A Hotel Goes Organic

Are you committed to an organic lifestyle at home but find it tough to locate organic alternatives when on the road? Hotel Schweitzer, named after philosopher, physician, and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer and now owned and operated by his relatives, makes organic travel easy. Nestled in Austria's Tirolean Alps, this 16-room smoke- and cell-phone-free inn is the first certified organic hotel.

The organic kitchen is the hotel's centerpiece, out of which award-winning chef Maria Schweitzer serves 95 percent organic breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. That's 25 percent more organic ingredients than the country's organic standards require. In your room, you can tap into the minibar filled with organic beer, wine, juice, and soda. When it's time for rest, enjoy the comfort of organic sheets, pillows, and duvet covers.

During winter days, snowshoe or ski the surrounding hills. In summer, take a hike, ride a bike, or shoot for a hole in one on the attractive golf course. Dry saunas and steam and massage rooms are also available.

Hotel Schweitzer's proprietors are Armin and Evelyn Schweitzer-Krebs, a husband-and-wife team who left careers in economics and homeopathy for a path that promotes organic products and sustainable, healthy, and active living. They compost nearly all kitchen scraps, and visitors can use one of four sets of recycling bins on the premises.

So the next time you go to Europe, consider Hotel Schweitzer, where you won't have to sacrifice your values to experience a vacation getaway.

—Scott Silverman