Chewton Glen Treehouses
New Forest, Hampshire · Sleeps 2–12
Britain's most famous luxury treehouses, suspended in the canopy of a five-star country house hotel's New Forest estate.
££££
- Hot tub
- Five-star spa access
- Breakfast hatch
Checked
Photographs by Rifugio Alimonta, used with permission.
Rifugio Alimonta
Trentino, The Dolomites
A family-run refuge deep in the Brenta Dolomites, on the via ferrata routes.
Why we love it
The Brenta group is the Dolomites' odd cousin — west of the Adige, geologically the same limestone, and threaded with the via ferrata that were first strung across it a century ago. Alimonta sits in the middle of that network, family-run, and for many people it is the bed at the end of the hardest day of their walking week.
Rooms rather than only dormitories, which is rarer up here than you would expect, and worth booking early because everyone else has worked that out too.
Best for: the Brenta via ferrata, and the company of people doing the same
Worth knowing
- There is no road. You walk in from the Vallesinella car park above Madonna di Campiglio on path 317, then 318 past the Casinei and Brentei huts, then 323.
- Every bathroom is shared, the beds are almost all bunks, the rooms have no plug sockets and no keys, and hot water in the two showers needs a token you pay for.
- There is no mobile signal at the hut and no heating beyond the bar and restaurant; the generators run for only part of the day.
The practicalities
- Check in
- before 5pm; rooms open at 3pm
- Wifi
- Patchy
- Phone signal
- None
- Bring
- Slippers, from home
- A light hut sleeping bag or liner, compulsory if you take a bed without bedding
- Extras
- Hot water in the showers — a token, bought separately
- A shower towel — on request, extra charge
Getting there
- Without a car
- Difficult, but possible
From Madonna di Campiglio — by car, shuttle bus or on foot — to the Vallesinella car park, then path 317 to Rifugio Casinei, 318 to Rifugio Brentei and 323 to the hut. Check-in must be before 5pm; a delay has to be phoned through before 9pm or the bed is reassigned.
What is around it
Walks
- Via Ferrata delle Bocchette Centrali
- Via Ferrata delle Bocchette Alte
- Sentiero attrezzato SOSAT
- Via Ferrata Oliva Detassis
- Via Ferrata Felice Spellini
Towns
- Madonna di Campiglio — Where the walk in starts, via the Vallesinella car park.
Days out
- Rifugio Brentei — On the walk in, at the junction of paths 318 and 323.
- Rifugio Casinei — On the walk in, at the top of path 317.
Who runs it
Raffaele, Annarita and Annamaria
Raffaele, Ezio's son, born in 1974, has spent every summer of his life at the hut and does the cooking, following recipes handed down by his mother Nini; he works as an architect in Spiazzo the rest of the year. His wife Annarita looks after the welcome and the service, and their daughter Annamaria, born in 2016, treats the hut as a second home. Four generations of mountain guides behind them.
Where it is
Checked August 2026 · We re-verify prices and opening every quarter.
If you like this, you’ll like these
- Cabin
- Cabin
El Toral Ecofarm
Asturias · Sleeps up to 6
A fully off-grid smallholding in green Asturias — solar power, spring water, and a wood-fired boiler.
Check site for latest prices
- Off-grid
- Solar-powered
- Organic farm
Checked
- Cabin
Gavião Nature Village
Gavião, Portalegre · Sleeps 2–8
Ten shelters built from local cork oak, beside the river beach at Alamal on the Tejo.
Check site for latest prices
- Architect-designed
- Organic farm
- Wild swimming
Checked