Gstaad Palace

About

There is something slightly surprising about Gstaad Palace. From the village below it looks like a Swiss castle that somehow wandered onto the hillside and decided to stay. Turrets rise above the trees, steep roofs cut into the skyline and first time visitors could easily assume the building has been there for centuries. It opened in 1913, just before Europe entered a very different chapter. Unlike many grand hotels of that era, the Palace largely escaped becoming a polished museum piece. The Scherz family has run it for generations and that continuity still shows. Staff know returning guests by name, families come back year after year and the place carries a rhythm that feels established rather than designed. Expect breakfast overlooking the Saanen valley, afternoons beside the outdoor pool that already felt ambitious when it opened in 1928, and evenings that can move from dinner at the Palace to raclette at Walig, the hotel’s mountain hut high above Gstaad.