Le Grand Bellevue

About

Le Grand Bellevue belongs to the first generation of hotels that turned Gstaad from a farming village into a mountain escape for wealthy Europeans. Built in 1912 as a Kurhaus, people originally came here for rest cures and fresh Alpine air. Mountain air itself was considered treatment. Looking at the façade today, with its pale walls and broad lawns opening toward the mountains, that part still makes complete sense. It also happens to be older than Gstaad Palace, which Bellevue mentions with admirable restraint. Inside, things become slightly more complicated. Around 2014 the hotel was redesigned with bold colours, patterns and playful details. Some of it still works. Some of it clearly belongs to another moment. What ultimately carries Bellevue is its atmosphere. With only 57 rooms it never feels oversized. Staff remember faces, the mood stays relaxed and there is a warmth here that larger grand hotels occasionally lose somewhere between the lobby and reception desk. The hotel also keeps a 1962 Bentley once owned by Roger Moore, who lived in Gstaad for years. Somehow it suits the place perfectly. Not because it is flashy. Quite the opposite. Gstaad has always had a habit of making wealth feel strangely understated. The spa today occupies the role that doctors once had. Salt grottos and wellness rituals have replaced prescriptions and medical notebooks. The mountains still do much of the work.