The Palace
Gstaad Palace is a Belle Epoque alpine icon with 90 rooms, five restaurants, a spa and storybook hilltop glamour.
Gstaad Palace is almost unfairly well cast. High above the village, with turrets, mountain views and a Belle Epoque silhouette, it looks like the hotel a child might draw after being told that glamour lives in the Alps. Happily, the current reality has more substance than the fairy-tale outline.
Expect classical furniture, rich hues, locally sourced ingredients with Asian and Mediterranean influence, and a spa that serves both athletes and the rest-deprived. There are 90 rooms and suites, five restaurants and four bars, with complimentary access to the Palace Spa and its piscine generally included for staying guests. The hotel combines aristocratic grandeur with Alpine splendour, regional produce, the GreenGo Club and an 1,800-square-metre spa with hammam, sauna, indoor and outdoor water elements.
It is not the most minimalist expression of ethical luxury, and fur-trimmed old-world glamour is part of Gstaad’s wider visual vocabulary. But judged as a heritage mountain hotel, The Palace still has a certain irresistible theatre. Go for the views, the polished service and the pleasure of finding yourself somewhere that knows exactly how much mythology it is carrying.
