Gstaad is a name that evokes winter glamour — yet the Swiss town is just as worthy of a visit in the summer as Rosie Paterson found out.
In Gstaad, the first snowfall doesn’t just signal a shift in seasons, it signals the arrival of more than 20,000 people. Out of season, the Swiss resort is home to less than 10,000 people.
Madonna, His Majesty the King and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, haute couture designer Valentino Garavani, Elizabeth Hurley, Paul McCartney and Roger Moore (below) have all been spotted navigating the slopes. The former actually has her own chalet.
Roger Moore with Luisa Mattioli and their son Christian.
Then there’s the pedestrianised road that cuts through the heart of the town, which resembles a frosty catwalk; Louis Vuitton, Prada and a myriad independent designer boutiques stand sentry either side.
It might look gauche if it weren’t for the demure wooden chalets — protected for eternity by strictly enforced planning and building regulations — endless cow sheds (there are 200 farms and 7,000 cows) and surrounding bucolic landscape.
Come summer, it’s a different story altogether; Moncler coats replaced with Merrell walking shoes, salopettes with shorts. Only Gstaad’s own beauty and the perennially popular Cappuccino coffee shop and bar bear any passing resemblance to the wintery tableau.
Though summertime attracts considerably less media attention, Gstaad itself has always been well equipped for warmer weather. In fact, the first chairlift to be operated in the summer opened in 1946, and multiple hotels — including Le Grand Bellevue and The Palace — were throwing open their doors for a second season, from June through to early Autumn, long before our generation rediscovered the joys of warm mountain air.
Le Grand Bellevue, Gstaad.
If you’re driving into Gstaad, Le Grand Bellevue (above), built on the fringes of the resort’s centre, is the marker that you’ve arrived in paradise. Its candied lemon-colour, Belle Époque facade, crowned with stripy, scalloped window awnings, a reassuring sign that plenty of Gstaad’s magical old age glamour has survived to the present day.
However, the best way to arrive is in fact by train, a unique experience in itself because Gstaad — which has its own station — lies on the scenic GoldenPass Montreux-Oberland Bernois (MOB) railway line.
It’s possible to join the line at any station on the line, and there are easy connections to and from Zurich and Geneva airports (the full journey takes a near identical amount of time from either).
Four different types of train use the line: standard trains, Belle Époque-style ones, the newer Golden Pass Express types, and Panoramic trains which boast larger-than-normal-windows.
Ask nicely and the team at Le Grand Bellevue will pick you up from the station in a 1962 Bentley that once belonged to Gstaad resident Sir Roger Moore.
Le Grand Bellevue started life as a cure house and spa — people travelling far and wide to reap the benefits of clean alpine air and water. Today, the spa is still an integral part of proceedings, and one of the largest in the area, measuring a staggering 3,000sq ft. There are a clutch of simply-decorate, wood panelled treatment rooms, communal resting spaces—in a particularly calming shade of ochre—an indoor swimming pool, well-equipped gym, yoga and reformer pilates studio (the latter is popular with second home-owning residents year round, and teaching standards are excellent).
Beyond the spa, but very much on the theme of all things health and wellness, the hotel can organise guided SUP (stand-up paddle boarding trips) and hiking experiences.
Local legend has it that when God was finished creating the Universe he came to a stop, placing his palm down on Earth — in Switzerland to be exact — where he left a perfect impression. Five fingers became five valleys: Turbach, Lauenen, Schönried and Saanenmöser, Gsteif, and Chalberhöni. And the ball of the hand became a village: Gstaad.
And that’s Gstaad’s big summer pull, the opportunity to don your best walking boots and explore the five valleys on foot — along sky-high ridges, around glassy mountain lakes, through wildflower meadows and beside the fast-flowing rivers that gouge deep scars through them — using Gstaad at your start and end point.
Lauenensee Lake
On the advice of Bellevue’s long-serving concierge — Olivier, he’s been there for close to two decades — we walked along Gstaad’s Promenade and hopped on a gondola to the top of the Höhi Wispile. There’s something weirdly disconcerting about cruising over grassy slopes, dotted with herds of bell-toting cows, that you last saw carpeted in snow and daring skiers, a sense that you should know and recognise where you are. A sense that was very much missing.
The mountain top is a popular starting point for a 90 minute hike downhill to Lauenensee Lake (above), The water’s surface is mercurial, flashing gunmetal grey one moment and vivid turquoise the next. The water temperature is more reliable, cold whatever the weather.
Rougemont is full of beautiful chalets.
One of Olivier’s other top tips is to take a train to the nearby village of Rougemont, whose name comes from the geological lyrics of red flysch rock, typically found in the area. The village was first established in the second half of the 11th century and is popular with tourists who come to admire the original 17th century, intricately engraved chalets (above) and farmhouses, Romanesque church (with its hexagonal tower) and 16th century castle. The walk back into Gstaad — allow three hours — crosses the Roestigraben, or invisible cultural and linguistic barrier separating French- and German-speaking Switzerland.
Casper Ruud of Norway was the winner of the Gstaad Swiss Open ATP Tour 250 Series 2021 tournament
Though it would be easy enough to tempt reluctant walkers in your party to get a move on with a ‘fondue backpack’ from one of the resort’s participatory dairy farmers, there is in fact a dizzying array of non-walking events scheduled throughout the summer. Highlights include the Swiss Open tennis tournament (Le Grand Bellevue is an official partner and has its own state-of-the-art padel court and club to boot), part of the ATP circuit, with around €500,000 prize money up for grabs (mid-July), and elite16 which is part of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour (early July).
The tour’s third stop takes place 3,445ft above sea level, so the requisite sand is shipped in. The winning team takes home a golden cowbell. Finally, next year will mark the fourth iteration of the World of Words (WoW) Gstaad literary festival (late June).
There is one part of Gstaad that, for now at least, still evades the seasons and all the change — physical and cultural — that they bring: Glacier 3000, a 3,000m high (about 9,800ft), panoramic viewing spot that offers views of mountain tops including the Eiger, Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.
The height and perennially frozen ground means that temperatures in June and July hover around the 9℃ mark (reader, please do as I say and not as I did, and remember a coat) so if you really cannot wait for your next snow fix you can embark on the summer loipe (a cross-country ski track) or helicopter flight across the glacier.
Where to stay
Le Grand Bellevue reopened a decade ago under new leadership and with a new look that set it apart from its more traditional and glitzier competitors.
Best described as casually elegant — it’s undoubtedly smart, but there’s a lifesize tweed camel in the lobby and a sense that you can put your feet up on the sofas after a busy day of activities — there are 57 rooms (some in the main building, some in the new-build chalet extension), the aforementioned spa, lounge space (with hanging birdcage chairs), three restaurants, private cinema and world-famous, you’d-only-find-it-in-Gstaad Yacht Club.
Staff are perhaps not what you’d expect from a resort with Gstaad’s reputation, warm and witty, nowhere more so than in LEONARD’s, the hotel’s main restaurant. The pink pepper mezcal cocktail has built up a well-deserved fan club, as has the sharing menu — perhaps a whole roasted chicken or veal ‘WellinGstaad’ (the chef’s take on a beef Wellington) for two?
Rooms at Le Grand Bellevue from £640 on a half-board basis. Experiences are available upon request. For more information, visit www.bellevue-gstaad.ch
How to get there
SWISS Air connects Switzerland with the world, offering more than 160 weekly flights from London Heathrow, London City, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and London Gatwick (seasonal) to Zurich or Geneva. One-way fares start from £76 to Zurich and from £54 to Geneva, and include all
taxes, fees and surcharges, one piece of checked luggage weighing up to 23kg and one piece of hand luggage. For more information, visit www.swiss.com
The Swiss Travel Pass offers unlimited travel on consecutive days across the Swiss Travel System rail, bus and boat network. This pass also covers scenic routes and local trams and buses in around 90 towns and cities, and includes the Swiss Museum Pass, which allows you free entrance to 500 museums and exhibitions. Prices start from £186 for a three-day 2nd class ticket. For more information, visit www.mystsnet.com
Switzerland by train: Dramatic, exhilarating and full of mystique
Kate Green travelled through Switzerland by train, and enjoyed a dramatic and exhilarating holiday.
Gstaad: The year-round gem of the Swiss Alps that’s ‘Hollywood with snow’
One of the great year-round destinations in the Alps, Gstaad has long been a hotspot for A-listers. Kathryn Bradley-Hole spent
Gstaad, Switzerland: ‘The last paradise in a crazy world’, a fairytale still untouched with pistes aplenty
Rosie Paterson travels to Gstaad–once described by Julie Andrews as ‘the last paradise in a crazy world’– to find out
