeks to ban Airbnb rental apartments as also from other platforms from city centre.

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On the road Land of Lakes, South Sea and Savoy – on the road in Finland

Alvar Aalto was the defining architect of Finnish modernism. The 125th birthday of the master builder will be celebrated in 2023. We are “on the road” to the most important places where the master builder worked.

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On the road The Avant-Garde Era — on the road in Czechia

The Iconic Houses Network presents Modernist studios, residential and artists' houses and makes them accessible to the public. On behalf of us, Hendrik Bohle attended a conference, which focused particularly on Czech architectural Modernism.

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ArchiveFindings Architecture Day 2023

Anyone who wants to get an idea of what architecture in Germany is capable of should keep the weekend of 24/25 June free: Tag der Architektur [Architecture Day] will once again take place throughout Germany.

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One Picture Enthralled

Our book designer is also an architect. Why genuine simplicity enthralls her and what this has to do with childhood literature, she tells us in the 5th part of the series “One Picture”.

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On the road Route 6 — on the road in the Alps

The renowned South Tyrolean architect Werner Tscholl designed six architectural sculptures for the high alpine Timmelsjoch Experience between Italy and Austria. “on the road” to the dreamlike and spectacular route of the six special shapes.

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A landlady’s life Well behaved, not shedding, house-trained

Dogs can be a conflict-prone issue in the rental business. Our landlady is convinced that clear communication and mutual respect can help resolve potential disagreements.

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One Picture Great Dreams of Space

Sometimes it's a certain image that drives you away. One of our freelance copywriters for example has been magically drawn to a house photo in Spain for years.

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ArchiveFindings 100% Bauhaus on 365 days

1 ticket, 100% Bauhaus: With the new BauhausCard, visitors can visit the nine most famous Bauhaus sites in Berlin, Dessau, Weimar and Bernau within one year.

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HomeStory Alpenloge: Sophisticated composition of cuisine, design and hospitality

Off the beaten track, the boutique hotel in Western Allgäu combines subtly composed rooms with elaborate culinary delights and emphatic hosts. You will find plenty of peace here, but fortunately no events.

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ArchiveFindings Exhibition tip: Garden Futures. Designing with Nature

Until 3 October 2023, the Vitra Design Museum, together with the Wüstenrot Foundation and the Nieuwe Instituut, has been showing a major exhibition on the history and future of the modern garden.

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A landlady’s life Reading helps

The landlady is back! In the seventh part of the series, she tells us what happens when guests sometimes do not know exactly what they have booked and for when.

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One Picture Silent Expanses

The editor of our online magazine has been dreaming of a trip to Scotland for years. In the third part of the new series, he reveals where this fascination comes from.

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SpaceStories Hermitage Sykaminea — Hub of creativity

In the Hermitage on Lesbos, a long-term project by German-born visual artist Andreas Sell, small teams find a project space for meetings or workshops that goes far beyond the scope of dull event rooms.

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ArchiveFindings Viticulture and architecture

When winemakers and architects come together, sometimes very special places are created. And at best, wine and architecture lovers can also spend the night there.

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Positions Becoming a host: What we recommend. And what not

Again and again we are asked by future hosts what to consider when building and designing a holiday home or what mistakes should be avoided at all costs. There is no secret recipe, but we do have some advice.

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One Picture Cure for wrinkles

Our community manager fulfilled a long-held wish years ago. What a picture had to do with it is revealed in the second part of our series.

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ArchiveFindings World Capital of Architecture 2023

Copenhagen is this year's World Capital of Architecture. Learn more about the UNESCO designation and the event program here.

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One Picture Gigantic mountains

In the first part of our series "One Picture", our founder and curator reveals why he would make his way back to South Tyrol on the basis of a picture alone.

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ArchiveFindings Conversion instead of demolition

German magazine brand eins takes a detailed look at various aspects of the current architectural debate regarding the requirements of the housing industry versus climate protection and the circular economy, and identifies problems that cannot be solved with a concrete mixer.

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ArchiveFindings Nice out here — Architecture in rural areas

The exhibition "Schön hier" (Nice out here) of the German Architecture Museum (DAM) focuses on rural areas as the center of life. On view in Taunus / Germany until November 27, 2022, the exhibition will then go on tour.

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ArchiveFindings World Architecture Festival 2022

This year's edition is themed "Together" and will take place in Lisbon from November 30 - December 2. The event will again be attended by thousands of international architects, interior designers, clients, builders, financiers, contractors and media representatives.

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A landlady’s life Coming home

In the sixth part of our series "A landlady's life", our author raves about a special species, the regulars.

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ArchiveHomeStory Gem on the dyke: Tetenbüllspieker

High in northern Germany, André and Sebastian Schäfer have lovingly restored a centuries-old storehouse on the Eiderstedt peninsula. Their guests can explore the Wadden Sea World Heritage Area and discover the immense freedom of the endless horizon.

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ArchiveFindings Architectural culture in Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg in Austria has long been in the international league of destinations that shine with a high density and quality of building culture. The fact that this is no coincidence is due in part to the Vorarlberg Architecture Institute (vai), which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.

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A landlady’s life Skin deep holiday cleanliness

In the fifth part of our series “From the life of a landlady”, our author puzzles over why some guests waste their wonderful holiday freedom in washing orgies.

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ArchiveFindings Interview: Building simply

How will we build more sustainably and conserve resources in the future? Prof. Florian Nagler's answer is: Build simply!

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HomeStory Alpine romanticism without kitsch: Schilana 80

In the upper Inn valley rests a 300-year-old Engadine house. In all serenity, it awaits and decelerates guests who appreciate built and lived authenticity in the Central Alps.

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ArchiveFindings Reading tip: Tree Wanted — How the House Gains from a Tree

Annette Spiro, Professor of Architecture and Construction at ETH Zurich, philosophises about the difficult but important relationship between building and tree.

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HomeStory Château de Sibra – Place of a thousand stories

At the foot of the Pyrenees, a Swiss architect has resurrected the Arcadia of a French industrialist couple in all its splendour. Castle suites, flats and a holiday home meet an enchanting park with mountain views. Bienvenue!

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ArchiveFindings Exhibition tip: Sommerhus / Holiday Home

The exhibition at the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark is a journey through the architecture and history of holiday homes, it takes a look into the future and critically reviews current developments. Until 8 January 2023.

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A landlady’s life How I once had a pig as a house guest

In the fourth part of our series "A landlady's life", things get curious. Pets are a much discussed topic in renting per se - but sometimes definitely exotic. An (amusing) case study.

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A landlady’s life Really settling in

In the third part of our series "From the life of a landlady" everything revolves around the psychologically important moment of arrival. The vacation has begun, but are you really there yet?

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ArchiveFindings Architecture Day: On a June weekend in…

In June, the Day of Architecture takes place again. Throughout Germany, countless projects can be viewed and discussed on site.

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Positions Finnish design. And what Japan has to do with it

In this article, we use design and architecture to show two countries that, at first glance, seem to have little in common: Finland and Japan.

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A landlady’s life Setting boundaries

The second part of our series "A landlady's life" is about trust, rules of the game and the appropriate communication with guests.

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Insights Explore Modern Architecture in Faro

In the third part of our "Insights" section, our hosts Angelique and Christophe de Oliveira tempt us with the rich architectural heritage of "South Modern" and Art Deco in their adopted home of Faro.

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ArchiveFindings Exhibition tip: Looking for light

Looking For Light is one of the inaugural exhibitions at the new Bastian gallery in Berlin, which was designed by John Pawson. It is Pawson’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

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A landlady’s life Planning is (only) half the vacation

In our series "A landlady's life" we turn the topic of vacation happiness around. Landlords and landladies from our network write what moves them - between excitement and sheer despair.

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ArchiveFindings Swords to Plowshares 2.0

With Nord Stream 3 - Sleeping Berths for Peace, architect Benedikt Hartl / Opposite Office has designed a concept that aims to transform the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into a center of international understanding and accommodation.

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ArchiveFindings Film tip: The first museum of modernism

The ARTE documentary provides a fascinating insight into the life and work of Karl Ernst Osthaus, who promoted art, architecture, design and the reform movement at the beginning of the 20th century.

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ArchiveFindings Reading tip: Other four walls

The pandemic experiment: NZZ editor Sabine von Fischer has temporarily moved into a hotel. Together with her family. Here she reports on her experiences.

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ArchiveFindings TV Tip: The 1‑Euro Villa

In its series "Room Tour", German TV station SWR reports on the development of a listed villa, which the current owners purchased for 1 euro.

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Findings Reading tip: Uckermark Portraits

What makes the Uckermark, one of the most sparsely populated regions in Germany, so special is shown by Jonathan Teklu and York Christoph Riccius in their book publication.

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HomeStory Much light and in praise of the shadow: Quartier Wieck

Two elaborate holiday homes on the Baltic Sea - reduced, modern and conceived with love for Japan and Scandinavia. Breathe a sigh of relief at the edge of a National Park, contemporary art included.

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Findings TV Tip: Le Corbusier at Cap Martin (ARTE)

What the Cabanon created by Le Corbusier at Cap Martin means for today's architecture can be grasped in ARTE's (funny) four minute feature.

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Findings Reading tip: Da war ich eigentlich noch nie

The "Wunderkammer" brings together old travelogues and whimsical, philosophical texts about traveling in Germany with a panopticon of fairy-tale places off the beaten path.

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Findings Against common aesthetic conventions

The prize-winning project of the "Houses of the Year" competition sends out new impulses and stirs up emotions. What do you think, dear readers?

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Findings TV tip: Women construct

3SAT's documentary "Frauen bauen" (Women Construct) portrays inspiring women who are not only masters of their craft, but also reinterpret it.

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Positions Please don´t trust us … blindly!

Guest comments may reflect subjective impressions, but for us they are valuable signposts. And the other way round: guests also have a responsibility, personal taste cannot be delegated.

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Positions Controversy: I (don’t) want a holiday home!

Whether one's own holiday home is more of an anchor or a prison is a matter of widely differing opinions, even among the HOLIDAYARCHITECTURE team.

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Findings TV tip: Bernardo Bader

The cultural magazine Capriccio introduces the Austrian architect Bernardo Bader, who has been building unpretentious masterpieces in and around the Bregenzerwald for years.

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Findings Aviation: When will we fly green?

In a detailed podcast, the Handelszeitung from Zurich looks at whether or when and in what form the aviation industry will become "greener".

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Findings Architecture-relevant election components of German political parties

On the occasion of the federal elections on 26 September 2021, BAUWELT scanned the election programmes of the parties for topics relevant to architecture.

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Findings Reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie

The Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and a globally admired architectural icon, celebrated its reopening in August 2021 after six years of renovation.

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Findings Conversion culture

The publication "Renovating with Joy. A Handbook on Conversion Culture" published by Bundesstiftung Baukultur presents numerous successful examples of renovated and converted buildings.

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Findings Hotels to fall in love with

For years, ZEIT's travel editorial team has been presenting hotel recommendations in sensitive, meticulously researched portraits. As a best of, the book "Hotels zum Verlieben" has now been published.

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ArchiveFeature Summer at the lake

For quiet observers and deep-sea divers, bathing mermaids and stand-up paddlers, as well as all those who are regularly infected by the addiction to the lakes, here are special accommodations by the water!

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Positions Workation – On the Sense or Nonsense of a Trend

Great freedom or double workload? When and how it makes sense to combine work and private life on holiday.

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HomeStory A Jewel between sandstone cliffs: Prossen Castle

With courage, perseverance and great expertise in heritage conservation, a former knight's estate on the banks of the Elbe river near Dresden has been reawakened. Since then, history has experienced a new heyday - in a modern dress.

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ArchiveFeature East Algarve

From the Spanish border to Faro, the capital of the Algarve, stretches the quiet, untouched Sandalgarve. Here countless little pearls and great treasures are hidden: slumbering villages and small islands, warm-hearted people, an enchanting cuisine, noble cultural cities and a coastal stretch whose beauty takes your breath away.

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ArchiveHomeStory Not a conservation, but a conversation

For years, we have been closely associated with the Czech designer Daniela Hradilová. We followed the creation of her second house, which has only just been published by us, almost in real time: Mezi Lukami - the making-of.

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HomeStory The Good Fairies of the Kanisfluh: Temple 74 Apartments

Repeat offenders - With "Tempel 74", hostess Evi Haller and her husband, architect Jürgen Haller, have once again created a holiday highlight in the architectural eldorado of the Bregenzerwald.

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ArchiveFeature Pawson & Silvestrin

World-renowned architects John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin repeatedly set standards in the holiday sector as well – together and separately. We show you three houses on Mallorca, in Wales and in the hinterland of the Cote d’Azur that captivate with their radical simplicity.

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HomeStory Feel history, discover world cultural heritage, breathe the forest air: parkchâlet potsdam

Holidays on the outskirts of the capital city and at the same time remote and dreamy - in a lake-rich park landscape of world heritage status. Alpine romance in Prussia, reinterpreted.

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ArchiveHomeStory Living in style: PURESLeben Holiday Homes

Dietmar Silly, host of the PURESLeben holiday homes, has matured over the years into a kind of supervisor in all things relating to Southern Styrian hospitality culture and architecture.

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ArchiveHomeStory The right measure: architecture, culinary delights and host culture at the Krone in Hittisau

From the sun terrace of the Krone in Hittisau, the view sweeps over the central square of the small Bregenzerwald community as if from an opera box.

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ArchiveHomeStory Amplifier of temperaments: The Neuendorf House

In the mid-1980s, architects John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin sought inspiration in Mallorca for a special project: a house based on tradition, yet anything but conventional.

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ArchiveHomeStory Every room is a flowery artwork: Baixa House

Right in the centre of Lisbon, more precisely in the Baixa district in the heart of the old town, which is under a preservation order, and therefore very close to famous places such as the Praça do Comércio square on the banks of the Tagus, URLAUBSARCHITEKTUR has had a very popular holiday accommodation for many years: the Baixa House.

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ArchiveHomeStory Sublimity, avant-garde and elegance: The Kranich Hotel

When talking to hostess Dr. Bettina Klein, who welcomes guests on an estate comprising a small hotel, a museum and a café in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, this immediately seems to be a sufficiently apt, albeit generalising description of the landlady herself.

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ArchiveHomeStory Besides Outside: B&B Haidl-Madl in the Bavarian Forest

If you’re the wellness type or looking for a jet-set holiday, B&B Haidl-Madl Ferienwohnen isn’t the place for you. Here on the Bavarian-Bohemian border, there are so many things you won't find: noise, air pollution, heavy traffic, and agricultural monocultures. There’s no television in the house, no permanent accessibility, and quite deliberately no “events” put on by the hosts.

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ArchiveHomeStory Hideaways, lookouts & open space: the Vulkaneifel houses

The Vulkaneifel (Volcanic Eifel) in western Germany is often underestimated as a tourist destination. Despite its good accessibility from the surrounding metropolitan regions and the Benelux countries, it is still far away from the major tourist flows.

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ArchiveHomeStory Anti-Wellness, wonderful: The Tannerhof

When a holiday destination stays with you long after you’ve visited, but you can’t quite pinpoint why – well, then it's quite possible that you’ve been to visit the Tannerhof in Bayrischzell, Upper Bavaria. And it may be a sign that you should start trusting your instincts.

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ArchiveHomeStory Family Ties – The Taxhof and the Aufberg Houses

High above Bruck at the Großglocknerstraße in the Austrian Pinzgau lives and works since 1687 family Unterberger. With their guests they share not only the fantastic location with a view of the Hohe Tauern, the Kitzsteinhorn and down into the Salzach valley. But also four architectural highlights up to a tree house, which happily combine tradition and modernity in very different ways.

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ArchiveHomeStory Bildstein and its Mesmerhaus: A mesmerising powerhouse above Lake Constance

Bildstein in Vorarlberg, Austria. This location with its view of Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine estuary will evoke breath-taking images in your mind even whilst planning your holiday there.

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ArchiveHomeStory A great cinematic experience in the High Tauern mountains: Hotel Hinteregger

The Grossglockner sits enthroned in the heart of the “High Tauern“, Central Europe’s largest national park. Even if it is surrounded by more than 300 other mountains over 3000 metres, it surpasses them all in height and majesty.

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ArchiveHomeStory Aurora aeterna — the Seehotel am Neuklostersee

Once a farm, and from 1975 a guest house for citizens of former East Germany, the Seehotel am Neuklostersee near Wismar has been welcoming a wide range of guests from near and far for two-and-a-half decades.

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ArchiveHomeStory Villa Zoé – A gateway to other worlds

For 15 years, Daniela Keil ran her own travel agency in Mannheim, organising luxury tours throughout the world. During this time, she was literally always on the move, discovering the most beautiful places on every continent.

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ArchiveHomeStory Four times freedom – the Meisterzimmer in Leipzig

The early morning view from the giant picture windows is one of endless brick façades, rail tracks and a yard, with an expansive sky looking down over it all. Before my eyes, artists wander in and meet the cameras of the day’s first tourists. ...

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ArchiveHomeStory W is for wakened by a kiss – Waren Water Tower

You just can’t help thinking of Rapunzel the first time you see this building. That said, this water tower was designed at the end of the 19th century for purely functional purposes. ...

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ArchiveHomeStory New life for an old church

Anke Nuxoll-Oster is a DIY enthusiast. She stumbled on her first house by chance, before devoting herself passionately to rescuing old buildings and letting them to guests. ...

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