Hotel Quelle in the Dolomites, South Tyrol, Italy, has completed a redevelopment of its spa by introducing the region’s first ‘snow sauna’.

The 69-key resort, which is marketed as a nature spa retreat, now offers a 5,000sq m (53,800sq ft) Spa World.

The highlight is the Snow Sauna, a unique ice lounge designed to relieve sore muscles and tension, which is particularly effective after a hot sauna.

The Spa World incorporates a family spa and separate adults-only spa, boasting 13 treatment rooms in total and offering a range of natural and holistic therapies, as well as beauty treatments.

There are also 10 saunas and steamrooms, including a warming salt-water grotto.

Another new addition to the spa is the Biological Bathing Pond which, along with a new outdoor Kneipp and barefoot walking path, encourages guests to have a more visceral connection with nature.

Two of the spa’s seven pools extend from indoors to outdoors, using motion-sensor glass doors.

The redevelopment of the spa, started in 2016, is part of a larger regeneration project for the 65-year-old resort which also includes the addition of seven luxury serviced apartments, to be unveiled in May 2018.

Located within a mile from the Austrian border, Hotel Quelle is famous for offering cross-country skiing opportunities.