(Ötztal & Innsbruck, Austria)

For the past year and a half, Grant and I have been getting creative for each other’s birthday and how to celebrate it. We’ve been placing a bigger emphasis on experiences and less on gift-giving, since gifts take up space in suitcases and space is a very precious resource with our nomadic lifestyle. Last August for Grant’s birthday, we went camping. So when my birthday recently rolled around, Grant surprised me with a day of relaxation at Aqua Dome.

Aqua Dome is a spa in the Alps with luxurious outdoor pools and a variety of saunas and steam rooms. Not technically in Innsbruck, it’s about an hour and 45 minutes west in the valley of Ötztal, but it is definitely worth visiting if you have extra time to spare in Innsbruck during the winter if you’re skied or snowboarded out. Imagine laying out in a Jacuzzi or heated saltwater pool with the steam rising up around you, surrounded on 3 sides by snow-capped mountains. That’s Aqua Dome.

There are many great photos on the Aqua Dome website as well.

I have been here once before, last Spring, and it’s one of my favorite things to do in Innsbruck after snowboarding and checking out the local museums. What was special for my birthday was spending time in the sauna area (no clothes allowed and adults only). This took some time to get used to but it felt surprisingly freeing – although I’ve never seen so many male parts in one place before. There were about ten different saunas and steam rooms ranging from loft sauna, berg crystal ice grotto, earth sauna (this was very hot), infrared sauna, herbal sauna, and my favorite… hay sauna. The architecture of the hay sauna made you feel like you were in a horse stable with renaissance pastoral music playing in the background. The steam rooms were modeled after Turkish-style steam baths, and included large, quartz crystals.

You have to pay extra to access the sauna area (called Saunawelt) so give yourself plenty of time to enjoy both the heated pools and the saunas if you want to do both. Grant and I spent all day here.

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside but here are a few pictures of the outside and the surrounding area.

For dinner, Grant took me out to the best sushi restaurant we’ve found in Innsbruck so far. It’s called Kai and is located on the north side of the river across one of the bridges. I’ve been missing good Japanese food lately so on special occasions we usually opt for this type of cuisine.

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