The Alpina Gstaad – the chalet the village waited a century for

High on the Oberbort hillside above Gstaad, with the village's chalet roofs falling away below and the Bernese Alps filling the window, The Alpina Gstaad occupies ground that waited the better part of two decades for its next chapter. The old Grand Hotel Alpina was demolished in 1995, and it took thirteen years of argument with local residents before building could even begin. When the new hotel finally opened its doors on 1 December 2012, it was the first newly built five-star hotel in Gstaad for a century, raised in the local three-storey Simmentaler style from hand-carved limestone and reclaimed farmhouse timber. Fifty-six rooms and suites, Switzerland's first Six Senses Spa and a run of restaurants have since built its reputation among the valley's grand hotels. The MICHELIN Guide now gives The Alpina Gstaad Three Keys, its top distinction for an exceptional stay.

01The house

The site has a longer memory than the current building suggests: the Grand Hotel Alpina was bought by its present owners, Marcel Bach, a former ski instructor turned developer, and Jean-Claude Mimran, a French-Algerian businessman, in 1994, and the old hotel was demolished on 11 April 1995. Opposition from local residents to what should replace it took thirteen years to overcome, and local planning rules insisted the new building echo the valley's three-storey Simmentaler style. The brief went to the Gstaad firm Jaggi & Partner AG, whose traditional exterior gives way, in the subterranean porte cochère, to a curving space with a waterfall and skylight built from massive blocks of Ringgenberg limestone quarried locally.

On the façade, hundred-year-old fir wood gathered from old Alpine farmhouses sits beneath a gabled roof of natural slate, dormers and peaks. Inside, the Hirsch Bedner Associates-designed lobby carries walls and ceilings of antique wood reclaimed from Swiss farmhouses, columns wrapped in leather embossed with marquetry, and a ceiling painting salvaged from a 350-year-old Italian church.

02Rooms and suites

The hotel holds 56 spacious rooms and suites, all with private terraces and spectacular views across the Saanenland, arranged across categories from Deluxe Rooms and Junior Suites to Deluxe Suites, Grand Luxe Suites and a Chalet Suite. Some come with their own fireplace. Interiors by London-based Hirsch Bedner Associates pair reclaimed wood accents and antique armoires sourced specifically for the hotel with an otherwise contemporary, clean-lined decor in muted tones with crimson accents.

Insider tip

Closed in the off-season; check the hotel's own site for current opening dates before travelling.

The long gestation of the project had one unexpected benefit: the years of delay let the owners accumulate some 13,000 square metres of centuries-old salvaged pine from derelict Saanenland farmhouses, now worked into panelling and furniture throughout the guestrooms and public spaces by a dedicated woodshop set up in the hotel's basement.

03Where to eat

Dining is led today by Executive Chef Francesco De Bartolomeis across a handful of distinct rooms. Megu, the hotel's Japanese restaurant, is run by Head Chef and Sushi Master Tsutomu Kugota, who takes diners through some of Japan's most pristine and rare ingredients and presentations; Gault Millau has named it Switzerland's top Asian restaurant. Its interior, by designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, incorporates antique kimonos, Alpine fir wood, accents of vermillion and slatted wood partitions inspired by the temples of Kyoto.

Monti, the newer of the hotel's tables, is an Italian-inspired restaurant overseen by chef Martin Göschel, built around vibrant, convivial dishes, tableside preparations and a Swiss cheese trolley in a room that blends modern style with local charm. For simpler fare there is the Swiss Stübli, which serves typical regional dishes in a space built to feel properly local, alongside all-day options at the Alpina Lounge & Terrace.

04The bar

The Alpina Lounge and Alpina Terrace serve as the hotel's social hub, where guests can order expertly crafted or classic cocktails alongside a light lunch or dinner. The lounge is hung with pieces from the hotel's own art collection, and a floor-to-ceiling window opens the room onto the terrace and its mountain views and outdoor bar.

For something more particular, there is a cigar lounge born of co-owner Jean-Claude Mimran's own habit: he is said to have sent five architects to Havana specifically to study the city's cigar lounges before the room was built, and a Japanese whisky bar rounds out the evening options.

05Spa and wellbeing

The Alpina Gstaad is home to the first Six Senses Spa in Switzerland, a wellness sanctuary inspired by Asian traditions and the energy of the Bernese Oberland, set over roughly 2,000 square metres with an indoor pool and an 85-foot heated outdoor pool. Treatment rooms are deliberately varied, including a hammam, a Colour Therapy Room, a Salt Room and a Cave Room for couples' treatments.

Beyond the pools and treatment menu, the spa floor also houses a fitness centre, a yoga studio and a hairdresser, continuing the hotel's broader focus on wellbeing alongside its gastronomy.

06The neighbourhood

The Alpina Gstaad crowns Oberbort, Gstaad's exclusive hilltop district, just five minutes from the centre of the village and overlooking the wider Saanenland in the heart of the Bernese Alps. The hotel sits on a steep hillside practically adjacent to the century-old Gstaad Palace, within easy reach of the resort's ski lifts and summer walking trails through meadows grazed by bell-collared cows.

The hotel's own launch had a touch of royal theatre: its opening in late 2012 was commemorated by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, on the very site where the Grand Hotel Alpina had stood for most of the twentieth century.

07Making the most of a stay

Outside, the hotel's terrace with its winter and summer firepits sits within gardens designed by French landscape architect Jean Mus, framed by the Alpine peaks beyond. Families are well looked after too, with a Kids' Club offering supervised activities and an on-site cinema for a quieter evening in.

The Alpina Gstaad follows the rhythm of its mountain, closing each year for the off-season; in October 2026 the hotel's own site listed it as closed, with guests welcomed back for the new winter season from 11 December 2026.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.