The hotel, in harmony with its forested location

Tucked above the village of Sils, the Waldhaus hotel offers a blend of natural beauty and 20th-century design. A LUX editor reflects on their retreat, where the surrounding forest and timeless atmosphere offers a sanctuary for artists and wanderers alike

Waldhaus literally means “forest house” in German and, if you walk out of the grand doors of the Waldhaus hotel perched on a rock above the tiny village of Sils, turn left along the path leading through an ancient larch and pine forest and disappear along the mountain slope, you could walk for days without ever emerging from the canopy of the forest above and the humus of the ground below. It is a near-infinite ecosystem of fungi and plants that work in one with the trees, insects and animals to keep this great Alpine forest alive.

A framed view from the Rock Room

You could, in theory, walk for thousands of kilometres circumnavigating the Alps and never emerge from the forest. But that would be a shame, as the Waldhaus, which opened in 1908, is itself just so delicious.

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Unlike some grand Swiss hotels, this is a creative and authentic tribute to 20th-century design, its interior architecture genuinely and lovingly created by generations of owners.

A game of tennis, Waldhaus Sils-Style

It is made to be at one with the forest and many of its picture windows look not over and out of the woods, but inside them, framing them like a Jasper Goodall photograph. The Waldhaus is where writers and artists, including some of the most celebrated in the German-speaking world, have come for generations to relax and be inspired.

It is a hotel as imagined by a poet, the service just formal enough but never oppressive, the food never showy but perfectly made from local ingredients, including a nightly bouillon – always made with a different stock – that is a demonstration of how clear soup is a tonic for the soul.

A space where 20th-century design meets timeless creativity

The hotel, which has 140 rooms and suites, is neither a summer nor a winter resort: it is a place to disappear to and be inspired, whatever the season, and if you wish to vanish up the beautiful hidden valleys of the Engadine above on a summertime walk, or spend the day in winter sports in some of the celebrated mountainsides of adjacent St Moritz, you can.

Read more: A palatial stay at St Regis Hotel, Venice

This is a place for artists – visual, musical, literary – first and foremost. It would never be so gauche as to proclaim that it is so; it just is.

waldhaus-sils.ch

Suvretta House overlooks the Upper Engadine valley. Image courtesy of Suvretta House. 

High in the Swiss Alps, LUX indulges in a gastronomic tour like no other, all under the auspices of one hotel

It’s summertime, and what we crave is sunshine, blue sky, space, views, freedom and a change in cuisine. All uncontroversial except for the last – why would we want to change the way we eat? Perhaps because for many of us in the fortunate minority in the world, even during the lockdown cycle, a great variety of cuisines has become the norm. Temaki and uromaki delivered tonight; Vietnamese cha cua and mi quang tomorrow; miso Chilean sea bass the next. Freed from choosing restaurants for the experience they offer, we have spent a lot of time choosing them purely for their variety of cuisine.

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We reflected on this last summer, during a release from the first wave, sitting at the Chasellas restaurant above St Moritz. For generations, great European dining has been about being welcomed by a host who recognises you; typically, a besuited maitre d’ of an older generation, as comfortable giving orders to staff as he is joining favoured customers for a cognac after hours. We were welcomed by Livia Sterki, a smiling young woman ostensibly as far removed from the traditional maitre d’ image as can be imagined: her charm and efficiency were so memorable it made us want to go back every night.

The hotel’s cuisine focuses on local ingredients. Image courtesy of Suvretta House. 

The Chasellas is decorated in Alpine mountain inn style, lots of pine, bare-backed wooden seats, and a terrace with a view over the rooftops of the village of Champfèr, across forests and lakes to the towering mountains of the Bernina range across the valley. The cuisine of chef Marco Kind is not only fine: it is unlike anything you will ever find in a metropolitan hub.

There’s a combination of mountain purity, local ingredients, and a local Swiss authenticity, and a lightness of touch. Beef entrecôte sous-vide, datterini tomatoes and summer truffle was both satisfying and light; essence of wild mushrooms with shiitake and agnolotti was a kind of ultimate consommé (and vegan); and even the non-vegetarians went for the variation of peas with mountain peach, radish, asparagus and macadamia. Another vibrant main course was spring chicken braised in apple with young vegetables, local potatoes and wild mushrooms.

Beef tartar with oysters, miso and caviar. Image courtesy of Suvretta House. 

The cuisine was like eating the Alps and went delightfully with what is commonly referred to as the “local chardonnay”. In fact, the Engadine valley is too high for growing grapes, but the modest moniker refers to chardonnay from the Bündner Herrschaft, two valleys over at lower altitude, which is in fact emerging as one of Europe’s most brilliant yet unknown fine-wine regions. The wines have the same freshness as the cuisine.

Read more: The beauty and biodiversity of Andermatt’s golf course

The Chasellas is part of the dining offering of a single-hotel resort, Suvretta House, which brings us to the second point of this story: being able to luxuriate in different dining experiences under one resort banner is not confined to swanky brands on tropical islands. Interestingly, Suvretta House’s owners and its managers, the mind-bendingly hard-working Peter and Esther Egli, have decided not to bring in outside brands, but to create all their dining themselves.

The hotel’s terrace with views over Lake Silvaplana and Lake Sils. Image courtesy of Suvretta House. 

It’s a five-minute walk downhill to Suvretta House from the Chasellas, past a couple of very nice chalets (or a 20-second ski in the winter season, past the hotel’s own lift). Suvretta is one of St Moritz’s original palace hotels, and everything about it suggests old money, aristocracy and a clubbish feel, in the nicest possible way. You’re more likely to see a classic Ferrari parked outside than a new one.

Idyllic paths through the meadow and woodland around the hotel bring unexpected sights. Images by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai (top) and Darius Sanai.

The hotel overlooks a wavy forest, stretching up the valley towards the Italian border; St Moritz itself is out of sight just around the corner of the mountain. Just above the swimming pool and huge lawn overlooking the view is the Stube restaurant, cosy and hearty in design, where you might expect to eat rib-thickening traditional mountain food. But not here; or not quite, anyway. Isaac Briceño Obando, the chef in charge of this culinary hotspot (each of Suvretta House’s restaurants is a destination in itself), blends simplicity (Wild Kelly flat oysters; Iranian beluga caviar) with purity (saddle of lamb smoked in hay; A4 wagyu tenderloin plain grilled) and tradition (sliced Zurich-style veal in cream) with just a touch of the exotic (Maine lobster salad, pumpkin, kalamansi and miso). So relaxing is the Stube experience that the lockdown limitations on seating times (gone soon, we hope) felt almost intrusive.

Chicken with carrots and a Sauternes jus

Upstairs, the centrepiece of the hotel is the Grand Restaurant, a dining room with a Belle Époque flair whose New Year’s Eve parties are the stuff of legend (and many years of waiting lists). Watching Europe’s grand aristocracy waft back and forth there one evening was an experience in itself (at the time of going to press, the hotel is not sure whether regulations will allow the Grand to reopen for the summer season). High on the mountainside above Suvretta there is also the Trutz restaurant with a kind of rustic-Swiss chic serving air-dried beef, pastas, barley soup and salads with local cheeses – an excellent tonic after hiking up there.

Read more: Umberta Beretta on fund-raising for the arts

The river En (Inn) beneath the hotel

There is far more to the Suvretta House than its cuisine; the rooms, fresh and Swiss-luxurious, have an eternally epic view across forests and mountains; the indoor pool-with-a-view is huge; and the gardens (and utterly charming woodland childrens’ playground) are addictive. But this summer, there is nothing that will stop us indulging in a gastronomic tour of its restaurants and the sublime service and views. Something no home delivery service will ever offer.

Find out more: suvrettahouse.ch

This article was originally published in the Summer 2021 issue.

Photograph by Valentin Luthiger

It’s not just the breathtaking alpine landscapes that are attracting visitors to Andermatt Swiss Alp’s golf course, but also its notable commitment to sustainability and biodiversity. LUX discovers more

Andermatt’s 18-hole championship golf course was designed by renowned golf course architect Kurt Rossknecht to blend seamlessly into the unique landscape of the Ursern Valley, winding around rock formations, wildflower meadows and natural streams against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

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In September 2020, the golf course became one of the first in Switzerland to achieve GEO certification from the Golf Environmental Organisation. There are now over 118 species of birds and 12 species of dragonflies living in the surrounding environment, while specially-designed drinking stations provide golfers with fresh mountain water, still and sparkling, to discourage the use of plastic bottles on the course.

The golf clubhouse. Photograph by Valentin Luthiger

The clubhouse restaurant, The Swiss House, also shows its commitment to sustainability through its broad range of local dishes and climate-friendly catering.

The golf course opened on 22nd May 2021. Find out more: andermatt-swissalps.ch

La Muña restaurant at La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich.

In the second of our four part luxury travels view column, our editor-in-chief Darius Sanai discovers the elegant alpine charm of La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich

Have you come across a La Réserve junkie? They are fans of one of Europe’s most distinctive and chichi luxury hotel groups, a kind of micro-version of the original Aman concept. There are La Réserves in Paris, Geneva and Saint-Tropez. The Geneva and St-Trop (in fact, Ramatuelle, on the coast just outside) properties have similarities. They’re both resorts, with delicious swimming pools – Geneva’s is the city’s most bijou pool and spa, as well as an outdoor pool with a country-club feel for the summertime.

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So, I was interested when the owner of the La Réserve group, Michel Reybier, told me that he was opening a La Réserve in Zurich, not a city known for the quality or variety of its luxury hotels. But where would it be? Just outside town, on a greenfield site near the lake, like Geneva? Or a city centre hotel like Paris?

The view from one of the hotel bathrooms. Image by G Gardette

The answer is, a bit of both. The La Réserve Eden au Lac is, as its name suggests, set on the shore of Lake Zurich, a ten-minute walk or five-minute taxi ride from the heart of downtown. It is still in the city centre, a conversion of one of the city’s most celebrated properties, Hotel Eden, which had become a little neglected.

Read more: How ethical blue economy investments support ocean conservation

My room, on the second floor, with a small balcony, had an entrancing view across the lake to the Alps beyond. The interior was just delightful. The bed was in the centre of the room, with a writing desk behind, a blend of 20th-century modern and contemporary touches in the design, bare walls, Ibiza-style white drapes and some beautiful Swiss marquetry.

The Eden Suite at the hotel

Reybier has made the Geneva and Saint-Tropez properties destinations in themselves due to their dining and bar options. Would Zurich be the same? The Eden Kitchen & Bar is melded into the lobby restaurant and, while many people would enjoy their Cecconi’s-type vibe, I like my hotel bars to feel a little bit more exclusive, more club-like.

Fortunately, Reybier also appointed Philippe Starck to create La Muña on the top floor. With a view across the lake and city on a clear summer day, it’s also a curious and rather wonderful mix of Alpine and ‘yachty’ (the concept is ‘an imaginary yacht club created by Starck’) in an attic-type space in the rafters of the building. It really feels like an Alpine chill-out bar serving fabulous Japanese food, with a hint of South America. Creamy spicy salmon tartar with tobiko, sesame, jalapeño and fried rice was gorgeous, as were the grilled vegan gyoza. La Muña also has a very painstakingly sourced list of Swiss wines, the best of which were superb and hard to find.

Chapeau, Monsieur Reybier, you may just have created your best Réserve yet.

Find out more: lareserve-zurich.com

This article originally appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2020/2021 Issue. 

The Göscheneralpsee reservoir west of Andermatt is fed by the Dammastock glaciers.

Climate change is creating challenges for mountain resorts the world over. In Switzerland, a new luxury resort is leading the way in incorporating ecologically sound design into every aspect of their development. Jenny Southan discovers the innovations and advances being made in Andermatt

We all know that climate change is a problem, but for ski resorts, which rely on consistently sufficient snowfall, the challenge is particularly pressing – as snow, especially at lower altitudes, decreases, many will be forced to shut down (hundreds have already been abandoned across the Alps). And as the number of ‘snow-certain’ destinations dwindle, there is the added problem that by 2050, half of Switzerland’s 4,000 glaciers are forecast to have disappeared.

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However, the good news is that humans are incredibly innovative, and if serious steps are taken now to combat carbon emissions, the negative effects of climate change could be mitigated. Leading the way in Switzerland is the Andermatt Swiss Alps (ASA) development project, which is one of just a small handful of resorts that is taking serious steps to up its eco credentials and ensure its longevity as an outpost for winter sports.

Stefan Kern, head of PR and communications for ASA, says: “The project is heavily dedicated to sustainability. This is a core value of all our activities – from energy consumption to construction and gastronomy. We are proud to be on the way to being a fully carbon-neutral holiday destination.”

Looking down into the Ursern valley from Schneehüenerstock. Image by Valentin Luthiger

Demonstrating its commitment to the cause, ASA teamed up last year with the Swiss branch of American NGO Protect Our Winters (POW), which is helping it to devise sweeping, longterm initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint, as well as consumption of single-use plastic (none is sold at resort sites). At the beginning of 2020, ASA also launched Andermatt Responsible, a platform that “looks at the whole company’s footprint from heating to energy to water,” as Nicholas Bornstein, head and founder of POW Switzerland, explains.

Read more: Van Cleef & Arpels CEO Nicolas Bos on the poetry of jewellery

A political scientist with a Ph.D in Swiss environmental policy, there are few people better equipped than Bornstein to discuss combatting climate change in mountainous regions. He says that POW “allows me to combine my love of the outdoors with meaningful action”. He explains that his organisation works to “mobilise our community to implement climate change protection measures” via groups of local activists, professional athletes, companies and mountain guides, who act as ambassadors.

The Andermatt golf course. Image by Martin Wabel/Bildsektor.

How is climate change affecting Alpine ski resorts? In addition to making ski seasons shorter, Bornstein says: “The snow line has risen approximately 300 metres in the past 40 years, and is predicted to go up a further 500 to 700 metres by the end of the century, and this is putting a lot of ski resorts out of business.”

He also notes that conditions are becoming more dangerous. “We have seen avalanches in mid-winter of the kind that we would expect in April and May. They are becoming harder to predict.” Why? If the ground isn’t cold enough when it starts snowing, an insulating layer is created by the snow where heat is trapped and snow can slide off more easily. “We call these ‘fish mouth’ avalanches,” says Bornstein.

Read more: Jason deCaires Taylor on underwater art & ocean conservation

ASA has identified key contributors and is taking steps to reduce their impact. Bornstein says that approximately 50 to 70 per cent of CO2 emissions in Andermatt are from people coming to the resort by car so they are putting on extra trains from Zurich at weekends, offering discounted ski passes for people who don’t drive (driving in general here is restricted and there is a good bus system for those who don’t want to walk, including an electric bus). Andermatt Reuss is for pedestrians only.

Andermatt seen from the Gütsch ski lift

Food production and logistics are also big polluters, especially in Switzerland which imports a lot of goods. Bornstein says that POW has been working with restaurants in ASA to
put a more regional and vegetarian cuisine on menus. Andermatt’s gourmet restaurants are also reducing the amount of plastic-wrapped ingredients they buy.

Even more impressive is the fact that the entire SkiArena of Andermatt (from homes to ski lifts) is 100 per cent powered by hydroelectric and wind-powered energy supplied by Ursern electricity works, which exclusively serves the Gotthard region. (On the Graubünden side of Andermatt, Energia Alpina also provides 100 per cent renewable energy.) Not only that but all the buildings are heated in a totally carbon-neutral way through the burning of locally sourced wood pellets and surplus heat captured from Swiss army computers buried deep in secret bases in nearby mountains.

Read more: How Gaggenau is innovating the ancient art of steam cooking

“People want to see companies stepping up to the challenge and we believe it is going to become more important to position yourself with a ski resort that cares about the future of the environment,” says Bornstein. Even during the summer when people play golf surrounded by green meadows, ASA has ensured that its 20-plus species of birds have plenty of areas to nest around the course – in fact, there are more birds here today than there were before the course was built, demonstrating that being responsible can benefit both nature and mankind.

RING IN THE NEW

Arve Chalet Apartments

Arve Chalet Apartments
Arve is a five-floor block of 17 residences (73–116 sq m in size), each with open-plan living and dining spaces, and window seats offering views of the mountains.

Enzian Alpine Apartments

Enzian Alpine Apartments
Enzian  is a modern, three-floor Alpine villa housing 12 apartments measuring from 62 sq m to 136 sq m. Some come with saunas, private roof terraces and gardens.

Find out more: andermatt-swissalps.ch

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue.

The grand exterior and park of the Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden

Our editor-in-chief reflects on travels to some of the world’s great hotels, old and new, across Europe and Asia

Brenners Park, Baden-Baden

Swing open the balcony door at the Brenners, and you are in a fairytale land of luscious trees and deep lawns, with a stream running along the end of the garden in front of you. Locals and tourists stroll along the path beyond, kids run in the flower-bedecked meadow.

Not that long ago, Baden-Baden in Germany was pretty much the place in the world to come to get away from it all. In the days before jets, the view from the Brenners Park, overlooking the gardens, with the tops of the hills of the Black Forest immediately beyond, and the opera house just down at the end of the park, was as good as it could possibly get.

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It feels pretty good right now. I ease myself into one of the balcony chairs, listening to the birdsong, reflecting that we are in the heart of Europe, a tiny distance from my home, somewhere unencumbered by the over-commercialisation of modern tourist destinations, and without hurricanes, typhoons or sweltering heat.

The hotel is in a little valley which itself is the centre of the spa town of Baden-Baden. Walk out through the grounds, over a little bridge, turn right and you are in a Baroque town centre within around four minutes’ walk. The park itself feels like the hotel’s back garden. Arriving at the grand entrance, you are aware of drawing up at an institution that has attracted the world’s great and good since 1872. Emperors from Germany to Persia stayed here. The reception area has the feel of the ground country house, rather than a city hotel, and a short climb up an oak-panelled staircase (or in a cute vintage lift) took us to a grand corridor with our suite at one end, and the connection to the adjoining villa containing the hotel’s famous wellness and spa area.

True to its history, the Villa Stéphanie is a health, medicine and recuperation centre in its own right. Sure, you can swim lengths in the conservatory pool and chillax on wooden sun loungers inside facing the park, or outside in the park in summer. You can also have a treatment and a tour of the wet facilities in the 5,000sq m spa, with its pool areas overlooking the gardens. You can also get proper medical consultations and physiotherapy along with everything else – the medical centre is housed in yet another building, adjacent to Villa Stéphanie.

The subtly modernised Fritz & Felix restaurant

I settled for an excellent analysis and treatment session of physiotherapy regarding my tennis elbow (conclusion: too much phone use, and too little actual tennis) after which a refreshing 50-length swim gave me an appetite. We wandered down for dinner at Fritz & Felix, an art-deco styled but distinctly contemporary culinary concept, a restaurant/ bar/kitchen. It was a refreshing contrast to our expectations of a historic German hotel. The menu, all in lower case, featured a delicious looking selection of high-quality but simple dishes: sole with capers, parsley, lemon and olive oil; local pike perch with lentils, balsamic, thyme and olives; fillet of beef with chimichurri and broccoli. The rack of lamb with chick peas, raisins and cumin went down particularly well.

The Brenners Park is part of the same group as the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the south of France and the Bristol in Paris, and you can tell with every flutter of perfect service. Pure class.

Book your stay: oetkercollection.com

Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s swimming pools with views across Marina Bay

Mandarin Oriental Singapore

It was late when I arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore. The transfer from the airport was quick, only 15 minutes. But the flight had been delayed, we had circled during a storm, and I had missed my dinner arrangement, so was feeling rather irritable.

I explained this all to the pleasant young lady who met me at reception and took me to my room (in-room check-in is such a slam dunk for a luxury hotel that they should all be required to do it to retain their five-star status) and she sympathised and, in that luxury Asian hotel way, immediately came up with a solution. Why didn’t I go to the poolside lounge bar, Bay@5, still open, for a glass of wine and a bite to eat?

Read more: Back to school with Van Cleef & Arpels

There aren’t many city hotels in the world where the swimming pool bar will be open, let alone tempting, at 11 o’clock at night, but this Mandarin, it turns out, was very much one of them. On exiting onto the pool terrace, I was greeted with a night-time-hued blue pool and surrounding tropical foliage and, across the waters of Marina Bay, an archipelago of black liquid and skyscrapers that is one of the most intimate yet dramatic night-time cityscapes in the world. Being on the fifth floor, we were just raised above the streetscape of the bay area.

The storm had passed over, the sky was starry with a warm breeze. The terrace of the bar area had a few couples and a small group sipping wine, and 80s music playing. I sipped on a beer so cold the condensation poured and reformed and poured again onto my lap, and instantly I felt much improved.

The bar at Mandarin Oriental Singapore

The food was exactly what you might want after a long and jet-lagged journey: I had a vegetarian pizza with San Marzano tomatoes and grilled vegetables, and a hamachi ceviche with coriander. There was a selection of cocktails from Mandarin Oriental bars across the world, some fine Australian wines, and Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne, but the draft beer suited me fine that evening – I was the last to leave, and back in my room I was half tempted to leave the curtains open so the harbour lights lulled me to sleep, although in the morning I would have been woken by the tropical sun.

I had a morning in my room before meetings in the afternoon, which was nothing if not invigorating. The decor was contemporary Asian luxury: lots of greys and taupes, some piano blacks, and floor-to-ceiling windows. Fortunately, Mandarin Oriental has not yet fallen for the trend of assuming everyone works lying down propped up on pillows in their beds, and there was a proper office chair and desk, which I shunted around to face the view. On my final morning I had an hour spare, and went back to the pool deck, this time to do some lengths of the huge pool and spend 10 minutes lying under the overhead sun. With a view directly across the harbour and out of the sea, it felt like we were on a tropical island, and in a sense we were. Pretty impressive for a city-centre hotel, and I can’t think of anywhere that beats it for a resort in a city of glamour.

Book your stay: mandarinoriental.com

The Four Seasons Hampshire brings a modern style to its 18th-century English manor house and park

Four Seasons Hampshire

The clouds were dramatic as we headed up the drive towards the brick manor house that is the Four Seasons hotel in Hampshire. The hotel is on a slight hill above open fields of English countryside, and on a sunny day, puffs of white and slabs of grey fought each other for places in the Atlantic-washed sky. Arrival was made even more atmospheric at the sight of three fawn-coloured horses, their riders gently leading them across a lawn to the stable block.

The feeling here is of space and light; you (or your kids) are free to roam down the slope leading around the hotel to the restaurant, café and eventually the shooting field at the back. Inside the building, a covered passageway in the conservatory leads to a spa block with a big indoor pool with a glass roof, and outdoor Jacuzzi and sunbathing area, completely private on an Italianate terrace.

The lounge are of the Wild Carrot restaurant at Four Seasons Hampshire

Our room was a blend of traditional English coloured cushions – pinks, dark pastels, and burnt orange – a combination of leatherwork, ornate wallpapers, with windows looking over the open fields. Less than 40 minutes from Heathrow, you are plunged into a serious English country house experience.

Read more: High altitude luxury at Riffelalp Resort 2222m, Zermatt

We were expecting a slightly formalised English dining experience, but fortunately the management had more sense than that. Wild Carrot, the main restaurant, has been reborn as a kind of grand Parisian bistro. There were leather banquettes, bare wooden floors and no tablecloths, and a menu featuring lots of raw and local ingredients. Typical was the very welcome lightly torched house-cured mackerel with pickled radish and hollandaise, and a main of Somerset salt-marsh lamb rack with roasted cucumber, Greek yoghurt, tomato chutney and mint. All the vegetables are locally grown.

The hotel’s pool is attached to the converted stables

Unlike some traditional English country house hotels, signs proclaim children and dogs are welcome, and there are plenty of activities for both. The riding stables offered us a trek across the fields and around the lakes and hacking around the woodland on horses which had been perfectly matched to our height, weight and experience. There is also a high-wire adventure park, which involves zip wires, ladders and perilous bridges to clamber across, all with highly professional instructors.

There is also tennis, clay pigeon shooting, cycling, croquet and an immensely satisfying spa. The grounds are vast – a walk down to and around the lake and back is enough to work up a full day’s appetite. Altogether, it’s impossible to think of another English country house hotel which offers such a complete range of experiences in such luxury, let alone one so near Heathrow Airport and the capital.

Book your stay: fourseasons.com

The Gstaad Palace was once called, for good reason, the ‘Winter- Palace’

Gstaad Palace

A memory of a place is first recalled by rapid-fire still or moving image (or maybe now a GIF?) in your brain. A few weeks after my visit, my instant memory of the Gstaad Palace was our table at Le Grill restaurant. Wood-panelled walls and ceilings and a thick Alpine carpet, and veneered wooden chairs and occasional tables gave it a mountain chic. Formally dressed waiters bustled around, chatting with guests they have known evidently for years or decades.

They were no less courteous to us, to their credit, although of course we had no common anecdotes to share with them. With Alpine flowers on the thick tablecloths, and cuisine rich and local ingredients, including flambéed dishes prepared at the table by the waiters like a glorious piece of 1970s revival, it was an evening experience unlike almost any other.

Read more: The Thinking Traveller’s Founders Huw & Rossella Beaugié on nurturing quality

There was a fantastic Hungarian traditional string band playing in adjacent bar, alternating with a soulful jazz band. The house Burgundy, poured from magnums, accompanied everything extremely well. You could choose Le Grill to propose to your other half, for a family get-together, or a casual dinner for one – it’s that versatile.

When we drew back the thick red curtains of our suite in the morning, we were greeted by the Alps as drawn by Laurent de Brunhoff, creator of Babar the Elephant. Big, forested round hills dropped into a broad bowl, above which jagged rocky peaks loomed. The Palace is the cornerstone of Gstaad, the reason the village has become one of the epicentres of wealth in Europe. In winter, after dinner at Le Grill or one of the other restaurants, you would roll down to the GreenGo nightclub, with James Bond and Pussy Galore sitting on corner sofas sipping two olive martinis as Julio Iglesias rocks the dance floor.

Today, the hotel’s modern spa adds a warmer kind of seclusion from the outside world

In summer, when we went, the nightclub is a swimming pool, connected to the spa (open year round) and looking out onto a garden with a cute kids’ playground, and lined by the hotel’s famous clay tennis courts. Here, you can play as if you were born with a pro living in your garden house (as many guests likely were) with a 270-degree view of the mountain bowl of the Bernese Oberland. If you need something bigger than the hotel’s internal pool, wander up to the Olympic-sized pool the hotel shares with the village (it has its own sun-lounger area, and this is a very posh village). We loved our simple, abundant mountain-food lunch at the pool bar.

The Palace is the kind of place which makes you feel very welcome, but at which it is always evident that there are layers of society into which money simply won’t buy. In its lavish lounge and bar area, just behind reception, old families from Germany, Switzerland and Italy, whose forebears have been coming here for generations, chat easily about art, girls and boys, and schools. The windows in the corridor leading down to the restaurant contain watches and jewellery, from famous brands, that simply might not be available to you unless you know them personally.

The service, however, is sublime for everyone – there was not a flicker of an eyebrow when we booked a tennis court, arrived on the court, and realised we didn’t have any rackets or balls. They were served up in an instant. I just enjoyed sitting on the terrace at breakfast, picking out a gluten-free croissant, looking out over the view, and catching snippets of cultured conversation in several European languages. Perhaps we will be coming back here for generations also.

Book your stay: palace.ch

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Monte Rosa, the second highest mountain in the Alps at 4,634m (left), towers over Zermatt’s Gorner Glacier. Lyskamm (right) is another of the 33 peaks higher than 4,000m surrounding Zermatt. Photograph taken from the Gornergrat observatory station by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai

Zermatt, in Switzerland, has mountain views and activities that are the stuff of legend. It also has the highest altitude luxury hotel in Europe. Darius Sanai checks in and is mesmerised

We arrived for our stay in Riffelalp Resort 2222m by taking four trains from Zurich, each one more quaint and tiny than the previous. The first was a double-deck express that arrowed smoothly through luscious lowlands and past lakes; alighting at the bottom of a deep valley at Visp, we changed to a more pared-back, basic train that made its way up a narrow, steeply inclined V-shaped valley, more gorge than valley in places. Shards of rock sat on the valley floor among trees and cows, a fast-flowing river accompanied us upwards. There were glimpses, as we ascended, of glaciers and snowy peaks, even in mid-summer.

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Arriving at the top of the valley in Zermatt, we crossed a tiny station square, gazing up at the citadel of the Matterhorn looming over the village like a rock god. The next train was a cog railway, which headed in a meandering zigzag through the larch forest up the valley sides; we crossed over a high iron bridge above a waterfall, in and out of deep larch groves, the ground disappearing below us.

The Riffelalp Resort 2222m sits high above Zermatt in the valley below, with views of the surrounding peaks, including the Matterhorn

After 15 minutes, and feeling a lightness in the air, we emerged at Riffelalp station, right on the tree line. On the other side of the open-air ticket barrier was a tiny, open, narrow-gauge train, and a smiling drive/porter in full uniform, with a peaked cap. This little train, more toy than real, with no windows and waist-height doors, had room for around 20 people and a little luggage. It ground along a mountain path through the forest, at little more than jogging pace, for five minutes, as we were enmeshed in the aromas of pine cones and herbs, until it reached a clearing. Here, 600m above the valley floor, at a height of 2,222m (thus the name) we were greeted with a cluster of pretty Alpine chalets and a view, across and above the confluence of three glacial valleys, over to the Matterhorn, and several other peaks, lit only by moonlight and starlight, glaciers staring at us from across the dark night-time green haze.

Bedrooms at Riffelalp benefit from sweeping views over the mountain peaks

If the view was mind-bending, stepping inside the hotel was even more so. For this was no high-altitude mountain hut; we were inside a luxury palace hotel, beautifully created with Alpine woods and finishes, with a long and wide corridor leading down from the lobby area, past a jazz bar with a live band, and towards a restaurant, whose large windows perfectly framed the night-time Matterhorn. All the details were done beautifully, from the lighting, to the granite, wood and artisanal tables in the gently curving lobby/corridor area, whose large windows perfectly framed the mountains: at night, you could spot the helmet lights of the climbers on the Matterhorn.

One of the resort’s bedrooms (above), and (here) views of the Matterhorn from the terrace

We stayed in the Matterhorn suite, an L-shaped series of rooms, decorated in blonde woods with contemporary furnishings, each of which had a balcony looking out over the high-altitude drama of a dozen peaks of more than 4,000m. This is the highest luxury hotel in Europe, and from the bedroom balcony, it certainly felt it. The granite and marble master bathroom was a masterpiece of design and sheer size – in contrast to many Alpine mountain hotels’ compact dimensions.

Read more: Back to school with Van Cleef & Arpels

What was particularly compelling about the resort is that it is just that: a place you don’t need to leave. On the roof of one of the buildings is an indoor and outdoor pool and sun terrace – it gets surprisingly warm on a summer afternoon, notwithstanding the altitude. Inside is a spa. There is a bowling alley, table tennis, billiards, trampolines in a play area outside, and perhaps our favourite part was the garden terrace downstairs.

The indoor swimming pool at the hotel’s spa

The buildings are located just where the trees start to peter out, giving way to high-altitude grass and tundra, meaning you can sit at a table outside the hotel, watching hikers and climbers go past during the day while sipping a glass of wine – and you have the mountain to yourself at night. Kicking back with a drink after a long hike, as the sunset turns ever more blue, watching the other tourists disappear down the valley to Zermatt, or the serious climbers striding on and upwards towards their bivouacs, is an infinitely relaxing feeling.

The Alexandre restaurant serves fresh, light Alpine cuisine

There are three restaurants and a bar (the two main restaurants are open in summer). The Alexandre is the one in the main hotel building and any fears that it will be an old-fashioned Swiss grand restaurant serving heavy cream and food are quickly dispelled. The Swiss Alpine salmon fillet with wild spinach and venere rice was light and umami; meanwhile the Simmental beef with mountain vegetables and potato purée really tasted of Alpine meadows.

We had slightly feared that staying at Riffelalp would mean feeling cut off from the village below, a 20-minute train ride down in the valley. In fact, it was quite the opposite: we felt like we were the privileged ones, in a kind of contemporary, tasteful luxury Nirvana high up in the view, and we never felt like going down. Indeed, we never felt like leaving at all.

Book your stay: riffelalp.com

Larch and pine forests coat the steep slopes immediately above Zermatt. Image by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai

Four unmissable summer activities in Zermatt

Hike the Mark Twain Trail. Named after the American writer, it loops upwards and around the mountain from Riffelalp, revealing more and more vast, glaciated peaks at every turn, past high-altitude lakes and meadows, until you reach Gornergrat, the station and observatory at 3,100m with probably the most spectacular 360-degree view in the Alps. The trail is not particularly steep and can be done in three hours, but it’s not for those who have a fear of heights. There are hundreds of other mountain paths, over mountain top and through forest, valley and meadow.

Take advantage of the mountain gastronomy. Zermatt’s mountain huts may look quaint and weathered, but many of them house restaurants of Michelin-star standard, or rustic cuisine of the highest quality, with fine wines from around the world to match. And you need to walk or trail bike to get to them, making them justified. Some of our current favourites are: the Findlerhof, on a forest trail with a mesmerising view of the Matterhorn, where we had fantastic forest cuisine: a local mushroom salad and herbed chocolate fondant, cooked and served by the delightful owner; Restaurant Zum See, in a tiny
hamlet in a lush glade just above Zermatt, where the platter of local air-dried beef and cheese was sublime and the owners charming; Edelweiss, a characterful hut on a cliff directly above the village, accessed only by a short but very steep walk, which felt cosy and atmospheric; and the Whymper Stübe, in the oldest hotel in the village, where Edward Whymper, the English tragic hero who first climbed the Matterhorn in 1865, stayed, and where the fondues are superb and the atmosphere even better.

A panoramic path down from Zermatt’s Stellisee lake with the peaks of Dent Blanche, Obergabelhorn and Zinalrothorn in the background. Photograph by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai

Visit the Forest Fun Park. A high-wire park in a forest on the edge of the village, run by mountaineers, its trails, of varying difficulties, are ingeniously devised and variously involve zip-wiring over the river, down above rapids, and across a football pitch, and clambering from treetop to treetop, all in safety and with a stunning view of the Matterhorn.

Climb the Matterhorn. If you’re fit and fearless, plan ahead and book your guide and accommodation, Europe’s most famous mountain can be climbed by capable non-experts. But take heed of advice and guidance: after a gradual decline in accidents in recent years, in 2018 there were at least 10 deaths on the mountain. If you’re not quite up to climbing, a spectacular second best is a hike up to the Hornli Hut, known as Base Camp Matterhorn, on the leg of the mountain, which anyone can do if they are fit and don’t suffer from fear of heights. It’s two hours up from the Schwarzsee lift station, and pretty dramatic in itself.

Wildflowers grow in the unique microclimate of Riffelsee, at 2,800m one of the Alps’ highest lakes, protected by ridges from northerly winds. Photograph by Isabella Sheherazade Sanai

Other places to stay

Up in the mountains above the village, there is nowhere that comes close to Riffelalp Resort 2222m. When staying in Zermatt itself, we like to stay in Winkelmatten, a hamlet on its southern edge, at Chalet Banja. Available for private hire, Banja is beautifully built and detailed by a local doctor and his artistic wife, with four floors of exquisite local stone, wood, artefacts and detailing. It sits above a riverbank amid conifer trees, with uninterrupted views up to the Matterhorn; on the lowest floor is Zermatt’s biggest private (indoor) pool, with the same views, and a gym and sauna and steam rooms. The Alpine library in the atmospheric kitchen/living/dining area is engrossing.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Italian design studio Draga & Aurel’s ‘Mimetic Dialogues’ took inspiration from the Alpine setting of St. Moritz

Earlier this month, the invitation-only design fair NOMAD returned to St. Moritz for its third edition, showcasing collectible objects and furniture in the grand setting of Chesa Planta mansion. Rebecca Anne Proctor shares her highlights from the fair

Giustini/Stagetti Rome

Roberto Giustini and Stefano Stagetti’s gallery favoured a minimalist aesthetic to showcase pieces from Italian design masters such as Gio Ponti, Franco Albini and Gino Sarfatti alongside a selection of international contemporary designers. Andrea Anastasio‘s collection of glazed ceramic ‘blossoming’ white vases, Giacomo Moor‘s ash and olive wood desk, and Paolo Tilche‘s wicker chair were amongst our favourites.

Giustini/Stagetti Rome at Nomad St. Moritz

The Masters by Au Départ + Mazzoleni

Founded in 1934 as one of four original Parisian luxury trunk makers, Au Départ was reborn in 2019 with a fresh collection of products designed for the contemporary globetrotter. The NOMAD exhibition showcased the company’s collaboration with Mazzoleni art gallery, displaying a new line of bags alongside exclusive carpets by Illulian Design Studio that have shaped Au Départ’s physical environments since its launch. On the walls, were striking works by Italian post-war artists such as Agostino Bonalumi, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani and Lucio Fontana.

Draga & Aurel’s display featured resin-topped furnishings

Mimetic Dialogues by Draga & Aurel

Multi-disciplinary Italian design studio Draga & Aurel’s presented a unique display of sculpture pieces made especially for Nomad and inspired by the Alpine setting. We loved the glassy resin-topped stools and benches set on industrial cement bases.

Volumnia at Nomad St. Moritz

Volumnia

Gallerist Enrica de Micheli‘s newly opened art and design platform Volumnia presented a selection of renowned Italian design objects including a rare coffee table and lamp by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte, Lady armchairs by Marco Zanuso for Arflex and a sofa by Federico Munari, alongside contemporary pieces such as a Mongolian fur carpet by Pier Francesco Cravel and Marcello Bonvini, and a chandelier by Simone Crestani and Davide Groppi.

Mercado Moderno at Nomad St. Moritz

Mercado Moderno

Rio de Janeiro-based Mercado Moderno presented voluptuous and earthy interiors from the likes of the Mameluca Studio, Gisela Simas, Gustavo Bittencourt and Inês Schertel. The most striking piece on display was the Cafofo Shelf by Mameluca Studio, which was custom-made for the exhibition space. Inspired by Brazilian natural diversity, the shelf offers an alluring multi-level assembly in various woods.

Find out more: nomad-circle.com

Mandarin Oriental Geneva sits along the banks of the River Rhône

Mandarin Oriental Geneva is now home to one of the biggest and most luxurious suites in the city

Spanning 325 square metres across the hotel’s top floor, Mandarin Oriental Geneva’s Royal Penthouse is well placed for breath-taking views. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, guests can survey the city and the winding River Rhône with snow-capped mountains looming in the distance.

The master bathroom in the Royal Penthouse Suite

Designed by BUZ Design, the suite is open-plan with a master bedroom, hammam shower, two further en-suite bedrooms and a spacious living room with a fireplace. It also features a sound-proofed entertainment room with the latest audio-visual equipment.

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The interiors take inspiration from seasonal colours; the bedroom reflects spring with bright shades of yellow, whilst the other bedrooms favour a summery palette. The living room is filled with warm, autumnal hues and the cinema room is decorated with cool, winter colours.

The suite’s interiors are designed around the seasons

The terrace is one of the suite’s main draws for not just its views, but also for the laid-back ambience created by soft furnishings and flowerbeds.

The Royal Penthouse suite terrace boasts spectacular panoramic views

The Royal Penthouse can be converted into a one-bedroom suite or combined with the Royal Suite on the 6th floor, via a connecting private lift, to form the Imperial Residence, a sensational six-bedroom suite offering 577 square metres of luxurious living space.

For more information visit: mandarinoriental.com/geneva/rhone-river/luxury-hotel

The Alpine village of St. Moritz offers more than just an exclusive social scene; the winter sports are first rate too, say Darius Sanai

With snow already falling in the Swiss Alps, LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai looks forward to another first-class ski season in St Mortiz

The first Alpine snowfall of the season has already happened – there is up to 30cm of fresh powder across Switzerland, particularly in the south of the country, due to a weather system recently pushing up from Italy. So naturally our thoughts are turning to St Moritz. Think St Moritz, and you probably think lavish New Year’s Eve parties, long evenings drinking Masseto in friends’ houses, and early evening aperitifs at Pavarotti’s.

It’s easy to overlook the winter sports when you’re so familiar with the social element – and St Moritz has such an engrossing social, cultural and artistic life that you’d be forgiven for never having snapped on a pair of Rossignols while there. Forgiven, but mistaken.

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So here’s a snapshot of what you could, and should, be doing as soon as the lifts open in a few days: it’s our perfect day in St Moritz. We started our day on the slopes at Piz Nair, the top station on the Corviglia mountain, one of three big ski mountains in the area, and the one directly above the village.

It was snowing lightly when we entered the funicular station in St Moritz; we travelled through a layer of thick cloud, fearing a whiteout day, and then, suddenly, we emerged upwards into a blue and white high mountain peaky wonderland.

The Signal cable car is the first stage of the journey towards Piz Nair, the peak at the top of Corviglia, the most celebrated of the many ski mountains around St Moritz

At Piz Nair I shuffled over to a snow shelf to look at the view properly. In every direction, triangular peaks were poking out of a soft, uniform blanket of cloud below us. There was no end to the sea of peaks: St Moritz is famous for its “champagne air”, supposedly the purest in the Alps, as it is so well surrounded by high peaks on every side.

Read more: Why now is the time to book into the Bulgari Resort Dubai

The mountain has a superb selection of mainly red runs, suited to good intermediates; we particularly liked the long run all the way from Piz Nair down to Celerina, below St Moritz, which ran through two valleys and finally descended through the trees, with fantastic views of the Piz Bernina mountains, higher than 4000m, opposite. The clouds melted away during the morning, with more panoramas revealing themselves.

The White Marmot restaurant with panoramic views of the mountains

And then – lunch. Lunch on the slopes in St Moritz is almost a religion: you are judged by where you go, and where you sit, so here’s some advice: book a table, as soon as you know when you’re going, at White Marmot. This is the restaurant at the Corviglia mountain station, three quarters of the way up the slopes and directly above the town itself. You can easily access White Marmot without skis, by taking the funicular train up, and many people do. Huge picture windows give you an unremitting panorama, and the decor – bare wooden tables fully dressed with huge Riedel wine glasses, 20th century modern design elements, colourful throws, magnums of Dom Perignon sitting on ice – makes White Marmot look like there’s a party going on even before the party has started. The cuisine is beautiful too, varying from Swiss mountain specialities with a contemporary twist to modern Italian haute cuisine.

The Suvretta House is a palace hotel overlooking forests and lakes, with its own ski lift

After lunch, we took a final lift up to Piz Nair to take in the view of what seemed like all of Switzerland again, and headed down, via a series of lifts, to Suvretta House. One of St Moritz’s classic luxury palace hotels, it sits amid a forest on its own ski slope, with its own ski lift. Having skied to the door, we sat in its grand drawing room, looking out over the forest and the valley, sipping on local Pinot Noir, and preparing for the second feast of the day, at Suvretta House’s celebrated Stube restaurant.

The Stube has an informal atmosphere, plenty of Alpine pine, and serves a perfected selection of Swiss, Asian and contemporary American specialities. The chicken wrap is to die for. And all you have to do after dinner is wander up to your room, with a view over the forests and frozen lakes, and prepare for a reprise the next day. Book for early December, and you’ll have fresh snow this year and no crowds.

For more information visit: engadin.ch
Book your stay: suvrettahouse.ch

Summer in Andermatt with bike trails, the historic village streets, the Radisson Blu hotel and the new golf course

Andermatt is rapidly becoming one of Switzerland’s best year-round Alpine destinations. Already famed for its winter sports, the resort is now offering activities, accommodation and dining for summer, too, thanks to a major new development. Rob Freeman discovers the joys of the village’s new season

As the winter snows melt on the slopes above Andermatt, the year-round allure of this Swiss village becomes apparent. Thanks to the charm and the beauty of its summer meadows carpeted with white, blue, yellow and pink Alpine flowers, the resort has become a multi- faceted, all-season destination.

As glorious as it is in winter – Andermatt is now a world-class winter-sports centre and part of central Switzerland’s largest linked ski area – the resort, thanks to some remarkable developments that are taking place there, is equally stunning in the summer. In many ways, the contrast between the verdant valleys and the glistening white peaks above in summer makes this landscape even more striking.

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Andermatt’s parish records go back 800 years, with many of its houses being centuries old, so it’s small wonder that there is a palpable sense of history and tradition in its streets. With such a background, it’s intriguing to see the village enter a new phase, underlined by the recent opening of the elegant shopping and dining square, the Piazza Gottardo, which is part of a visionary development by Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris that will see the village double in size. There’s a distinct yet subtle style to this new car-free area, known as Andermatt Reuss, of which the Piazza is the centrepiece. The trick is having every building individually designed by one of more than 30 Swiss and international architects to create an eclectic rather than uniform appearance.

Each new building, as architect Christoph Langenberg, the project manager of the developer Andermatt Swiss Alps, explains, pays homage in one respect or another to the traditional styles of the local architecture. The Edelweiss apartment building, for example, has distinctive shutters with chevron patterns in contrast to the broad arches that protect balconies against the sometimes severe weather. But its most extraordinary feature is its exterior colour, which starts from a dark base and gradually lightens as it rises until seeming to fade into the sky. Diamond shapes are scored into the façade, with wavy lines accentuating the lightness. In another building, House Wolf, the design incorporates the careful gauging of the sculptural effect of the roof overhang.

“The buildings are clustered together more closely than is usual in new projects like this,” Langenberg adds. This is deliberate, to reflect the traditional way in which these villages evolved. The buildings have always been close together for warmth and security. We wanted the new developments to be an extension to the old village, rather than something separate.” One to five-bedroom apartments are available, and the whole project, which will include 30 individual chalets, has no purchase restrictions for foreigners.

The square, complete with fountain, is fringed by shops, restaurants and bars. Restaurant Biselli already epitomises Piazza Gottardo’s village spirit and, from 8am to 11pm, is a focal point for holidaymakers and residents. Occupying the ground floor of the six-storey House Alpenrose apartment building, the restaurant is also a bakery, providing rolls and croissants every morning, and a chocolate shop where the chocolatier can often be seen creating little masterpieces. It also has a small section selling holiday necessities such as milk, butter and jam, even toothpaste. The softly lit restaurant, which is romantic and stylish, has a menu embracing dishes such as goose liver mousse with cognac and truffles, and sea bass baked in puff pastry, as well as local specialities such as tarte flambée of onions, bacon, sour cream and mountain cheese, and dumplings with roasted pork belly.

Read more: Maryam Eisler in conversation with Kenny Scharf

The Mammut sports shop opposite is a high-end ski-rental shop in winter and a bike, hiking and climbing emporium in summer. A Victorinox store has a large selection of Swiss Army and kitchen knives, designer luggage and watches. A pharmacy and small supermarket will soon join the line-up.

Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen

The impressive Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen opened recently, and its Spun restaurant, highlighting Swiss and Italian cuisine, also fronts onto the Piazza. The hotel also has a fitness zone including two saunas, steam bath and 13 treatment rooms and extensive gym, as well as a 25-metre public indoor pool with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the mountains of the Urseren Valley. A new concert hall with state-of-the-art acoustics and seating 700, designed by British studio Seilern Architects, is attached to the hotel. Further accommodation for the village will include a hotel aimed at families, featuring a water-slide through reception!

Summer offerings include walks from gentle strolls to challenging hikes, and climbing for novices as well as experts. Also popular are e-bikes with auxiliary motors to tackle distances and gradients that would otherwise be out of the question. The Four Headwaters Trail links the nearby sources of four rivers, the Rhine, Reuss, Ticino and Rhone. The 85-km family-friendly route can be split into day trips or a five-day tour staying at huts. And days out on the Matterhorn Gotthard Glacier Express are spectacular. There’s no more marvellous way to enjoy these glorious mountains.

Andermatt’s 18-hole golf course

The new 18-hole, par-72 championship Andermatt Swiss Alps golf course

Designed to complement its spectacular natural setting, Andermatt’s 18-hole golf course is immediately adjacent to the village. Although it only opened as recently as 2016, it has already achieved the highest possible accolades, including being named Switzerland’s Best Golf Course in the World Golf Awards every year since. Designed by renowned German golf-course architect Kurt Rossknecht, it has the feel of a Scottish links course and meets international tournament standards. Importantly for holidaymakers, it is open to the public on a pay-and-play basis.

Find out more: andermatt-swissalps.ch

This article originally appeared in the Summer 19 Issue.

The gondola on the first stage of the link between the different resorts

This winter sees the opening of a spectacular new ski region in Switzerland, with the completion of a link between two neighbouring resorts. Rob Freeman reports on the latest step in the transformation of Andermatt into a major skiing and second-home destination

Amid the towering peaks and forested slopes of Switzerland’s Saint-Gotthard Massif, one of the most ambitious and spectacular projects in the world of winter sports has reached fulfilment this winter.

The opening of a new gondola lift marks the final step in the creation of the largest linked ski area in central Switzerland. Admittedly, the lift doesn’t enjoy the snappiest of names. But when it carries such a weight of importance as the Oberalppass-Schneehüenerstock Express does, then who would begrudge it as many syllables as it wishes?

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The ten-person gondola system is the final piece in a jigsaw which brings together two previously separate resorts to form the now fully joined SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun.

The union, which also forms a liaison between the Swiss cantons of Uri and Grisons, has been a dream for many years and now the twin resort has been lifted into the premiere league of major ski destinations.

Skiing down the valley towards Sedrun

Restaurant Nätschen, on the link run between Andermatt and Sedrun

But what sets it apart from other mere commercial projects is that this extraordinary enterprise embraces a singular spirit of romance and adventure. It’s the culmination of a personal mission by Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris, who, at the suggestion of a former Swiss ambassador to Egypt, took on the challenge of leading the rejuvenation of Andermatt.

Sawiris’s Swiss-based firm Orascom Development put up very substantial financial backing to make the vision become reality. The achievement is all the more remarkable because he embarked on his mission shortly before the financial crash a decade ago – and has admitted that, had he known it was about to happen, he “wouldn’t have had the guts to commit to the investment – so, I was lucky”.

The Après-Ski train runs regularly between Andermatt and Disentis

Even luckier are the skiers and boarders who can take advantage of what he has helped create – a ski area of mouth-watering scale and variety. “With the completion of this link, we connect two cantons, two languages and two cultures,” Sawiris told me. “The region from Andermatt to Sedrun with the connection to Disentis, which will be in place from summer 2019, will be a highlight of the Swiss winter-sports offer.” He described how everyone connected with the venture had worked tirelessly to see it completed. “There’s something for everybody now, for experienced skiers and freeriders, families and those who like to take their skiing easy.”

He added: “The good thing is, even if you’ve skied from Andermatt to Sedrun, you can still take the Après-Ski train back if you’re too tired to do it on skis”.

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At least £100 million has been spent on new lifts and upgrading the ski area – with the redevelopment as a whole said to have cost well over £1 billion.

Andermatt, once a small and quiet place (although it was noted for a dramatic James Bond car chase, during which Sean Connery zipped along the nearby Furka Pass in his Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger) has virtually doubled in size with the construction of stunning new accommodation to complement the skiing upgrade. But it has successfully retained its great charm, particularly along the historic cobbled main street, which runs from the main bridge crossing the Unteralpreuss river to the Gemsstock cable-car station.

The courtyard ice rink at the Chedi Andermatt hotel

The mountain inn Piz Calmot on the Oberalp Pass

Andermatt has always offered superb skiing for both experts and intermediates. A north-facing bowl beneath the nearly 3,000-metre high peak of Gemsstock, known for its sheltered slopes that keep excellent snow, its challenging off-piste routes, and a fine, sweeping red run that intermediates can happily tackle.

On the opposite side of town, Nätschen has a wide range of fabulous, sunny slopes that are perfect for family skiing. Experts have a wonderful choice of black pistes and freeride terrain, but there are also reds and blues where intermediates can hone their skills.

But, as of winter 2018, that’s just the beginning. The extensive pistes of Sedrun and Disentis beyond have always been a big draw to Andermatt guests, and on the same Gotthard Oberalp lift pass. But until now it’s been necessary to take a train to reach them.

The new Andermatt Swiss Alps development is on a sunny open plain

Now skiers and boarders can hop on the new lift, with a red piste also in place to link the two villages in both directions, and there is a further link to Disentis to come soon.

Sedrun’s slopes are the most extensive in the area, with glorious open runs, graded red but wide and welcoming, above the treeline.

On the slopes between Andermatt and Sedrun

Of course, assorted kickers, boxes, rails and quarters may not be the first things you look for on a piste map when planning your ski day – they’re not mine, either. But if you have some shredders in your party or anyone feeling adventurous, the much admired 600-metre long terrain park at Sedrun could come into its own. It even has a ski and boarder-cross track, with 1.4km of steep-walled curves and jumps. It’s entertaining to ski down the side of the park and watch the spills and thrills at least, even if you don’t want to polish your own tricks!

The SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun now has more than 120km of linked slopes. There’s a total of ten new and upgraded lifts, most of them high-speed and high-capacity chairs and gondolas, giving the area 22 lifts altogether. Extensive snowmaking has been installed, covering most slopes, in case nature needs a helping hand in the long seven-month season.

Read more: Meet the new creative entrepreneurs

One of the south-facing runs towards Sedrun

And as you ski these runs you could well be in star-studded company. Winter Olympics hero Bernhard Russi, a son of Andermatt who won gold in the downhill at the 1972 Sapporo games, rates the run from Schneehüenerstock on the Oberalppass his all-time favourite.

And the last time I skied there I shared the mountain with up-and-coming local downhill star Aline Danioth and Swedish Freeride World Tour champion Kristofer Turdell, who both find that Gemsstock provides ideal terrain on which to train.

The valley floor has sunny cross-country trails for a tranquil change from the downhill variety, and the winter hiking network is delightful. Activities that provide alternatives to skiing are becoming increasingly popular here, including snowshoeing, tobogganing and ice-skating – helping Andermatt set a new benchmark as the complete mountain resort.

Holiday Village Andermatt

This ski season sees the official opening of the Piazza Gottardo, the central square of the new car-free holiday village, which lies beyond the rail station and close to the new ski-lifts. It’s just across the tracks from the development’s flagship, the Hotel Chedi, which opened in 2014 (and where guests have the luxury of their own butler and, of course, the hotel has a walk-in cheese humidor). Beyond the Chedi is the historic old village, retaining its great original charm.

Shops and restaurants are ranged around the Piazza. The village comprises five further hotels, including the just completed Radisson Blu Reussen, 42 high-end apartment complexes individually designed for an eclectic appearance, 28 chalets and a subterranean concert hall – and no buying restrictions for foreigners.

Discover more: andermatt-swissalps.ch

This article was originally published in the Winter 19 Issue

Watch Episode 1 of the “Mystic Mountains” documentary series on the people of Andermatt:

Night time skiing on Corvatsch Mountain, St. Mortiz

It’s been another winter of fantastic snowfall, and Darius Sanai is dreaming of his favourite location in the Alps, and the vibe at the Kulm hotel in St Moritz

It’s been another early winter of record snowfalls in the Alps, particularly in the eastern and northern tranches of the range. So it’s a perfect time to plan your impromptu visit to the mountains, and January and early February will be beyond perfect this year, with excellent snow and the customary lack of crowds that this part of the season brings, before the school holidays in mid-February change the tone.

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One of the saddest sights is to see couples and families split for ski weekends, with non-skiers staying at home. If you’re going heli-skiing in Canada, there may be nothing for your other half to do, but take a trip to one of our favourite hotels in one of the most wonderful parts of the Alps, and it might be that, at this time of year, as the events diary bristles, it’s the non-skier who makes the skier in the party jealous.

St. Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow, 2013

The hotel is the Kulm, the fabulous contemporary-classic grande dame of St Moritz’s. The area is famed for its range of activities for both skiers and non-skiers. This weekend sees the legendary Snow Polo on the lake of St Moritz (where the Kulm, has its own special stand where you can graze on gourmet delicacies and sip champagne all day). Happening simultaneously nearby are the Engadin Art Talks and the Snow Golf Championships, followed next week by the horse races in the snow, and the Grand National Cresta Run…

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All of that combined with the usual glories of the St Moritz-Pontresina area, including several challenging ski mountains, and the fur-lined nightlife.

The indoor pool at Kulm’s spa

Kulm’s style is old-world elegance meets contemporary

But what we love particularly about staying at the Kulm is its sense of old-world grace – and its facilities. The spectacular pool has picture windows looking out over the forest and valley, rooms have a similar view. The classic restaurant and bar areas make you convinced that David Niven is going to pop out from around the corner. The rooms, meanwhile, have a very contemporary vibe, while not letting up on the rich Swiss luxe. You feel like a traveller in the mountains, taken care of at a real grand hotel, with options of everything from cross-country skiing to spectacular black runs, from watching the horses to chilling in the vast spa. The hotel is just a whisker above the crowded part of St Moritz (and a three minute walk from Pavarotti’s, our favourite spot for an après-ski Franciacorta) …and did we mention, the snow is fantastic this year?

Book your stay: kulm.com

The Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère, Davos

Why should I go there now?

The Belvédère is the hotel for top dignitaries at the World Economic Forum in Davos, held on the last week of this month; many of the most significant events are also held at the hotel, with a high likelihood of bumping into Emmanuel Macron, Bono, Bill Gates or Melania Trump (all at the same time).

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Unfortunately, if you’re not already on the global A-list, you’re not going to get a room at the Belvédère that week, no matter what you pay. But you might well be inspired by TV images of the handsome hotel façade and the mountain view beyond to visit the slopes of Davos at a less hectic time.

What’s the lowdown?

When it’s not hosting world leaders, Davos, along with the neighbouring village of Klosters, is at the centre one of Switzerland’s leading ski areas. The town is in a broad valley with skiing on four separate (and unfortunately not interconnected) mountains. Take the funicular up the most significant one of these, Parsenn, and you are rewarded with some of the prettiest and most varied skiing on a single mountain in the Alps; the long, sinuous red to the Schifer skilift alternates between open mountainside, gullies, and undulating forest.

Davos and Klosters serve one of Switzerland’s prettiest ski areas

And if you go before the end of February, you’ll maximise your chances of being able to complete one of the longest runs in Europe, which extends beyond Schifer, through forested hillsides, all the way down to Schiers, a 30-minute train ride from Davos. The total distance from peak to valley is 12km, all of it relatively easy. And this is Switzerland, so everything from ski and boot hire to lift operation to the buses running the length of the village, is beautifully efficient.

Getting horizontal

Unlike many ski resorts, Davos came of age as a spa town in the 19th century and the grandeur of the Belvédère reflects this era – as does its service, which is more fin-de-siècle luxury than Alpine cosy. We particularly enjoyed dinner in the Restaurant Belvédère, which has recently been modernised: bare wood floors, contemporary art, but still thankfully with tablecloths and traditional waitstaff – this would not be a place for a Soho House-style makeover. There was still a hint of Belle Epoque about the place; and another dinner in the Romeo & Julia Fondue Tavern featured a fabulously sourced and scented fondue.

Dining with a view at Restaurant Belvédère

Our room had a view across the rooftops to the mountains opposite; furnishings were traditional and the balcony was a fine place for a last schnapps of the day. There was also a good pool and spa area.

Davos town, at 1500m, is quite functional; the surrounding mountains are excellent for intermediate skiers

Flipside

Unlike its neighbour Klosters, Davos is a rather functional town, not a village, so you won’t have the cute atmosphere of some of the Alpine resorts; and with no slopes above 2900m, it is best experienced when you are surest of snow – try zipping there before the WEF begins this month (though you’ll have to mind the temporary construction work and security at the Belvédère), or when everything is over in early February. The snow’s fabulous at the moment.

Rates: From 191.20 CHF ( approx. £150 / $200 /€150)

Darius Sanai

steigenberger.com

The breathtaking views of the Matterhorn are worthy of any postcard and a million selfies

Above Zermatt, Switzerland’s most spectacular mountain village and home to the Matterhorn, high-altitude restaurants like Chez Vrony combine tradition with chic, and put the haute into cuisine, as Darius Sanai discovers

All-round views are breathtaking

Mountain hut cuisine will be familiar to anyone who has skied the Alps; raclettes, fondues and other dairy confections. Fresh in the best sense of the word – sourced locally, recently – but rarely sophisticated.

We were looking forward to a little mountain cuisine as we approached Chez Vrony, in Findeln, high above the resort of Zermatt. It was a clear, warm summer’s day, and we had been hiking down from Fluhalp, a hut positioned high above a former glacier I enjoyed gazing at in my childhood in the 1980s (now melted, due to global warming, Mr Trump). The hike had taken us through a fantastical rock wonderland – where part of the mountainside above had simply collapsed into several football fields of Mini-sized boulders. We strode along the side of Stellisee, a lake whose reflections of the famous Matterhorn, facing us from across the broad Zermatt valley, have featured in a million postcards. We edged along a narrow path, a sheer drop to our left, as the glacial valley disappeared into a stream far beneath us; we could just make out the sound of a stream, a distant, constant swirl, like a giantess shushing its infant.

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Descending, we walked past the highest trees, stumpy starter Christmas trees that had the temerity to grow above the otherwise uniform treeline; and skirted around another lake, this one more green, where children splashed and a thousand tiny frogs appeared and vanished into the grass on its edge.

The restaurant’s idyllic terrace, above the Findelnbach stream

Past a rock ridge, we gazed down and saw the hamlet of Findeln, home to Chez Vrony; only another ten minutes of descent down the well-made, sand-covered path and we were there. Chez Vrony is a wooden village hut from the outside, a sophisticated terrace restaurant from the other side. Ushered in by a lady who knew everyone (was this Vrony? Her daughter?), we were whisked past groups of well-dressed hikers (a curiosity in itself) and sat on sheepskins atop benches by a broad wooden table. The Matterhorn stared down, a world of ice, rock and snow, across a forest and a valley. We could have been served supermarket sandwiches and would have declared it the most wondrous refuge in the world.

But Vrony has other ideas. The menu was haute cuisine in both meanings: ingredients plainly sourced from the mountains, like the ‘pink-roasted entrecôte of Swiss lamb served with a port-steeped fig and hazelnut potato purée’, but with real panache and delicacy. (For a simpler option, the beef in the Vrony burger was sourced from the pasture above the hut.) We could have stayed all afternoon; indeed I think we did.

Vrony serves mountain cuisine with a sophisticated touch

Afterwards, it was 45 minutes’ rapid downhill hike through a scented forest as dusk approached, to the outskirts of Zermatt. The Matterhorn, changing angle and mood, always there with us, always a reminder that, however civilised the food, and however much we melt the glaciers, above Zermatt, this greatest of all Alpine villages, is a wild world, not our own.

chezvrony.ch

In the five years since it opened, The Alpina Gstaad has become an iconic European hotel, featuring award-winning restaurants and spa, spectacular indoor and outdoor pools, a gallery-worthy art collection, and an ambience of relaxed chic that epitomises modern luxury at its best. Here, Eric Favre, its Managing Director, talks about how it’s done as part of our ongoing Luxury Leaders series.

Eric Favre

LUX: The Alpina Gstaad opened into a market, Gstaad, with plenty of choice at the luxury end. Why did it succeed?
Eric Favre: Since it opened in 2012, our property has offered an entirely different experience than Gstaad has seen in the past 100 years. Our owners, architects and consultants had a clear vision of today’s discerning guests, who seek a chic but casual, authentic but refined hideaway in the mountains. So yes, the hardware is still important and we are fortunate to be offering outstanding facilities, but it’s really about meeting the exacting needs of our guests which is at the crux of our success. More and more, hotel and spa clients are looking to connect with a 360 degree lifestyle brand, which offers a compelling combination of art, fashion, wellness and personality. We make it our mission at The Alpina Gstaad to deliver this in a truly exceptional way.

LUX: What were the greatest challenges?
Eric Favre: Finding the right people that are able to transport your philosophy has always been a challenge. Your biggest assets are the people behind your brand and who are willing to go the extra-mile for the satisfaction of your guests. We are fortunate enough to have built a team which goes above and beyond in achieving that task. Another challenge we were facing at the beginning was to build up a loyal clientele given the competition in the area. Today we are thrilled to welcome a strong percentage of returning guests year after year.

The Alpina has the best outdoor pool zone in the Alps

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LUX: What are your clients like?
Eric Favre: Our guests are looking for a sophisticated hideaway to unwind from their busy schedules and responsibilities. It is a wide and international audience that we attract, from high profile celebrities to active couples and families seeking some quality time. What they appreciate is the casual but classy environment at The Alpina Gstaad – not needing to oblige to any dress code, for example. They appreciate the discretion and natural beauty that Gstaad is so famous for.

LUX: Why is Gstaad thriving when many Alpine destinations struggle at the top end?
Eric Favre: I believe that it’s a mix of Gstaad’s world-class events, alpine authenticity, breath-taking landscapes and lively social scene, not only during peak seasons. We keep reinventing ourselves without compromising on the local traditions. The world has always met in Gstaad and I am confident that this will remain a hot-spot for many generations to come.

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LUX: Are you “new luxury” and what does that mean?
Eric Favre: We go beyond what you would expect from a luxury hotel. Yes there is a Michelin starred restaurant and an award-winning Spa, however we are not celebrating the opulence in it. The idea of luxury is much more simpler than it was 20 years ago and today it evolves around re-connecting with yourself, your loved ones and a piece of heaven that we believe is Gstaad.

LUX: What are the most important elements of your offering?
Eric Favre: High-end accommodation, interesting gastronomical experiences, a holistic wellness area and a personalised service from our 170 employees. Moreover, it is also the high level of discretion and Alpine authenticity in a stylish and contemporary setting.

LUX: Is The Alpina Gstaad old money or new money?
Eric Favre: I’d say we are well-invested money.

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LUX: How is running a very exclusive hotel different from the rest of the hospitality industry?
Eric Favre: It is highly labour intensive and there is no room for error.  It is also important to tread carefully the fine line between being exclusive and inclusive – while we wish to offer the utmost in discretion and privacy, it’s important for all of our guests to feel welcome.

One of the hotel’s spacious junior suites

LUX: How important is PR and how do you generate it at the high level?
Eric Favre: We consider PR to be very important, but it needs to be well managed with a strategic approach. We are very selective with the opportunities we pursue and the media we work with, to ensure the results generated are the most effective. It’s important for us to have exposure in the right lifestyle magazines, newspapers and supplements, as well as niche websites, in order to reach our target demographic. Part of this comes from working with the right journalists who have a clear understanding of our offering, and of our audience.

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LUX: Is The Alpina Gstaad a brand, to roll out?
Eric Favre: The beauty of our hotel is that we are completely independent from any international hotel chain.

LUX:If you were a guest in your own hotel, what would you enjoy most about it?
Eric Favre: The ability to be myself in a beautiful environment, which feels like its a million miles from anywhere in the mountains, yet is just minutes from all that Gstaad has to offer.

thealpinagstaad.ch

The Alps are at their most sublime when the sun is warm, the snow has given way to meadows, and the crowds are far away, says Darius Sanai. Here we focus on two legendary resorts which really come alive in the summer

Postcard Perfect: The Matterhorn towers over Zermatt’s green summer slopes

Zermatt: The high peak paradise

Mention a luxury chalet in Zermatt to anyone with an ounce of snow in their blood, and they will immediately start to fantasize about the glorious off-piste of the Hohtälli, the vertiginous black runs down from Schwarzsee, the myriad routes down the back of the Rothorn. For chalets and Zermatt mean the ultimate in he-man (and she-woman) ski holidays on the highest runs in the Alps, for groups who can then relax in a super- luxe communal chalet and share stories.

There is, however, another and very different experience to be had in a chalet in Zermatt. Mine started with sitting outside on a broad balcony in a polo shirt, gazing up at the green foothills and rocky high peaks, birds and butterflies drifting past. The summer sun is strong here, but in the mountains the air is dry and there is always a hint of the glaciers in the breeze, so you never feel like you are sweltering.

Zermatt is a glorious place in the summer, as its soaring peaks – it is surrounded by 30 mountains of over 4,000m in height, more than any other village in the Alps – are less frozen, less forbidding, more open to being explored than in the ski season. And while the village is the number one Alpine destination for summer holidays, it is still less crowded than in winter, when the entire populations of Moscow and Mayfair flock to the village under the Matterhorn.

Peak Season:
The village of Zermatt wears a cloak of green throughout the summer months, but the jagged Matterhorn retains its mantle of snow and ice

Chalet Helion, run by uber-swish chalet company Mountain Exposure, is one of the ultimate incarnations of its breed. Technically, although it’s a wood-panelled, chalet-style building, it’s not actually a chalet; rather it is an extensive lateral apartment running across the breadth and length of the construction. You get there via a three-minute taxi ride or five-minute walk from the main train station. Cross the rushing green Zermatt river, walk past the art nouveau-style Parkhotel Beau Site on a little knoll, and there it is.

On walking into the apartment, turn left into a vast, open-plan living room/dining room/kitchen area, with space to seat a party of 20. It sleeps eight people and is well organized for entertaining, as the living quarters can be closed off from the dining and chilling space, where there is also a cosy study.

Draw back the curtains and, beyond the broad balcony terrace, is the most magnificent view in Europe: an uninterrupted vista of the Matterhorn. It rises above the end of the valley like some supernatural thing, a giant, quasi- pyramidical, almost vertical rock formation, covered in thick snow and ice, surrounded by glaciers, standing above other mountains that are green with friendly summer pasture. It looks down with disdain, mocking us mere humans with our pathetic summer activities.

It is also mesmerizing. From the balcony at dawn, it glows rose like a Laurent-Perrier champagne; in the middle of the day, its least forbidding time, it is all silvers and whites; at dusk, it takes on its most frightening aspect, its darkness making you think of all the climbers who have fallen thousands of metres to their deaths on it. My father climbed the Matterhorn when he was young and made me promise I would not do it; he can rest assured from his own place in the skies that there is no danger of that.

The Matterhorn is Zermatt’s brand, adorning every poster, postcard, sticker and banner. But development means it has become harder and harder to find a room with a view of the mountain itself rather than a view of the newest building. And this is what makes Chalet Helion so special, as its vista, from a gentle slope above the village centre, is uninterrupted.

But the mountain isn’t the sole reason to go to Zermatt. There’s only a certain amount of time you can stare at the almighty, after all. Just down from Chalet Helion is the lift system that takes you up to the Sunnegga-Rothorn mountain. A train tunnel bores through the bare granite and, three minutes later, you emerge into a wonderland.

Sunnegga, the first stop, is above the treeline and at the top of the steep foothills that border one side of the village. From here, unlike down in the valley, you see that the Matterhorn is just one of dozens of massive, icy, knife-edged peaks above the resort. Directly in front of you rise four 4,000m-peaks, culminating in the Weisshorn, shaped like a gigantic shark’s fin and, at 4,512 metres, even higher than the Matterhorn. To the left, snowy pinnacles hint at even higher summits. To see those, we climbed into the
cable car to the very top of this lift system, the 3,100-metre high Unter Rothorn (recently rebranded as just Rothorn, but as there are three variations on Rothorn around here, I prefer to stick to its original name). We stepped out into eye-watering sunshine and crunched onto a patch of snow left over from winter: 3,100 metres is high indeed. The peeking peaks from the previous stop now revealed themselves as six huge mountains layered in unimaginably thick snow and ice, rising above the Gornergrat ridge in between us.

The highest of these, Monte Rosa, looked like a giant’s meringue, massive but without the character or shape of the others. At 4,634 metres, it makes up in heft what it lacks in shapeliness: you can make out the other face of Monte Rosa quite clearly when standing on the roof of Milan’s cathedral, more than 100 miles away. (As a comparison, Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, is 1,343 metres, and Germany’s highest, the Zugspitze, is 2,963 metres.)

Zermatt is famed for its mountain restaurants, but that morning I had gone shopping at the local Coop (which in Switzerland means amazing fresh, local ingredients, from radishes to mountain cheese), and we picnicked instead, sat on a rock by the side of a pewter-coloured lake, in which the Matterhorn was perfectly reflected. Here, at Stelisee, you are at peace with the mountains above and the valleys below. The sun bakes you, apart from an occasional wisp of wind which wafts down from the glacier like nature’s own cooling mist spray. Butterflies, bees and millions of grasshoppers play among the fields of wildflowers all around. Even the Matterhorn from here looks less dark, more pretty. Never has an air-dried beef sandwich with freshly grated horseradish tasted more perfect.

Chalet Chic:
Chalet Helion occupies the entire top floor of this traditional, pretty chalet building

Walking down, we came across another lake, Leisee, deep green in colour. Fittingly, amid the sea of wildflowers surrounding this one, was a confederacy of tiny green frogs. Not much bigger than an adult fingernail, you had to be careful not to tread on them as you walked along the path.

Dinner in Zermatt comes with reservations in both sense of the word: you need to book, as the place is heaving in season; and you always feel slightly annoyed that the restaurants, however well deserved their culinary reputation, have no Matterhorn view, as they are clustered in the village centre.

This was a further joy of Chalet Helion. On most nights we cooked, and ate and drank local Valais wine (vibrant Fendant whites, deep Cornalin reds) on our balcony or at the dining table with our private, picture window view of the mountain fading to grey. After which, a Havana on the balcony: one clear night we could make out the helmet lights of the night climbers on the sheer rockface of the mountain.

On one evening, Mountain Exposure’s charismatic owner, Donald Scott, a British snow- phile who came to Zermatt and never left, brought one of the company’s chefs to create us a fabulous, complex Swiss mountain meal. Our dining area was transformed into a restaurant, an option open to any guest who pays.

We will certainly be back, for the view from Chalet Helion, and its entire experience, is as eternal as it is wondrous.

Chalet Helion is available summer and winter from Mountain Exposure, mountainexposure.com. For general information, see zermatt.ch

SPA AT MONT CERVIN PALACE

For decades Mont Cervin Palace has been the byword for glamour for all visitors to Zermatt. A well-kept secret is that this five-star hotel in the heart of the village has a beautiful, 25-metre indoor pool, and an outdoor spa pool and garden as part of its hidden annexe. The garden and outdoor pool (which is open year-round) have a dramatic view of the mountains from the village centre, and the indoor pool and hydrotherapy area are the best places in the valley to retreat to when the weather closes in – or if you want some cross-training exercise after a day’s skiing and hiking. The best news? They are open to non-residents, for a fee. montcervinpalace.ch

Gstaad: Alpine chic with a twist

Gstaad has a reputation as a gentle place, perhaps more suited to high net worth retirees wanting a peaceful and safe place close to their money (in Swiss bank accounts) in which to holiday. But that reputation vanished before my eyes as soon as I set foot into the garden of The Alpina hotel.

The Hills are Alive:
Wildflowers fill the alpine meadows around Gstaad during the summer months

Before me, a long outdoor pool, lined by teak decking and a few (not too many – this is Gstaad) sunloungers. Around it was a garden in full bloom; beyond that the rooves of this traditional village (The Alpina is on a small plateau above the centre), all framed by an amphitheatre of forest, meadow and mountain. Far away were high rocky peaks and glaciers. It was hot in the sun, and a first morning spent in and by the pool, accompanied by the occasional cocktail, was bliss due to true exclusivity. At that moment, in any number of luxury Mediterranean hotels, super- wealthy guests would be jostling for space by the poolside in neat rows, trying to attract the attention of overstressed serving staff, waiting far too long for their drinks to arrive.

We, on the other hand, had the attention of numerous waiters (there were a few other guests, but more than enough staff to deal with them) and sufficient space to have a conversation about my tax affairs on my phone with no danger of anyone overhearing (not that I would be so vulgar).

Mountain Highs: Gstaad rewards summertime
visitors with verdant valleys framed by snow-capped peaks

Suite Dreams:
Swiss artisans have created the interiors at The Alpina, using local stone and period woodwork

Wandering inside a neat little chalet, we found stairs to take us down to a cavernous and exquisitely finished spa area. One corridor led to a salt room, where even the walls were seemingly made of salt, another to the treatment rooms, and another to a quiet cafe area lined with photographic books and jugs containing various herb-flavoured waters.

Beyond that, another pool, inside the cavern, some 25 metres long, bookended by spa pools and crowned by a glass cupola looking into the garden above. If the weather ever failed, this would be the place to spend the day, as we discovered the next day when a thunderstorm swept in. The Alps form the border of the hot Mediterranean climate zone and rainy northern Europe, and you can feel the battle between one and the other, day by day.

When the sun reappeared we headed up the round, green mountain facing us – more a fairytale hill than a dramatic Alp – in a gondola and found a large chalet restaurant, Wispile, serving fondues made with cheese from the chalet’s own cows, clearly visible in the pasture above. The view was over the village and the wooded foothills and forests beyond, out towards Lake Geneva. Wispile also has a menagerie of animals, from llamas to pigs and goats, which families can help to feed.

If Wispile is all that you expect from a Swiss Alpine hut, the evening offering at The Alpina is something else entirely. The owners of this new uber-luxe hotel, which was clearly built to compete with, if not actually outdo, the celebrated Palace hotel down the road, wanted the best of world cuisine in a village not renowned for its cosmopolitan food offerings.

For MEGU, a Japanese restaurant in the heart of the hotel that is an outpost of the celebrated New York establishment of the same name, they enticed and employed master chefs from Japan. It shows: the sushi was magnificent. A taste that I will try and remember for the rest of my life is the signature crispy asparagus with crumbed Japanese rice crackers, chilli and lemon. The Oriental salad (various Chinese vegetables, nuts, seeds, sashimi of Dover sole and sesame oil) was also unique and memorable. Stone-grilled wagyu chateaubriand with a fresh (not powdered) wasabi soy reduction was also fabulously vibrant. I’d take MEGU over Nobu and Zuma, if only it were in London.

There was also Sommet, the hotel’s other signature restaurant, which holds two Michelin stars. It is hard to tell which is more important. Sommet has the better location, a big contemporary dining room with a view of pool and mountains, and seating on the broad terrace; MEGU is the cosy space behind the bar at the heart of the hotel. Sommet has 18/20 from the Gault et Millau guide and is refreshingly fuss- free. The seabass with artichokes, hazelnuts and spinach had simple, highly defined flavours, and the organic salmon steak with tomato and olive risotto was cooked with great attention to detail. Sommet’s chef has the confidence to let his quality ingredients, combinations and technique speak for themselves, and this is contemporary fine dining of the most appealing kind.

These were two of my most notable meals of the year, anywhere in the world, to the extent that I would make a journey to the hotel just to eat there, even if I couldn’t stay there. But for overall experience, they can’t quite match that of sitting by the outdoor pool, looking at the glowing green of the Alps, under the deep blue of the mountain sky, in utter peace, while sipping a perfectly made margarita, served by an unhassled staff member who knows exactly when to ask whether I’d like another one. That may not have been the first line of the owners’ business plan when they opened The Alpina, but they have succeeded in making Gstaad a true summer holiday destination beyond, I suspect, even their wildest dreams.

thealpinagstaad.ch

Stubai Valley – Four family-friendly skiing areas cater to all aptitudes

Jackson Hole or Hokkaido? Courchevel or St Moritz? None of the above, says Darius Sanai, rediscovering a childhood passion for why Austria offers one of the most involving ski experiences of all

For a sport that essentially involves the same thing, namely gliding down a mountainside with your feet attached to fiberglass boards, skiing divides opinions quite dramatically among its connoisseurs. If you play golf, you will more likely than not admire the same courses as other golf savants; mountaineers agree that Nanga Parabat and K2 are likely to exercise you more than any other peak; drivers aspire to the Nürburgring.

But ask 10 experienced and affluent skiers their opinions on where the best place is to ski and you will likely receive 10 opinions. A powderhound might insist on Jackson Hole. A lover of open pistes (and diamonds) will cast her vote for Courchevel. Fans of vertical drops (and gourmet lunches) will urge you to visit Zermatt. Heli-skiing fanatics will go for the Alberta back country; expert ski/socialisers will favour Aspen. And so on.

And they may all be correct, for skiing has so many sides to it, both on the slopes and in terms of what happens before, afterwards and in between. One of the prominent categories of aficionados is the Austria-lover. While this may seem a rather broad church — affiliated to a country, rather than a single resort — it shares a common range of loves, and I have to admit that I am becoming part of it.

To be an echt Austriaphile, you need to satisfy various conditions. You need to be an admirer, and consumer, of that country’s unique tradition of gastronomically high-achieving, comfortable, familyrun, small luxury hotels. These are never part of a chain, and often idiosyncratic, but are run to exacting standards of hotel keeping that would make many a luxury chain blush. They are as precise in their standards as Swiss watches; indeed Switzerland has a similar tradition, although its luxury mountain hotels tend to be bigger, grander, and more generic (and less gastronomic) than the Austrians.

Spa Facilities – Relax in the indoor or outdoor pool with views of the Tyrol mountains

You need also to admire wood-panelled cosiness, in quantities that can sometimes be kitsch, and are now sometimes melded with contemporary chic. You should favour friendly Alpine village-style service over highly trained service staff who could be replicated from an island resort. And you have to tolerate idiosyncracies: slopes that do not link up as well as some of the slickest purpose-built resorts and mountain areas that sometimes require a walk from your hotel (although the advent of ski depots on the mountain has taken the pain away from this element).

I am not new to Austria. I learned to ski there, in the era of long skis and Franz Klammer, and having since skied pretty much the best of Europe, North America and Africa (although not Japan’s Hokkaido, which remains on the must-ski list), find myself irresistibly attracted to it again now I have a family of my own learning to ski. Partly it is because of the superb standard of the Austrian ski instructors; partly it is because the country is so well served by Crystal, the excellent UK ski tour operator; and partly it is for all the reasons outlined above.

And as it is time to be planning your winter’s hit of snow and mulled wine, I can heartily recommend you replicate our own experience last winter; if you are not an Austriaphile already, it is likely to convert you.

Our chosen destination was not one of Austria’s world-famous names (St Anton, Lech, Kitzbühel), but a village (Neustift) in a valley (the Stubaital) that was previously unknown, even to me. The decision was informed by the fact that Neustift has a highly-rated family-run luxury hotel, the Jagdhof, with indoor and outdoor pools; it also has snow-sure glacier skiing at the Stubai glacier, a few kilometres down the valley; and it is amazingly near Innsbruck airport — a mere 25 minute transfer, which, when you have car-sick children to worry about, is a holiday game changer to the three to five hours each way required by many of the big resorts in France.

The Stuben – Enjoy an extensive breakfast spread and award-winning cuisine in the expansive restaurant

The Jagdhof appeared slightly unprepossessing at first, as it is tucked on a road exiting the village of Neustift; it is only on entering that you realise that its gardens, views and open spaces are on the other side, onto which our room, a family suite in the annexe, fortunately looked. Our balcony was vast, big enough to cross country ski on, and it sat above meadows and parkland covered with thick snow, and a view down the valley towards the glacier on which we would be skiing. The bar at the Jagdhof, where we went every evening for the pre-dinner aperitif, is all alcoves, wooden panels and super-professional bartenders, exactly as an Austrian hotel’s bar ought to be. There was no attempt to mimic urban bar chic in terms of décor, and although there was an extensive cocktail list, we delved instead into the quite superb list of Austrian and other European wines. Occasional wine drinkers may be familiar with refreshing Austrian Grüner Veltliners and fruity Rieslings, but Austria also has an array of distinctive, characterful, soft and layered red wines that don’t see broad distribution outside the country. They go very well with post-skiing evenings, sitting in the intimate restaurant across the corridor from the bar, sipping as temperatures drop outside. Blaufrankish and Blauburgunder from Burgenland, Pinot Noir from the Wachau: these warm but approachable reds also matched the intricate cuisine served in the restaurant. Char, trout, salmon and turbot were fragranced, always perfectly cooked, and nuanced rather than overwhelmed by their accompaniments; lamb was a mountain staple. Desserts were Austrian-sweet and creamy. (One observation: if you are not too fond of dairy, it is worth letting them know, as this is a chef who is fond of his cream and cream-based foams, from the amuses onwards.)

Hotel Jagdhof – Expect traditional Tyrolean hospitality in the five-star hotel

And then, there was the skiing. The Stubaital, or Stubai valley, of which Neustift is the main village, has a number of skiing areas, the most extensive and snow-sure of which is the glacier, at its southern end. The journey to the lifts takes 20 minutes by road and you take the gondola up to the glacier’s hub, you can fan out in a number of directions: everything from nursery slopes to black runs are available.

The children advanced from the nursery area to the longer blue runs fanning around the hub within a day or two; I enjoyed the couple of black runs, although I should note that this is not an area for a group of skiers who only wish to bash the blacks. Some longer reds were exciting also, and the star piste was the 10km (challenging) red run, with almost 2,000m vertical drop, from the top station, through a hidden valley, to the valley station of the gondola. The altitude difference was quite breathtaking, and if you did stop to catch your breath halfway down, you found yourself in a valley with no sign of human hand or habitation (apart from the piste), far away from the lifts and restaurants.

If you are a mixed-ability family or group, and enjoy the convenience of getting together on the mountain for lunch every day and not splitting off from each other for the entire day, the Stubai glacier is one of the best options I have come across in the Alps. There is one caveat: the main gondola serving the glacier is quite old and low-tech, and on a windy day it can close, as happened to us. This is being addressed by a new hi-tech gondola that will open at the start of the 2014 season.

The other areas of the Stubaital are notable more for their cute, tree-lined pistes cutting through the forests (they are at much lower altitude) and excellent mountain huts serving fondues, hearty salads and mountain meat dishes, than their world-beating skiing. For a gentle family meander interspersed with a meal incorporating high-quality ingredients at reasonable prices (I hope the French are paying attention here) they are memorable.

In the end, the blend of traditional warmth, exacting standards, excellent organisation, convenience of transfer, and catering to all standards of skier, is something the Stubaital has down to perfection. If and when our children become experts themselves, we will look elsewhere; but it is heartening to know that varying standards of ski ability do not need to mean an inconsistent standard of holiday.

A number of operators offer five-star packages in Austria; of them Crystal Ski (crystalski.co.uk) is probably the slickest and most experienced. Crystal offers half board at the Hotel Jagdhof including airport lounge passes, flights, transfers, and all the extras you might expect, including the excellent childcare from the kids’ club, which in our experience goes above and beyond the call of duty.