Lesehotel, Hallstatt, Austria: Read, relax and enjoy

A place of inspiration

When your gaze is captivated by Lake Hallstatt and the Dachstein glacier, all you want to do is sit and look. The silence up on the mountain below the summit is exactly what guests of the Lesehotel crave on a short holiday for rest and relaxation. The increasing complexity of the network society makes people experience a deep need for relaxation and inner peace. It is precisely this longing that the Lesehotel meets as a cross-industry innovation project when it connects publishers with readers.

Dr. Silke Seemann, economist and operator of the Lesehotel and the Hallstatt Hideaway, researches social change and pragmatically asks about the effect on tourism in order to surprise her guests again and again with new products: People need places of retreat that simultaneously take them out of everyday life and lead them into inner peace. The Lesehotel will be a place of retreat, encounter and exchange. In any case, a place of inspiration.

Here and now

Hotels are places that celebrate the temporary! This is precisely why they are so well suited for engaging in intensities that one does not dare to experience in everyday life. The Lesehotel celebrates this momentum and at the same time offers the framework to recover physically to the maximum without sacrificing the basic creative tension.

We've all had the experience of how much an exciting book can take us away from our hectic everyday lives and relax us so wonderfully! The Lesehotel is a place of retreat where one can meet and rediscover oneself. We often lose ourselves in the hectic demands of restless everyday life. At the same time, however, we long for exchange, resonance and encounter. As well the Lesehotel offers the opportunity to exchange ideas with other guests about what they have read and to inspire each other.

The book bar is equipped with books, reading glasses, water bottle, writing utensils, notebook and reading light individually for each guest. It can be carried around the house, as a very private side table. It serves as an active means of communication: if a book is placed on the reading light at arm's length, it is an invitation: I would like to talk about this book! Anyone who feels like it, can take the book, read it and then offer to talk. If the book holder is in a low position, it means: I want to read in peace.

Read and enjoy

The Berghof, which dates back to the 1970s, has been restored to its former glory. A conscious decision was made not to build a new building. Here, life can be reflected and dreams can be made! Both the silence of the forest and the darkness of the night with the radiance of the stars make it easy to detach oneself from everyday life and turn to that which is waiting to be discovered as potential in everyone.

Reading enthusiasts look forward to the vertical library - over four floors, the central staircase circles a library of classics, bestsellers and the books that have been displaced by the novelties in the publishing rooms. Guests also enjoy the new publications that are always waiting to be discovered in the house in more than ample selection. 20 selected publishers inspire and delight readers in 20 rooms. This way, guests can immerse themselves in a different world with every visit.

The Lesehotel offers the ideal combination of reading with mountain biking, climbing, hiking, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing or - watch out for the highlight: reading and cooking! The Reading Hotel not only offers a dining room full of cookbooks, it also allows guests to recreate what they have just read together with friends or a dedicated cooking coach! Of course, the hotel does the dishes and guests enjoy selected wines from Austrian vintners.

Pure relaxation

The relaxing effect of reading has been scientifically proven. With the Plug&Play reading and reading aloud bed, the Lesehotel offers just the right setting for this. Thanks to the ergonomic backrest and the acoustic device optimised for the human voice, you can let yourself be read to for hours while enjoying the breathtaking view. You can indulge in daydreams or simply read. In any case, at an altitude of just over a thousand metres, you will find exactly what you have been looking for: Pure relaxation!

And beyond ...

The Lesehotel cooperates with the LESEN.ART association to inspire its guests with a wide range of events. Workshops, workshop talks, readings, bar camps, symposia, reading circles and much more.

Lesehotel is a Member of Lifestylehotels