Gstaad, after the lifts close
The Saanenland in winter, taken slowly: skiing in the morning, the promenade at dusk, and dinner where the cheese comes from the farm you passed at noon. Of every Swiss destination we cover, this is the flagship.
Notes from Elsewhere · Published October 2026 · Updated October 2026
The train from Montreux climbs for ninety minutes and the windows fog twice. When it clears, the valley has narrowed to chalets and one improbable palace on a hill. Gstaad has been receiving the same families for a century, and it behaves like it: unhurried, unbothered, and almost entirely uninterested in being discovered.
Why here, and not elsewhere in Switzerland. Zermatt has the greater mountain, St. Moritz the grander scale, Verbier the steeper skiing. Gstaad has the whole composition in one small valley — the skiing, the hotels, the table, the promenade — and no part of it shouts. As an all-round Swiss destination, nothing else in the country assembles it as completely. That is why it is the Maison's flagship.
Ski the Eggli in the morning, when the corduroy is fresh and the lift queue is a conversation rather than a crowd. The mountain is gentle by Alpine standards, and that is the point. Nobody comes here to be filmed descending something. They come to ski to lunch.
At six the promenade changes hands. The shops close in sequence, the Palace lights come on above the village, and the walk from one end to the other takes exactly as long as an aperitif requires. Book dinner late. The valley cooks for people who are not in a hurry.
Where to Stay
Gstaad Palace. Ask for a south-facing room on the third floor. The GreenGo stays as it was, and the walnut bar pours the valley's best negroni.
Le Grand Bellevue. Younger, quieter, with the spa the Palace guests quietly use.
Where to Dine
Chesery. Robert Speth's table in an old cheese dairy. Order the truffle brie, made in the building.
Sonnenhof, Saanen. Fifteen minutes by car, worth every one. Rösti as it should be.
What to Do
Ski the Eggli, walk the promenade at dusk, and take the Glacier 3000 cable car on the one clear morning of your stay.
In summer, the Menuhin Festival fills the church in Saanen. Book the aisle seats.
A note on conduct. Gstaad runs on discretion the way other resorts run on snow. Names are not exchanged at the bar, photographs are not taken of other guests, and the skiing is better for it. The valley has kept its character by declining, politely and repeatedly, to perform it.
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Monaco before the harbour wakes, Paris on the repeat visit, and the Saanenland in the other seasons.
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