Check In / Check Out: The Swiss Alps
Stay in a majestic family-owned grand hotel perched on a mountaintop, and visit an utterly charming house museum where domestic handicrafts are the order of the day
CHECK IN: Hotel Waldhaus, Sils Maria
There are hotels, and then there are hotels. The Hotel Waldhaus in Sils Maria, Switzerland is the latter. It belongs to a dwindling generation of legendary grand dames, the ones that deliver the kind of Old World experience that make you feel as if the clocks have stopped just before the outbreak of WWI. Like the self-contained world of an ocean liner, these palatial hotels offer their guests everything they could possibly need during their stay. Very few survive, and even fewer have been authentically preserved, but having recently returned from a week there, I can tell you first-hand that the Waldhaus sparkles with an ineffable grace and soulful magic that feels increasingly rare in today’s feverishly-paced world.
Even in a country as good-looking as Switzerland, the Waldhaus’ location is unique. Perched high on its own rocky ridge, it offers fantastically beautiful views on all four sides of the Engadine Valley and the soaring Alps beyond. From every window, the forest beckons, making the name Waldhaus, House in the Woods, especially apt.
The monumental marble staircase stretches six stories, all the better to showcase the heritage Art Nouveau iron chandelier suspended on chains, one of the many original lighting fixtures throughout the building. Do take the hotel tour if you have an interest in seeing the private areas — the kitchens are a marvel of light and space, and the delightfully oddball tiny museum in the basement will delight guests of all ages.
Architecturally, the hotel’s Swiss Jugendstil design bows to the alpine clarity of its environment, and the great lounge, with its coffered ceiling, enormous bay windows, and dozens of richly upholstered sinkable armchairs is unquestionably the heart of the Waldhaus. Guests are encouraged to treat it as their own living room, and in the hours before dinner, most gather to chat about the day or listen to the resident orchestra trio. Dogs nestle at their owners’ feet, cocktail glasses are clinked, and if you must make a telephone call, there are two specially reconfigured mobile phone booths off the lobby to to keep your conversation private. Eccentricities like this are what give the Waldhaus its unmistakable quirky quality, and what weed out their clientele. Some people remark in exasperation, “This is a five-star hotel?” and others with great enthusiasm, “Now this is a five-star hotel!”
Of all the hotels I’ve visited, the Waldhaus has gotten under my skin in a very particular way. Maybe it was the thermos of hot chocolate the concierge had waiting for us at 6:45am when we left for an early hike. Or the enormous glass bottles of delicious local spring water and bowlfuls of ripe red apples on every landing, replenished constantly. So many people told us they had visited the hotel as children with their grandparents and now come back yearly with their own families. Yes, of course they do. The Dietrich-Kienberger family’s contagious and all-encompassing love for the Waldhaus guarantees that. I’ve started late, but I can’t wait to return.
CHECK OUT: The Engadiner Museum, St Moritz
A few miles away across the lake lies the lovely Engadiner Museum. Don't let the simple white-washed exterior of the house fool you — inside is a haven of warmth and color, with 21 rooms of traditional Swiss interiors decorated with all kinds of intricate hand-carved woodwork, colorful antiques, ceramics, and wool embroideries, some dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
The highly prized wood-paneled living rooms (called "stube") originally came from villages and farmhouses in the valley and were painstakingly taken apart and reassembled here. Dark snowy winters reduced the Swiss landscape to a monochromatic palette of black and white, and brightly painted furniture and richly patterned everyday objects were a way for the villagers to add color back into their lives until the snow thawed and spring arrived.
It's an interior design lover's paradise, with rooms of gorgeous handcarved chests, an open hearth kitchen stocked with all manner of pewter cookware, and bedrooms with wooden four posters draped in finely woven linen canopies. You can't help but be moved by the dedication to creativity that went on here — in this Swiss valley, home is where the art is, indeed.
For more exclusive travel content with a focus on design and craft, explore In Hand.
Written by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti and Meghan McEwen, IN HAND is part travelogue and part travel ethos — exploring the intersection of design, craft and travel; celebrating people, places and objects.