Peak season in the Swiss Alps
Peak season in the Swiss Alps
There's a battle brewing in the usually serene Swiss Alps as glitzy young guns take on the grand old guard in the world's most high-rolling hotel wars. By Julian Allason.
This season's dazzling constellation of new hotels across the Swiss Alps has served notice on the region's old-school appreciation for alpenhorn and lederhosen.
Leading the slalom is L'Apogée, an amazing new ski lodge just across the French border in Courchevel 1850. Here massive bedrooms push the boundaries of lounge-lizard sensuality, with plenty of suede and fur; there's underfloor heating on the balconies, food by top chef Yannick Franques and a Sisley spa. Regulars of sister property Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes will recognise some familiar faces, including that of managing director Philippe Perd. Other key staff have been drawn from Le Bristol Paris, helping make sure L'Apogée hits the snow at schussing speed.
This is no flash in the flambé pan. Over in French-speaking Switzerland, W Verbier exploded onto the hotel scene like a pre-Christmas firecracker, with daring design and a Spanish/Swiss menu from Sergi Arola whose restaurant in Madrid won two Michelin stars.
And in Andermatt the new Chedi has introduced a note of oriental serenity from that master of tranquility, Jean-Michel Gathy, the Kuala Lumpur-based architect whose recent refurbishment of the Aman Canal Grande is a triumph over Venetian bureaucracy. Gstaad, long the Swiss capital of chalet fun, has seen its second significant hotel opening in a year, the boutique Le Grand Bellevue right in the heart of the village.
It's no wonder the great ski palaces are upping their game, with battle lines drawn in the four grand resorts of the Swiss Alps - St Moritz, Klosters, Zermatt and Gstaad - between revamped traditional outposts and the new contemporary contenders. In everyone's sights is a youthful elite with more than skiing on their minds. For racy Brits, chic Italians and tax émigré French, the sky's the limit as ballooning and hang-gliding join heli-skiing and ice polo as alternatives to the more established winter sports. The big question is how all this will change the atmosphere in these much-loved spots.
Pictured: Suvretta House, St Moritz
- Alamy
Zermatt
ZERMATT
'It is all about lunch,' asserts Tom, a 33-year-old London software entrepreneur who has spent a long time testing Zermatt's 38 mountain restaurants. But then just over the Matterhorn is Italy, from which culinary and fashion influences flutter with every snow flurry. For visitors this is where the slow-motion Glacier Express slides into its final terminus, surrounded by Switzerland's highest mountains cradling runs unsurpassed in the Alps. Snow is reliable and each peak now linked by a network of lifts. Forget the resort's former reputation for queues: fast, new, high-capacity cable-cars have replaced T-bars. And in those wonderful restaurants the atmosphere is nothing if not cosmopolitan; Italian, French, German and English voices predominate here and in the equally energetic après-ski hangouts below.
In the village centre there are two memorable hotels. The Mont Cervin Palace (www.montcervinpalace.ch; doubles from about £440) opened in 1852 and has been renovated under the fourth generation of the Seiler family. Its rival is the elegant Grand Hotel Zermatterhof (www.zermatterhof.ch; doubles from about £340). The launch of zippy new boutique properties such as Cervo (www.cervo.ch; doubles from about £420) and Coeur des Alpes (www.coeurdesalpes.ch; doubles from about £150) has concentrated minds wonderfully, raising standards all round.
Formality is fading at the Zermatterhof, with evening dress no longer expected for dinner, although they still send a horse-drawn carriage to collect you from the station. Breakfast continues to be served on balconies, tea in panelled salons warmed by log fires. This is the winter-sports experience our grandparents might have enjoyed, but now with invisible tech underpinnings and a private spa for couples.
Zermatt is agreeably unpretentious, with a very low-profile chalet scene in some of the Alps' most spectacular houses providing a haven for Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Madonna and the Agnelli-Fiat dynasty. An increase in the number of bedrooms permitted has also made chalets a plausible alternative to hotels for families and groups of friends. After all, how many mid-priced hotels come with pools, fitness centres and screening rooms, not to mention a private chef?
Pictured: Zermatterhof hotel
- Alamy
Zermatt
The grand old hotels' response to boutique openings, and what they dismiss as 'chalet inflation', has been to invest in extras large enough to make Zürich bankers blanch. In place of basement treatment rooms, proper spas have been constructed, notably at the Mont Cervin, where Sensai anti-ageing treatments have a fanatical following.
Cooking in the hotels and on the mountainside has undergone a dramatic improvement. At Mont Cervin's romantic Grill Le Cervin the weekly gala five-course menu demands attendance (ask for the caramelised parfait of foie gras even if it's not listed). The Zermatterhof offers imaginative Mediterranean dishes at its Lusi Restaurant, named after the folding lanterns used by mountain guides.
There is more to Zermatt than gastronomic adventure, though. What is striking here is the traditional hospitality characterised by a personal approach to service. It has become a point of difference at a time when other Alpine resorts are sledging in the opposite direction with understaffed boutique properties. And Zermatt's hoteliers have 150 years' experience of delivering it with élan.
Pictured: Mountain dining in Zermatt
- Alamy
Zermatt: Insider's tips
ZERMATT INSIDER
Alexandra Allason is marketing manager for Fortnum & Mason and has wintered here since she was a child.
'Zermatt really is a village where everything is run by half a dozen local families, though if you think you understand the social strata, think again. It is all so low-key that the biggest names can relax without being bothered by anyone. You should drink at Elsie's Bar, eat lobster broiled over a wood fire at Grill Le Cervin, party at Hotel Post and go mad in the shops on Bahnhofstrasse. The current foodie sensation is Heimberg where Christian Geisler creates culinary enigmas in an old timber house with mountain views. There is no menu; you eat what the kitchen produces that evening using only Swiss ingredients. Personally, though, I am just as happy at Whymper-Stube, a laid-back bistro where the glam kids hang out. And there's always the bison with shrimp at Fluhalp, fish soup at Zumsee, goat carpaccio at Blatten and whatever game the proprietor at Marmot has shot.'
Pictured: Zermatt ski village
St Moritz
ST MORITZ
Lineless faces beam out from swathes of ocelot and mink as horse-drawn sleighs swish through the sunlit town of St Moritz. Chanel, Hermès, Prada, Bulgari and a boutique called Billionaire decorate via Maistra, business brisk even at midday. With its 1,800-metre altitude, 300-plus sunny days a year, and federal investment in lifts for the Alpine World Ski Championships, this is no mere ski resort. It has been home to the terrifying Cresta solo toboggan run since its founding in 1884 by Major Bulpett (your correspondent fell off at the first corner), the bobsleigh, snow polo, white- turf horse racing and accompanying gala balls. Little wonder St Moritz is the place of winter pilgrimage for those with villas in Sardinia, Spetses and Portofino.
At the lake's edge is St Moritz Bad, where hotel rates are almost affordable even at present exchange rates. 'Don't even consider staying there,' insists my friend Rupert. 'That is where staff are accommodated.' The venue of choice is higher-up St Moritz Dorf, though socially it might as well be in the stratosphere. So precious is the guestbook of Badrutt's Palace (www.badruttspalace.com; doubles from about £250) that it is locked away with the crown jewels of visiting royals. Donatella Versace, Faye Dunaway, Claudia Cardinale… Every Hollywood film star, Greek ship owner, European beauty and poule de luxe has checked in, many with such regularity their ballgowns and skis are stored here. Like a great château commanding the Engadine Valley, this hotel has witnessed fame and infamy in equal measure since the 19th century when founder Johannes Badrutt invited a group of Englishmen to try a new-fangled way of getting down mountains on planks of wood. It is still run by his family and seems determined to hang on to its clientele through whatever means necessary.
Pictured: White-turf racing, St Moritz
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St Moritz
For the last century the Palace has engaged in gentlemanly competition with Suvretta House (www.suvrettahouse.ch; doubles from about £310), an equally stellar grande dame on the outskirts of the village. Not any more. Today the ski gloves are off as hoteliers compete for the patronage of a young, sporty, Louboutin-heeled generation. It began as a duel of spas, each hotel creating microworlds where any tension acquired on the slopes or in the shops could be soothed away by a La Prairie caviar facial. If the Palace's Renaissance Bar has maintained the edge in sheer glamour, Suvretta House has fought back with a winter-sports centre resembling NASA Mission Control. A unique finishing machine costing 'more than a Bentley' polishes guests' skis to mirror-smoothness before sharpening the edges for extra grip; this affords a critical advantage to those competing in the private races run by the Corviglia Club (where it helps to be a duke when being proposed for membership).
Suvretta may be family oriented, but it has another ace up its well-tailored sleeve: a private ski lift outside the front door connecting to a network of runs from which you can ascend to Piz Nair. At 3,000 metres it is so high that many people have to pause for breath at the excellent Panorama Restaurant. Heli-skiers reach other summits for off-piste adventures approaching the sublime. My own peak experience was rather different: skiing off the edge of the mountain strapped to a hang-glider, with the sun glinting on virgin snow far below. Landing on the frozen lake 20 minutes later almost induced cardiac arrest.
As for the new sense of competition with other resorts, matters rest with what one inhabitant calls 'an investment race', in which the grand hotels aim to renew themselves with big-name spas and chefs. Nobu restaurant has opened at Badrutt's Palace. In St Moritz, at least, the brands are not just confined to the shops.
Pictured: The Glacier Express Train
St Moritz: Insider's tips
ST MORITZ INSIDER
Angelo Martinelli is the much-loved Corviglia Club manager and resident manager at Badrutt's Palace. After 50 winter seasons here, he knows everything and everyone.
'I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person with a clear recollection of all the remarkable parties here. They are still being thrown today. After skiing, the toboggan runs, or snow polo, everyone meets for hot chocolate at Conditorei Hanselmann, which has hardly changed since 1894. Then it is San Moritzino cocktails in the Renaissance Bar, followed by dinner at Chesa Veglia: the truffle pizza is my favourite.
'For romance I suggest a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh around the edge of the frozen lake to Meierei Landgasthof for chestnut spätzle. Sometimes there are moonlit ski runs down from Corviglia, followed by dancing at the King's Club. Somehow in this Champagne climate you never run out of energy.'
Pictured: Gregory Peck and friends in St Moritz
- Getty
Klosters
KLOSTERS
They do things differently in Klosters. It is evident from the moment you arrive aboard the scenic Rhätische Bahn railway. There on the platform is Herr Charly. His stand sells just one thing: the crispest, most aromatic roast chestnuts. Klosters is old Switzerland, unpretentious, charming, promising fun for families and couples. There is no glitz but plenty of style, and not a paparazzo in sight, making it somewhere royals can relax. The same families have been wintering here for generations. Compared with other notable resorts, Klosters is small - you slither across it in minutes - but just as party-loving. The big attraction? World-class skiing on- and off-piste; the village's altitude of almost 1,180 metres, ascending to 2,800 on the magnificent Parsenn, gives the probability of good snow. A cat's-cradle of runs shared with Davos offers 320km of well- maintained pistes. Then there are the hotels.
Cross the square from the station with a bag of Charly's marroni to the Alpina (www.alpina-klosters.ch; doubles from about £110), a chalet-style hotel with sunny balconies. It could hardly be more convenient, the Gotschna cable-car is three minutes' walk away. The Alpina has been family ski-central for a century, nurtured by the welcoming Conzett clan who have seen little reason to update their hospitality, but for the addition of a spa, swimming pool and Wi-Fi. The smiling staff wear traditional costume, not as fancy dress but because that is how they do things hereabouts. Bedrooms are panelled, with dreamy beds carved from pine cut by moonlight and slotted together without nail or screw. In its Bündnerstube Restaurant, Christian Kaiser's imaginative regional cooking has excited messieurs Gault et Millau to award a handsome 16 points for dishes such as saltimbocca of angler fish.
Pictured: Prince Charles and Princess Diana
- Alamy
Klosters
Greta Garbo adopted Klosters as her home, as did Deborah Kerr, overlapping with generations of Palmer-Tomkinson ski champions, who introduced the British royal family to it and now run PT Ski, a winter-sports service devoted solely to the village. They could hardly be better plugged into the community. Need a table on New Year's Eve? Sorted. The best place is Chesa Grischuna (www.chesagrischuna.ch), a rustic hotel and restaurant known as 'Hollywood on the rocks', with a cosy piano bar where you might see Renée Zellweger or Rupert Everett. The epitome of shabby chic, the Chesa's interior design includes fabric on the walls printed with tiny red reindeer. Bedrooms are not the largest in town, but the Guler family are so hospitable that, having contrived to get in, few guests show much inclination to leave. As elsewhere in Switzerland, official star ratings come a poor second to local recommendations. On the other hand, Klosters is reckoned to have the highest number of Gault-Millau points per capita in the country. Eat well, sleep simple, as the farmers say.
Eating well presents few difficulties, especially at the Michelin-starred restaurant at the Walserhof (www.walserhof.ch), which serves dishes such as red mullet fillet with bouillabaisse, black-shellfish ravioli and confit tomatoes. Prince Charles likes the top suite here, which has a log fire and free-standing bath. My favourite family dining experience is the charming Hotel Rustico (www.hotel-rustico.ch) across the frozen river. Attached to it is Prättiger Huschi, a farmhouse serving no fewer than six kinds of fondue, surely the most fun you can have with your snowboots on. After this, Klosters' best loved, indeed only real nightclub calls.Casa Antica (www.casaantica-klosters.ch) has been the venue for high jinks since 1959. Order a bottle of spirits and they'll write your name on it for next time. So if you see Prince Harry, remind him his Armagnac is waiting.
In a triumph of continuity and character, Klosters has seemed immune to the pressures felt in other resorts to adapt to a changing clientele. It still enjoys the loyalty of successive generations. Flashy shows of wealth have been held at bay as something the community is uncomfortable with. Sometimes less really can be more.
Pictured: Chesa Grischuna hotel
Gstaad
GSTAAD
In a village celebrated for its opulent chalets, the opening of a hotel would ordinarily be a once-in-a-generation event. So the launch of two within a year has caused ripples all the way back to the beaches of St Tropez and Ibiza. The latest, and by local standards most discreet, is Le Grand Bellevue (www.bellevue-gstaad.com; doubles from about £265) on the promenade. Intimate and with a relaxed, put-your-feet-up vibe, it has a striking spa and restaurant designed to attract Gstaad's chalet-staying hipsters. It follows the glittering new Alpina Gstaad (www.thealpinagstaad.ch; doubles from £244), where £240million was invested in just 56 bedrooms and suites, three restaurants, indoor and outdoor heated pools, a Six Senses Spa and a 3-D private cinema.
That all this change is taking place in Gstaad is intriguing. Famous in the 1970s and 1980s for starry regulars including Roger Moore, Ursula Andress, Valentino and Taki Theodoracopulos, it has aged gracefully, preserving its low-rise timber architecture and vivacious chalet life. Fun HQ remains the exclusive Eagle Ski Club (www.eagleskiclub.ch), though the village also has its own yacht club (patron King Constantine II of the Hellenes), many of whose 400- plus members own ocean-going vessels.
The castellated Gstaad Palace (www.palace.ch; doubles from about £490) has a century of immaculate service, country-house comforts and serious cooking behind it. The staff, some with more than 45 years' service, cater to a patrician clientele of Italian principesse and German industrial barons, many of whom educate their children at the celebrated Institut Le Rosey, seeding the hotel's GreenGo nightclub with youthful beauty and exuberance. But the arrival of the Alpina and Bellevue has galvanised the Gstaad Palace to consider upgrades, starting with a spectacular new spa, accessed by bridge over a stream (all entirely indoors).
Pictured: Gstaad Palace
Gstaad
Hanging on the main staircase are photographs of past guests, including Grace Kelly, David Niven, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but the focus is now firmly on attracting the custom of their successors. In this the Gstaad Palace enjoys a lead, as its Lobby Bar has long served as the village social centre; it has also deployed a secret weapon, the Walig Hut, an 18th-century mountain chalet to which guests can escape for a romantic night.
The Palace's owners, the Scherz family, now in their third generation, take the view that Gstaad can only benefit from a raised profile introduced by the new hotels. But other residents wonder what sort of clientele they will bring. Will an avalanche of new money change its character? (Guests who recently booked the Palace's Tower Suite had an adjoining room cleared and turfed for their poodle lest it catch a chill outside.)
All Gstaad's smart hotels are conscious that they now compete not just with each other but also with other top Swiss resorts. As flames from the fire illuminated diners at the Palace's Le Grill, I wondered if Gstaad could successfuly challenge St Moritz on its own glitzy territory, and if it really wanted to. As if in answer, a handsome family walked in: father attired in a Brioni suit, supermodel mother and two small daughters in tiaras. My date, who knows about such things, whispered, 'Real diamonds - all of them.'
Pictured: Ice-skating rink in Gstaad
Gstaad: Insider's tips
GSTAAD INSIDER
Jean-Michel Bouchon is a long-time chalet owner and party host in Gstaad.
'This place is all about fun, which means connecting with pals who parachute in, and there's nowhere better than at the Eagle Ski Club. Up on Eggli mountain, Benjamin Worbs has opened Snoasis, an imaginative antidote to mountain restaurants: try the snow dog, in which fondue cheese is a substitution for frankfurters. When your chef has the night off Pernet Comestibles on the promenade sells packets of fondue mix; its cigar room stocks Cohiba. They shake a mean cocktail at the bar of Bernie Ecclestone's lively Hotel Olden and there's superb cooking at the lovely old Sonnenhof restaurant, though I always enjoy a simple lobster risotto at Rialto Bistro. Then it has to be GreenGo nightclub for all age groups, but speak to your bank first.'
Pictured: Sophia Loren at the Gstaad Palace
Getting to the Swiss Alps
GETTING TO THE SWISS ALPS
Swiss (www.swiss.com) flies from London to Geneva and Zürich, from where you can take trains to the Alpine resorts with Swiss Federal Railways (www.sbb.ch) and the Rhätische Bahn (www.rhb.ch). Scott Dunn (www.scottdunn.com) offers seven nights at Badrutt's Palace in St Moritz from £3,230 per person half board, including flights and transfers.
Elegant Resorts (www.elegantresorts.co.uk) offers seven nights at the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof from £1,975 per person B&B, including flights and transfers.
PT Ski (www.ptski.com) offers packages to five hotels in Klosters.
Pictured: Badrutts Palace, St Moritz
First published in the February 2014 issue of Condé Nast Traveller.