How to Get Swept Up in Gstaad

Eat:

Swiss mountain food – brats and potatoes, naturally! We had one meal in town with great service (apologies, was taking too many pics of the baby and can’t remember the name!) and had the rest of our meals at our hotel. Word to the wise – even the most basic meals in Gstaad will cost a pretty penny. The town’s motto is “Come up, slow down” but could be “Come up, slow down,empty your wallet.” If you need food supplies for your hiking backpack, there’s always a cheese machine at the train station (sort of like Lauterbrunnen’s cheese mailbox?) 

STAY: 

I raved here on Instagram about the HUUS Hotel Gstaad – in addition to the provided crib, our room came complete with a diaper genie, a baby bathtub, baby bath products, and a baby bath toy. While James was too young, there was also on-site daycare and a kids-only restaurant so that parents can enjoy their own dining room. I’d love to return when he’s older to really partake! The view from our room just blew us away. 

PLAY: 

Riding the Golden Pass train to Gstaad and back is an activity in itself – constant “oohs” and “ahhs” (and actually not terribly expensive!) 

We loved our experience hiking the Panorama Route from the Horneggli lift.

and honestly, just swimming in the hotel pool and hanging on our deck was an enormous highlight!

THE BIG SCOOP: [THE WHOLE STORY]

I don’t know if it was because it was James’ six month birthday, if it was the stunning weather, that crisp mountain air, or the exercise endorphins from our hikes, but Gstaad swept me off my feet. I had been chasing it on my list for a few reasons, some celeb worthy – (Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Sonja Morgan oh my) but also because we are passionate about seeing as much of scenic Switzerland as humanly possible. 

As I mention ad nauseum, to afford to travel, we do as much as we can off the back of existing work trips and with B at the HUUS Hotel Gstaad for a conference on a Monday-Wednesday (with a Sunday night hotel stay already booked through work) we took the train up Saturday morning and stayed over one night before, as always, putting those half fare cards to work.

The Golden Pass train (not to be confused with the Golden Line in beautiful Luzern) is an activity in itself – just Switzerland truly showing off. I strongly recommend it. Check out these views, complete with cows. 

We often say that Switzerland is NOT free, but it is PRICELESS.

It feels only fair to harp on the fact that Gstaad is very expensive, we found even more so than the Interlaken area. 

We enjoyed a pricey lunch and a stroll through the charming Swiss town!

We spent our post 7PM evenings enjoying (expensive) cocktails and dinner on the deck after putting the baby down (certainly better than the dinners we’ve eaten while traveling in hotel bathrooms to avoid waking him) – seriously, life could have been much worse! The sunsets were Santorini level! 

The next day, we set off for a hike! We chose one based on the fact that it claimed to be “best for families and senior citizens” – and foolishly assumed it would be pretty easy. After many hikes in this country you’d think we would have learned our lesson, but while we saw many senior citizens on this trail (is there any more motivation to push harder than when you are passed by a strapping set of great-grandparents?) we still had some challenging inclinces. We took a chairlift from Schönried and followed the Hornberg – Rinderberg trail, then took the gondola back down to Zweisimmen. 

It was the most incredible backdrop and finished at the perfect little cow playground at the finish where we snagged some lunch and beers. It was also expensive, but this was fair, seeing as it was pretty remote! 

The experience took our breath away time after time. We were so happy to share it while celebrating half a year of beautiful memories with our perfect hiking kettlebell…though we are still deciding if we should splurge on the Deuter hiking/kid carrying backpack because he got pretty heavy! Would love your thoughts if you are a fan.

I’m still behind on two recent trips from two spectacular cities – Prague and Vienna! Coming up soon! 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! AS ALWAYS FOLLOW ALONG ON INSTAGRAM & CHECK OUT THE TRAVEL TRACKER FOR OUR ARCHIVE OF PLACES VISITED SO FAR!