Opening Winter 2026

Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina

Name: Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina
Address: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

Mandarin Oriental's first alpine resort

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

Get notified when it opens

The day it opens + our first honest verdict. No paid placements. Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

First look

Cortina's old grande dame is coming back under a new name. Hotel Cristallo, the Art Nouveau pile built in 1901 that has watched over the town since the 1930s ski era, reopens as Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina — and it's a first for the group: their first alpine resort, full stop. The brand took over management in 2022, closed the place in 2023, and handed the rebuild to Herzog & de Meuron, the Basel architects behind Tate Modern and the Beijing bird's nest. That's a serious pairing for a mountain hotel.

On paper it's 83 rooms, 30 of them suites looking onto the Dolomites, plus a spa, pool and the usual restaurant-and-bar lineup. The timing is deliberate — the restoration was pushed to land around the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Not yet scored. We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — this is a first look, not a verdict.

What we'll be watching

We haven't stayed yet — here's what will decide whether it lands when we do.

Whether Herzog & de Meuron's intervention actually preserves the 1901 bones. The firm's track record is transformative rather than conservative — they gut and reimagine rather than restore. That's the right call for some buildings and the wrong one for a belle époque grand dame that built its reputation on exactly that atmosphere. We'll be watching whether the result reads as Cristallo or as a Herzog & de Meuron project that happens to occupy a 1901 shell.
Whether Mandarin Oriental can run an alpine resort. Every other MO in the portfolio is a city hotel or a tropical beach property — this is genuinely new territory for the brand. The mechanics of ski service, boot rooms, transfer logistics and après-ski are operationally different from checking people into a tower in Hong Kong. We'll be watching whether the team has hired for the mountain or just mapped existing procedures onto a new setting.
Whether the private club fills the gap. The old Cristallo ran one of the most storied nightlife venues in Cortina — it drew the crowd that defined the town's social scene for decades. The press materials mention a private club for music and cocktails, but it's deliberately vague. A venue that tries to revive that history will earn real regulars; one that doesn't will leave the hotel socially quiet in a town where that matters.
Whether the Winter 2026 timing holds. The opening is pinned to the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics window — a hard external deadline that creates obvious pressure to open on time rather than when the hotel is genuinely ready. Mountain renovation projects have a habit of slipping, and Q4 2026 is specific enough to watch closely.

First look · gallery

Renderings & press imagery, courtesy of the hotel — details may change before opening.

Sofie, who runs the Fat Voyage booking desk with Nicolas

Want us to get you in when it opens?

Nothing to book yet — rates usually load a few months out. We're Sofie and Nicolas; tell us roughly what you're after and we'll come back the moment Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina is bookable, with rates, what the rooms are actually like, and whether we'd go in the first season.

You'll be dealing with the two of us the whole way through, which is why we only take on a handful of trips at a time — if we're full, we'll say so. We reply by email, usually within one working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.

Before it opens

When does Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina open?

It is slated to open Winter 2026, timed around the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. Trade sources point to Q4 2026 as the working target. As with any renovation of this scale, treat the timing as expected rather than confirmed until the brand announces a firm date.

Where is Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina located?

It sits on Via Rinaldo Menardi in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in Italy's Dolomites, a short walk from the town center. A shuttle connects guests to the Faloria and Tofana ski lifts.

Is this Mandarin Oriental's first mountain resort?

Yes. Every other hotel in Mandarin Oriental's portfolio is either a city address or a tropical beach property. Cristallo is the brand's first alpine resort, full stop — which is part of what makes the opening worth watching.

How many rooms will Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina have?

The renovated hotel is reported to have 83 rooms and suites, many with balconies and views of the Dolomites. Around 30 of those are suites, according to Mandarin Oriental's own press materials.

What restaurants and facilities will it have, and who designed it?

Architecture and interiors are led by Herzog & de Meuron, the Basel firm behind Tate Modern and the Beijing National Stadium. Reported facilities include a fine dining restaurant, a casual restaurant and veranda bar overlooking Cortina, a private club for cocktails and music, a spa, and an indoor-to-outdoor swimming pool. The original 1901 Art Nouveau building by Grand Hotel Cristallo is the structure being renovated.

Will Fat Voyage score Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina?

We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — drawn from luxury travel communities, editorial publications, and verified guests, never paid placements. This is a first look, not a verdict; we'll score it once there's enough independent signal to be fair.

Open now

What you can book today

Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina is still under wraps. Here's what's already open and scored in our collection — more from Mandarin Oriental, and nearby in Italy.

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Mandarin Oriental Bodrum earns its keep on the hillside, not just the brochure line about it. Rooms cascade down toward Paradise Bay, several with their own pools, and the grounds are genuinely green rather than landscaped for a photo. The spa is the other reason people come back: one guest's contact lens emergency got solved by a therapist who tracked down a lens case and saline mid-treatment, and the hammam gets called out on its own terms often enough that it's clearly not a fluke. Families do well here too, with a kids' club that parents actually praise rather than tolerate, and an ambassador system that handles the small stuff: one guest's lost phone got traced through a taxi driver and returned before checkout. The gap opens at the waterline. Beach and pool service lags well behind the rest of the property, particularly by September, when one guest gave up after asking three times for a beer that never came. Food and drink pricing is a real sore point too: a chicken wrap near €50, cocktails around €28, and quality that regularly doesn't back it up, including a flat night at the on-site Ferdi Baba. Visit in October and you'll find restaurants and shops closing early for the season, which thins out what the rate is meant to cover once August ends. Book it from May through September for the setting, the spa team, and a beach scene that still has energy, and go in knowing the beach bars are where the wheels come off. Outside peak summer, or on the outer beach service specifically, price your expectations down accordingly. For the hillside, the hammam, and the way the team on the ground treats you, it's worth booking.

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Mandarin Oriental, London (Hyde Park)

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Door attendants Joaquin and Graham, receptionists Hugo, Ruby and Georgi, breakfast servers Mark and Sherif, bartender Claire: these names show up because people keep singling them out, not because we're padding a list. One couple's card got declined at check-in and a receptionist talked them through it so smoothly the awkwardness never landed. The people running this hotel are the reason to book it, ahead of the building or the rate. Room quality swings hard depending on where you land. This is a converted, listed Victorian building, and the turret rooms and park-facing Deluxes read as genuinely special, but some guests end up in interior rooms with no real window and thin connecting doors. One guest paying around £1,000 a night got moved after a noisy night into a smaller room with no view, and was offered a drink at the bar as the fix. Another was told at 1am that a couple next door were audible through the connecting wall. Push for a Hyde Park-facing Deluxe and stay away from anything near a connecting door or a lift — the gap between a good room and a bad one here is wider than the rate should allow. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (two Michelin stars, built on old English dishes rather than anything experimental) and The Rosebery's park-view breakfast and afternoon tea both come up as the standout meals of a London trip, and guests doing the old-world comparison keep landing here over Claridge's or the Lanesborough. Those chasing round-the-clock anticipation from day one tend to end up at the Connaught instead. Book this one for the staff, the view and the food, go in ready to fight for room category, and it earns the stay.

Get notified

Be first when Mandarin Oriental Cristallo, Cortina opens

We'll email you the day it opens — and our first honest verdict once guests have actually stayed. No paid placements, ever.

Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

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