A grande dame, according to the Miriam Webster dictionary, is “a dignified, usually elderly woman of some rank or authority who still holds considerable sway in her community’s cultural life”.
Had you not looked into the definition, you would have worked it out for yourself within seconds of arriving at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, a venerable five-star beauty in St Gallen, in north-east Switzerland.
This has been wooing visitors with its exceptional service, dining and wellness facilities since 1868, though the reason for its existence predates the 19th century by 640 years, to 1242 when a 36.5°C thermal spring was discovered in the Tamina Gorge, just 6km away from the town of Ragaz.
After the water was piped to Ragaz, a hotel was needed to serve those coming to soak away their pains in those blood-warm baths. Now, 157 years later, the 233-key Bad Ragaz is a pantheon of wellness – a world-class medi-spa resort, with a clientele that ranges from elite athletes such as Roger Federer, locals who come to enjoy the public pools, and people who cross mountains and oceans for its wellness facilities.
These include a trademarked programme based on healthy habits said to boost quality of life, dozens of facials, massages and top-to-toe treatments, a sauna suite with infra-red, sanarium, steam baths and more.
These days, the resort has grown to comprise three hotels. The Quellenhof, renovated by leading Swiss architect, Claudio Carbone in 2019, wraps modernity and history in neutral palettes, and elegant, indulgent interiors. The Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz, revamped in 2023, has gorgeous hand-blown light fittings that tumble down the halls like waterfalls, while the Palais Bad Ragaz is a listed 18th-century palace and the resort’s oldest building. There’s also a spa tower housing several suites, which are ideal for those wanting to enjoy longer stays to really focus on wellbeing.
As you’d expect of a hotel of such repute, the dining is outstanding. There are seven restaurants, including the three-Michelin starred Memories, one-Michelin-starred Verve, and Zollstube, which specialises in Swiss cuisine. There are also three bars, a sushi takeway, cafe and bistro.
With two golf courses, a magnificent sculpture art trail throughout the grounds, a children’s villa, designer-label shopping, and the Rhine and delightful Bad Ragaz town to explore just minutes away, there is certainly enough here to keep young and old entertained for weeks.
Double delight
Some way away from the Bad Ragaz, over the Alps into Italy and then down to Lake Como, resides another grande dame, the incomparable, 171-year-old Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni.
Resting right on the waterfront in Bellagio, Serbelloni – family-run for four generations – warmly welcomes guests as if they were favourite relatives.
Despite its grandeur – such high, frescoed ceilings; imposing marble columns; extravagant Murano chandeliers; grand staircase; vast windows showing lake, mountains and its own gorgeous, Italianate gardens – the hotel greets everyone with equal delight. It’s hard to imagine that former visitors – among them leaders JF Kennedy and Winston Churchill, and actors Clarke Gable and Al Pacino – would have been met with any bigger smiles.
It may be an older classic, but recent and on-going renovations are bringing freshness, vitality and contemporary art to all 94 rooms at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, while retaining the hotel’s regional and cultural roots – for instance, the silk eiderdowns, stitched by hand, replicate those made hundreds of years ago from Como’s finest silk.
The indoor pool and spa were extensively upgraded recently and the superb private suite was added. This has a multi-sensory sauna that stimulates the senses with sound and scent, a quartz sand bed for micro-massaging the nervous system, and an impressive hammam. The hotel also has an outdoor pool and beach area where guests can catch the sun and enjoy views of the mountains and the lake.
There are two restaurants at Serbelloni – Mistral and La Goletta – both overseen by executive chef Ettore Bocchia, whose innovation and passion for using only the best ingredients has elevated Mistral to one of the hottest dining spots along this part of the lake. For less formal dining, there is also the terrace, where toasted sandwiches, salads and chips are served beneath the shade of a wisteria canopy, or at sun-soaked tables above the lake.
Bellagio is bursting with restaurants and is also worth exploring for its fine shops and finer botanical garden – I Giardini di Villa Melzi – while the ferry terminal, which is on the hotel’s doorstep, makes crossing over for a few hours in Tremezzo extremely easy.
On the rails
The pair make for an undoubtedly glamorous duo, and can be matched with an equally unforgettable way of getting between them: the Bernina Express, which at nearly 100 years old is heading towards grande dame status of its own too.
The spectacular route crosses the Swiss Engadin Alps, and continues along the Rhaetian Railway, a Unesco World Heritage Site. We started the four-hour journey from Switzerland’s oldest city of Chur and headed to Tirano, from where onward travel to Lake Como is by road or another train.
As befits a lady of such advanced years, the pace is gentle on Bernina Express, something which resonates well with the slow travel mood of our times. Taking things easy, making time to stop and stare, and appreciating the views is the best way to travel. En route, there are 196 bridges, 55 tunnels – including one hewn into a sheer rock face, just by the much-photographed Landwasser Viaduct – and mountains, mountains, mountains.
For those who can spare the time, there can be few better ways of spending a few days than ambling by rail and enjoying the waters and mountains of north-east Switzerland and Lake Como in the company of these three fine ladies. Understand the nuances of these elegant ways to travel and you too could hold that ‘considerable sway’ with your clients.
How to book it
Rooms at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz start from £756 for Quellenhof; from £483 for Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz; and from £388 for the Palais Bad Ragaz option. Bad Ragaz is 99km from Zurich Airport and Swiss International Air Lines flies direct to Zurich from several UK cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle. The journey from Zurich Hauptbahnhof station to Bad Ragaz is just over a hour; or a straightforward drive along excellent motorways.
Nightly rates at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni start from €850, breakfast included.
Prices for the Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano with the Swiss Travel Pass start from CHF244 (approx. €260) for a three-day, second-class ticket plus seat reservation for CHF32 (approx. €34) or purchase a second-class point-to point ticket (incl. seat reservation) from CHF66 (approx. €70).
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