Gstaad Palace – three generations in the castle above the village

Seen from the village at night, the Gstaad Palace looks like a castle: white towers, a pointed turret and a Swiss flag above the Oberbort, the slope that rises behind Gstaad in the Bernese Oberland. It is a hotel of a particular kind – open only for the winter and summer seasons, run by the same family for three generations, and still the address that sets the tone in a valley full of chalets. A village schoolteacher dreamed it up, investors from Lausanne paid for it, and it opened on 8 December 1913. Since 1947 it has belonged to the Scherz family, and Andrea Scherz, the third generation, has been in charge since 2001. Today there are 90 rooms and suites, six restaurants and four bars, a spa of 1,800 square metres, a 50-metre open-air pool from 1928 and a nightclub that has barely changed since 1971. The MICHELIN Guide gives the Gstaad Palace two Keys.

Here is how the house came to be, which room to ask for, and how to spend a season on the hill.

01The house

The railway made it possible. In December 1904 the first passenger train from Montreux reached Gstaad, then a farming hamlet, and in 1905 the local secondary-school teacher Robert Steffen began buying land on the Oberbort for a grand hotel. The company behind it, Royal-Hôtel & Winter Palace Gstaad, was founded in Lausanne in 1911, and the architects Adrien van Dorsser and Charles-François Bonjour built it for 2.5 million Swiss francs. It opened with 165 rooms and 250 beds; a ballroom, today's Salle Baccarat, followed in 1916.

The decades that followed brought war, crisis and recovery. In 1915 the hotel held a tennis tournament to draw guests; it grew into today's Swiss Open Gstaad. Ernst and Silvia Scherz-Bezzola took over the running of the house in 1938, and during the Second World War the Union Bank of Switzerland built a strong room under the terrace for papers and gold. In 1947, when a speculator bought a large share of the company, Ernst Scherz raised the money to buy it back, and the family has owned the Palace ever since. His son Ernst Andrea Scherz ran it for 33 years; the hotel was a stage for Marlene Dietrich, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and in 1975 parts of The Return of the Pink Panther were filmed here. The Palace is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, which Andrea Scherz has chaired since 2022 – as his father did from 1974 to 1989.

02Rooms and suites

Over the years the Palace has joined rooms together, going from 180 to 90 rooms and suites, and it renovates them on average every ten to twelve years. The style is alpine chic with British understatement, and each room has something of its own – a patio, a balcony, a corner turret or a jacuzzi. Rooms start with the Cosy Room at 28 square metres and run to the Deluxe Room Mountain View at 46 to 55; the views from the mountain side take in the Palace garden, the Wildhorn, the Oldenhorn and the Wispile.

Insider tip

Open only in winter and summer – check the season dates before planning.

The suites are where the house shows its shape. The Tower Junior Suites look over the village and towards Saanen; the Alpine Suite is 72 square metres, the Deluxe Suite 90 and the Corner Suite 92. The Tower Two Bedroom Suite measures 190 square metres. At the top sits the Penthouse Suite, created in 2000: 240 square metres with 360-degree mountain views and a 150-square-metre roof terrace that the hotel says gets 14 hours of sunshine. Those who want complete privacy can book an entire floor.

03Where to eat

There are six restaurants, and the room rate usually includes a daily credit towards lunch or dinner. Le Grand and its terrace serve breakfast, lunch and dinner with the garden and the mountains in view. Le Grill, the rôtisserie, has 16 Gault&Millau points and an open kitchen where the cooking is part of the evening. Gildo's Ristorante takes its name from Gildo Bocchini, the maître d' who looked after guests for decades; today Maurizio Paglino carries on the Italian table.

The most talked-about room is underground. La Fromagerie sits in the wartime strong room below the terrace and serves fondue – the truffle fondue is the one to order – and raclette, in winter only, with sittings at 19.00 and 21.30. In summer, the bar at the «PISCINE» serves light dishes and cocktails by the pool. And 1,700 metres up on Alp Walig stands a hut from 1783 that the Palace has restored: it serves lunch or dinner for four to fourteen guests, with fondue stirred over the open fire, and one family of up to four can stay the night.

04The bars and the GreenGo

The Lobby Bar is the house's living room, with light dishes, afternoon tea and cocktails through the day, and the Bar du Grill sits next to the rôtisserie. Downstairs, the GreenGo opened on 22 January 1971, with an interior by the Swiss designer Teo Jakob that has been only gently touched since. It is still the club in Gstaad, with resident DJ Jim Leblanc and guest acts in the winter season, and since 2022 the refurbished indoor pool has had its own bar as a link between the club and the spa.

05Spa, pools and sport

The Palace Spa was rebuilt and extended in 2007 to 1,800 square metres. It uses granite from the Blausee area, a log fire and alpine views, with rituals scented by herbs from the organic Jardin des Monts nearby, and has saunas and steam baths, a hammam and an indoor pool. Hotel guests use it at no extra cost; day guests pay CHF 120. In summer, life moves outdoors to the «PISCINE»: built in 1928 as the only 50-metre pleasure pool far and wide, refreshed in 2021, and a meeting point for guests and locals. There is a gym and tennis, and in winter the Saanenland around the hotel is made for downhill skiing, winter hiking and snowshoe tours.

06The neighbourhood

The Palace stands above the village rather than in it, and a hotel shuttle covers the short distance down to Gstaad. The music calendar has deep roots here: the Palace hosted summer concerts from 1942 to 1947, the Menuhin Festival began in 1957 with a concert in the Mauritius Church at Saanen, and the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad have added winter concerts since 2001. Gstaad is two to two and a half hours by car from the airports of Geneva and Zurich; Gstaad Airport is five kilometres away, and the hotel will collect guests from the railway station.

07Making the most of a stay

Plan around the seasons: the hotel, its restaurants and the spa open only when the house is open. Choose a Mountain View room or one of the turret suites if the panorama matters most, and book La Fromagerie and Gildo's early in winter, as both have two sittings. Pack a jacket – it is required for gentlemen in Le Grill, the Bar du Grill and the Veranda of Le Grand from 19.00. Spend a summer afternoon at the «PISCINE», and if you can, give one night to Walig, where the only sound is cowbells. Check-in is from 15.00 and check-out at noon.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.