Many handicaps face any hotel that enters the highly competitive luxury market. Few, though, count history among those challenges. Those who decided to open an InterContinental at Berchtesgaden, which became a popular mountain resort in the 19th century, took a big gamble.

The very notion of putting a place of entertainment and pleasure on the site where Adolf Hitler first dictated Mein Kampf and then established his equivalent of Chequers was bound to provoke protest from some and to inspire ridicule from others. But the Berchtesgaden resort is something of a (surprising) triumph.

The Hitler dimension is best addressed at the outset. He first rented and then bought a small property at Berchtesgaden, before obliging the owner of the principal property there to sell it to him and swiftly driving out all the local residents. His cronies followed the Führer in this as in so much else and also established their second homes in the neighbourhood.

Out of their adoration came the astonishing building that became known as the Kehlsteinhaus, or “Eagle’s Nest”. The site of Hitler’s retreat was 1,000m high (3,300ft) but the mountain itself extended for a further 800m.

Martin Bormann decided that his master deserved an even more commanding view of the mountains — and organised it as a present for Hitler’s 50th birthday. A road was blasted into the side of the mountain, but even high explosive could not enable the road to reach the summit. A lift was built into the core of the mountain itself to travel the remaining 134m to the top and to the teahouse. This can be reached by tourists today (from May to October), courtesy of a short but spectacular coach journey involving hairpin bends which are not for those with weak stomachs. The scenery is breathtaking, although the café that has been established in place of the old teahouse is a little underwhelming.

The Eagle’s Nest survived the war and an effort to have it demolished by the Allies immediately afterwards. The old Berchtesgaden did not. The buildings erected by the leadership of the Third Reich were razed to the ground by the RAF and US Air Force in 1945 and the ruins were demolished seven years later. The US Army took over and it was returned to Bavaria less than a decade ago. After a period of anguish, the state government looked for a partner for an hotel and InterContinental decided to bid.

That the history is a liability remains indisputable. It has, however, been overcome, in my view, by three factors.

The past is dealt with honestly and sensitively. This is not “don’t mention the war” territory. The hotel is next to the Dokumentation Obersalzberg and guests are strongly encouraged to visit it. This is an exhibition about the region and the Nazi era that pulls few punches. It is commendably frank about the popularity of Hitler here in the 1930s and the devastating consequences of that appeal in the 1940s. I doubt whether there is a more comprehensive survey of this sort anywhere else in Germany.

Second, the InterContinental is stunning. It has been built to blend with the mountain and it does so spectacularly. It has been laid out so that all of the rooms — from the comparatively humble “standard deluxe” to the vast “duplex suites” — stare out into the distance. For those with a taste for the outdoors, the opportunities for clear air, climbing, hiking or merely walking are many and varied. For others, an impressive principal restaurant, Le Ciel, a further restaurant with the self-explanatory name of 360 Degrees, massive cakes and an ostentatious American-style whisky bar provides alternative entertainment. It is possible, I suppose, that some guests engage in both sorts of activities.

The hotel’s pride and joy, nonetheless, is its spa. For a relatively small outlet (138 rooms), the spa is enormous. It is the only one in continental Europe in which the mud method Li’Tya is available. In the interests of research, your correspondent was caked in this red substance, washed, and subjected to the gentle Kodo massage treatment (tragically, no photographer was available to capture the experience).

In addition to the treatment rooms, the hotel has a Bavarian sauna, an alpine herbal sauna, a steam room, an ice fountain to allow visitors to counter the effects of the previous self-inflicted torture, a “meditation room” to recover from everything afterwards, as well as an indoor pool and a year-round outdoor pool heated to 34C (93F). It is hard to believe that the serious spa enthusiast would not be satisfied.

This hotel deserves to be and will be — against the odds, perhaps — a success. Though no atrocities are known to have been committed at Berchtesgaden, some awful things were certainly discussed there by Hitler and his inner circle. So the only question is whether or not the British will be a notable part of the hotel’s promising future. History should not become an obsession. Not to have rebuilt a health resort where it once had been before would have afforded Hitler an importance that he does not deserve.

It might prove difficult for InterContinental to convince Britons to come here. It will not be hard to persuade those who do to return.

Need to know

Getting there: Tim Hames travelled with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts (0870 4009650, www.ichotelsgroup.com) and Ryanair (0906 2705656, www.ryanair.com). Ryanair has return flights from Stansted to Salzburg (20 miles from the hotel) from £43.15. Double rooms at the InterContinental Resort Berchtesgaden start at £200. Two nights’ B&B, including one dinner and a spa treatment each, is from £586 for two people, Sundays to Thursdays until March 31 Details: 00 49 8652 97550, www.berchtesgaden.com.