The E5's Most Unexpected Luxury Is a Mountain Hut 

High above South Tyrol, tucked into the Ötztal Alps at 2,845 meters, sits the Bella Vista Hütte, also known as Rifugio Bella Vista or Schöne Aussicht. 

The name says a lot. From its position near the Hochjochferner Glacier and the Austrian border, the views stretch across some of the most incredible scenery in the Alps. But Bella Vista has always been about more than the view. 

Originally built in 1882 as a simple mountain shelter, the hut has spent more than a century welcoming hikers, skiers, and mountaineers making their way through this high alpine landscape. Today, it still carries that same sense of refuge, combining the character of a traditional mountain hut with the comforts that make a long-distance trek even more enjoyable. 

When on the E5 Alpine Crossing, by the time Bella Vista comes into view, you've already spent several days crossing the Alps. The climbs have become part of your routine, and your legs are pleasantly tired. 

Then, almost unexpectedly, you arrive somewhere that feels less like a place to simply spend the night and more like somewhere to properly recover. 

There's the smell of dinner coming from the kitchen, hikers swapping stories from the day's walk, and rooms that invite you to settle in rather than rush off to the next thing. 

Only after you've taken off your boots and started to relax do you notice the spa. 

Outside sits the highest sauna in South Tyrol, looking straight across the Hochjochferner Glacier. It isn't the sort of wellness experience you find in a luxury hotel. It feels much more in keeping with the mountains. After a long day on the trail, warming up in the sauna before stepping back into the cool alpine air somehow makes perfect sense. It's simple, restorative, and exactly what your legs were hoping for. 

The same approach carries through to the food. 

Bella Vista's kitchen focuses on traditional South Tyrolean dishes made to fuel hungry hikers, from warming soups and handmade dumplings to local specialties and generous desserts. 

Whenever possible, ingredients come from local producers, helping reduce the hut's environmental impact while supporting the communities that call these mountains home. 

That respect for the landscape runs through everything Bella Vista does. Because the hut sits in such a remote alpine environment, protecting its surroundings is part of everyday life. It can only be reached by foot or cable car, reducing vehicle traffic, and its electricity comes from its own hydroelectric power system. The team follows a leave no trace approach and encourages visitors to enjoy the mountains while helping preserve them. 

It feels especially fitting in a landscape with such a long history. 

The Ötztal Alps are the same mountains where Ötzi the Iceman was discovered, preserved in the ice for more than 5,000 years. Walking through this area means following trails through a landscape shaped by nature and crossed by people for thousands of years. It's a reminder that these mountains hold stories far beyond our own. 

And that's what makes a night at Bella Vista so memorable. 

It's not just comfortable rooms, the glacier views, or the chance to relax in a sauna above the clouds. It's the feeling of arriving somewhere that has always existed for one simple purpose: to welcome people into the mountains. 

You eat well. You sleep deeply. You wake up with the first light over the peaks and step back onto the trail feeling ready for whatever comes next. 

For many hikers on the E5 Alpine Crossing, Bella Vista becomes more than a stop along the way. 

It becomes one of the moments they remember most.