Fifty-six rooms on the Oberbort hillside in the only piece of new-build Gstaad luxury anyone takes seriously — the first Six Senses Spa in Switzerland, Sommet's Michelin star, and a 1,700-bottle cellar opposite the Saanenland panorama.
"The only piece of new-build alpine luxury in twenty years that the old grand hotels treat as a peer — fifty-six rooms above the Promenade, the first Six Senses Spa in Switzerland, and a Sommet tasting menu that draws from Geneva and Zurich for the night."
The Alpina Gstaad opened in December 2012 — the first new-build five-star hotel in Gstaad in more than a century, and the project that proved a contemporary chalet could hold its own against the 1913 Palace and the late-19th-century Park. The site is on the Oberbort hillside, a fifteen-minute walk above the Promenade, with the south façade looking across the Saanenland valley to the Wispile and Eggli ski-area peaks. The architect of record was the Bern firm Hans-Ueli Brunner working with the local atelier Jaggi und Partner; the interiors are by HBA Singapore working with Hirsch Bedner Associates. The owners are the Gstaad-born Marcel Bach and Jean-Claude Mimran, who built the property as a private commission rather than a chain placement; the management has remained independent.
The fifty-six rooms divide between thirty-three rooms (Superior, Deluxe, and Junior — from 50 square metres) and twenty-three suites (Deluxe Suites, Master Suites, the Panorama Suite, and the headline Penthouse). The construction is the substance: 200-year-old reclaimed Swiss spruce on the walls, hand-carved oak floors, traditional Saanenland masonry on the lower stories, every room with a private balcony and a wood-burning stove. The Penthouse runs 400 square metres on the top floor with a private spa and a panoramic terrace. Even the entry-level Deluxe Doubles are larger than the equivalent suites at most Swiss five-stars, and every category looks south.
The Six Senses Spa was the first Six Senses installation in Switzerland and remains one of the largest hotel spas in the country at 2,000 square metres on three levels: a 25-metre indoor pool, a separate hammam and salt-grotto level, ten treatment suites, a Watsu pool, and the Six Senses signature programmes. The dining occupies three rooms. Sommet — the property's gastronomic destination — has held one Michelin star since 2014 under chef Martin Göschel, with a market-led tasting menu and the strongest sommellerie team in the Saanenland. Megu is the Japanese room (sushi counter, robatayaki) airlifted in from Six Senses' Asian portfolio. The Swiss Stübli is the casual, alpine-traditional all-day room. The wine cellar holds 1,700 labels; the cigar room and the private dining Salon Heritage handle the discreet evenings.
Service is the operational match for the architecture. The Alpina runs at the highest staff-to-room ratio in Gstaad and the concierge desk has built — over a decade — the local relationships necessary to compete with the inherited contact lists at the Palace and the Park: ski guides, ski-touring routes, helicopter operators, polo and the Bernese Cup, the Gstaad Saanenland tennis programme, and after-hours private dining at the village restaurants. For the new-money Gstaad booking — the family that wants the contemporary spa, the modern chalet, and the Six Senses sustainability programme rather than the old-grand-hotel theatre — the Alpina is the only correct address in the Saanenland.
For the alpine honeymoon that wants modernity rather than Belle Époque, the Alpina is the answer. The Panorama Suite at sunrise looking across the Saanenland is the photograph; Sommet at dinner is the meal that defines the trip; the Six Senses Spa runs a couples' programme that is essentially unmatched in the Alps. The Penthouse for the milestone version. Direct access to the Wispile lift station for the morning ski run.
The 2,000-square-metre Six Senses Spa is the most serious wellness installation in any Swiss alpine hotel — the Watsu pool, the salt grotto, the daily yoga programme, the Six Senses signature integrative-medicine consultations. Six Senses' five-night and seven-night programmes (Sleep, Cleanse, Detox) all run here. For the alpine wellness booking that needs the spa to be the reason rather than the accessory, this is the Saanenland answer.
A Gstaad anniversary at the Alpina works at every category. A Junior Suite for a quiet weekend; a Master Suite for the milestone; the Penthouse for the major one. Sommet at dinner is the Saanenland's most decorated table; the Salon Heritage handles the private dinner for ten; the spa programmes the day. The Promenade is fifteen minutes downhill, the Wispile-Eggli lift connects three minutes from the door.
Alpinastrasse 23
3780 Gstaad
Switzerland
Gstaad railway 8 minutes by car; Wispile lift 3 minutes; Saanen airport (private) 10 minutes; Geneva airport 2 hours; Bern airport 90 minutes
56 rooms (incl. 23 suites)
Superior Room from CHF 1,950/night
Deluxe Suite from CHF 3,200/night
Master Suite from CHF 5,800/night
Penthouse from CHF 12,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Opened December 2012; Sommet Michelin-starred since 2014
Sommet (1 Michelin star)
Megu Japanese (sushi + robatayaki)
Swiss Stübli all-day
Six Senses Spa (2,000 sqm, three levels)
25-metre indoor pool, Watsu, salt grotto
Wood-burning stove in every room
1,700-bottle wine cellar
From CHF 1,950/night. Christmas-New Year and February ski-week minimums of seven nights apply; Penthouse books a full year ahead for the holiday window.
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