HOTEL AMORE Guide: Big Black Book on Switzerland Part II
How to spend your days well in Vals, Zuoz, St. Moritz, Sils, Zuerich, Verzasca Valley and Davos
Hello dear Internet Friends,
I hope you are doing good and you had a fun week. It felt like Back to School for adults this week! On Wednesday, Condé Nast Traveller Germany had their launch event at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, followed by a party - it was the first event after the summer and it felt like everyone was there, which was fun! Next week Berlin Art Week starts which I am looking forward to.
Do you remember when I said last week that my dream car is a Suzuki Jimney? A very talented photographer friend who I have worked with before had read my newsletter, dm’d me on Instagram and told me she had one and if we want to go for a joyride, which we did yesterday <3 I love the internet and the Jimney now even more.
I have spent a lot of time on my vespa last and this week, out and about all over the city for the upcoming Big Black Guide for Berlin, which has been really fun! I feel like I am getting to know my city in different ways - which includes of course revisiting my OG places like Paris Bar but also lots of new places after more than twelve years of living here. The guide will be published in three parts from September, 20th!
Thanks also for a lot of new paid subscribers last month, I am very grateful for your support and it motivates me so much to pour even more love into this newsletter.
Today however we won’t talk Berlin.
Instead I would like to share Part II of The Big Black Book on Switzerland and in specific about these incredible places Vals, Zuoz, St. Moritz, Sils, Zuerich, Verzasca Valley and Davos. I wrote this guide over the course of five weeks, always finding an additional information which had to be added or changed and I couldn’t stop - but now she’s out, so I have to stop! I really hope this guide achieves its goal in being a good and strong inspiration springboard for an amazing trip in La Suisse <3
I have done all the trips I am recommending to you, and always when I come back I do them again and again, with my starting point being Laax (Big Black Book Laax is here) to discover the places I know more in-depth. In fact, each visit peels back another layer, revealing better and less-known spots, and yes, more insider tips that you can only gather from repeat pilgrimages. Below a video from Sils - a place I visited for the first time and was so in love.
A big thank you to the fantastic hotels for hosting us. For transparency, I reached out to the hotels myself because I genuinely think they’re incredible. There was no agreement on what to write; it was simply an invitation to experience their offerings so I could share my thoughts which I did below.
Vals
Vals is a very small and charming village, about a 45-minute drive from Laax. The route to get there is so beautiful: On the left of the road, you have the towering mountains, and on the right, the Rhine river flows steadily alongside you. Keep your eyes open, especially when you will pass this tiny, beautiful house along the way, almost when you have already reached Vals. It has a very distinct Wes Anderson vibe, with its quirky, almost cinematic presence. I always try to snap a photo, but it always just appears, so I’ve never quite managed to capture it. You’ll know it when you see it, about 20 minutes before you reach Vals! Please send pics.
Accommodation
My family has come to the thermal baths in Vals which were designed and built by the famous architect Peter Zumthor since they opened in 1996. It has always been and still is one of my highlights of every trip to Switzerland. The way the baths are incorporated into nature is so particular in a way in which I have never seen anywhere else. Watching the mountain landscape, lying on one of the iconic chaiselongues which are also incredibly elegant is something else, I call it Mountain Cinema. Every season is special: Come in winter, you’ll get an incredible snowy surrounding, fog and cosy darkness. Come in summer, and you can observe the lush greenery of the grass which looks almost silky, hear the bells of the cows and get kissed by the warmth of the sun. Below you can see the most incredible view which I took during breakfast at the 7132 - the lush greenery seems almost silky in the morning light, do you see it?
Hotel 7132 House of Architects
The iconic 7132 - House of Architects, which is part of the famous thermal baths has 73 rooms. They were designed by four very famous architects: Peter Zumthor, Thom Mayne, Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando. We spent the entire day in the thermal baths, I read the fantastic book Butter by Asako Yakuza and had a very relaxing night in one of the beautiful rooms by Kengo Kuma, watching Youth by Sorrentino, my favorite film that I always watch when I'm in Switzerland.
I love the architecture of the hotel entrance. My favorite photo of it is the one below, featuring a beautiful vintage Porsche, which I took during a visit in 2019. When you enter the House of Architects, you will find a very tastefully designed lobby with some beautiful Bertoia Diamond Chairs. I love the sprinkled stone floorings with 70s vibes, which is so elegant. There are diamond chairs at the outside of the conference rooms too which is a great vibe for a conference! I want to go to that conference. On the right image below you can see how the building of the thermal baths merges in such a natural way into the landscape.
Thermal baths
The thermal baths were built in 1996 and, in my view, are one of the most relaxing places on earth. They were built from 60.000 slabs of Vals quartzite. Inside, there are various pools with different temperatures. I love starting in the cold 13°C pool, followed by the 42°C one, and repeating the process several times. There are beautiful wooden lounge chairs on which you can relax and doze out or read for hours. Outside there is a beautiful pool: Go and try to find the hot streams in the corners of the pool (IYKYK)! The thermal baths have a no-phone policy which means that you can really relax fully. There is no music - just the architecture, the mountains and your own presence. The chaiselonges are called Valserliege, and are also designed by Zumthor, they are beautiful and perfectly fit into the landscape. Here is an interesting article about the chairs, if you want to read more about it!
Lunch
Walk 6km uphill from Vals village, and you get to this lovely place with really sweet owners. You can also drive up by car - which we did because we were very lazy. It’s quite curvy and steep, you might not want to drink if you do come by car, just to note :) In this place you can also overnight in one of two beautiful jurts. Unfortunately they will close down by end of September and it was all booked out until then (I asked, because I would have loved to do that). But you can have lunch or dinner here, which I would definitely recommend!
More Things To See & Do
There is a very cute shop close to the Therme called Terralpin Alpiner Genussmarkt, which sells Swiss specialities. Among those specialities we can also find marmot cream. I don’t really know what that is and I am not sure if I am repulsed by it or what. I could google what it is, but I like the mystery so I will not.
We usually have a drink at the beautiful Hotel Alpina on the village piazza, I did also have a really great and very pretty hay soup with flowers there recently. 7132 also opened a design cafe with coffee, baked goods and coffee table books which I think will be worth seeing - but we were there outside the opening hours, so I didn’t see it in person.
Zuoz
I had never been to this wonderful village before until my friend Raphaela told me about it and I started to look into it for our roadtrip. Just twenty minutes by car from St. Moritz, this is the most beautiful, charming village and it is full of art. The as called Art Public Plaiv is a project focused on contemporary art in public spaces between the villages of La Punt Chamues-ch and S-chanf (I don’t know either how to pronounce those names) which includes also Zuoz. The works by internationally acclaimed artists such as James Turrell and Kippenberger are standing around in the village basically - free to see for everyone.
Accommodation
Hotel Castell
I came across this hotel by chance while I was researching the iconic James Turrell - Skyspace which we wanted to visit in Zuoz. The space is literally two minutes by foot from the hotel and part of the Art Public Plaiv.
I have never come across a hotel like the Castell: Staying here feels like a really fun Easter Hunt for contemporary art. You will come across works by famous artists really everywhere - from the back door of the garage to the playroom, the pool and the terrace from artists such as Kippenberger, Laurence Weiner, Carsten Hoeller, David Renggli, Fischli & Weiss - and these artists have mostly also stayed in the hotel. We really enjoyed this place so much! We lingered across every floor, making sure we don’t miss any works. The Castell also hosts art weekends, read here for more information - there is something happening at the Castell in mid September with artists Tadashi Kawamata, Gina Fischli, and Florian German which looks great!
My favorite art work inside the hotel was the Red Bar, designed by the famous artist Pippilotti Rist whose beautiful light work Pixelwald is currently on display in Kunsthaus Zuerich. I also loved the hamman, which has different cabins you can enter with your hamam ingredients, the cabins shine in orange, pink and red light and almost feel like being inside another Turrell work :)
Art Highlights
Galerie Tschudi
Wow, this place. You enter the gallery through a small, wooden door thinking it’s just two rooms but then you realise you came into an impressive multi-story house with art works of famous, contemporary artists and an architectural fusion of the old and the new. Make sure you don’t miss the top floor with an amazing 360° view and chairs to enjoy it fully <3
James Turrell, Skyspace Piz Uter, 2005
The beautiful Skyspace focuses on the interaction between architectural interior and natural exterior spaces by "bringing" the sky into the ceiling opening. Come at different times of the day to experience different colors inside the building and the sky - it’s perfect if you stay at the Castell, because as mentioned the hotel is literally two seconds away by foot.
