I Lived Like Royalty at This New Medieval Castle Hotel in Austria-With Prime Lakefront Views and Access to 7 Miles of Hiking Trails

"At 5 a.m., a heavy mist hung over Austria's Lake Fuschl. My husband and I huddled inside an antique zille flat-bottomed boat at the Rosewood Schloss Fuschl boathouse, passing a flask of coffee as our captain, Norbert, untied us from the dock. Shivering-and a little worse for wear after one too many glasses of grüner veltliner the night before-we pulled our jackets tighter."

"I rarely rise before dawn on vacation, but the promise of a private sunrise boat ride across Austria's most storied lake-so pristine you can drink straight from its surface-was reason enough. "You've never known early morning stillness like this," a well-heeled Viennese couple had told us the night before at the hotel's glamorous, dimly-lit Schloss Bar. As we slipped into open water, I understood what they meant. The mist swirled and lifted around the bow, revealing a mirrored expanse of emerald green."

Rosewood Schloss Fuschl occupies a lakefront medieval schloss on Lake Fuschl, thirty minutes from Salzburg in the Salzkammergut region. Guests can embark on private sunrise boat rides in antique zille boats guided by local captains, experiencing mirror-like emerald waters, misty mornings, and gilded Alpine pastures. The property originally served as the fishing lodge of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg and gained cinematic fame as a filming location for the 1950s Sissi trilogy. The hotel attracts high-profile visitors and offers castle-style accommodations and dramatic natural surroundings, complementing Rosewood's earlier Vienna outpost in Austria.

Read at Travel + Leisure