Once at the Swiss hotel Gstaad Palace, the most passionate skier will be ready to change the slopes she dreamed of for a whole year and spend her entire vacation in a local spa.
New SPA of 1800 sq. m (!) in a luxury hotel in the center of the charming Swiss town of Gstaad – a very symbolic place. Even if you’ve read Dante’s Divine Comedy in a short adapted version, allusions to this great work are the first things that come to mind as soon as you get here. Especially if you try a proprietary procedure called the Hammam experience. This action has a very conditional relation to the Turkish hammam – rather, it is a long, sometimes surreal ritual for harmonizing the soul and body. The procedure consists of seven stages, each of which is unforgettable in its own way. First: you are sitting in a rather gloomy room on massive black granite chairs, taking a fragrant foot bath, and from the sides you are poured with jets of hot steam soaked in eucalyptus and other medicinal herbs. As soon as you get used to all this and your skin becomes covered with gentle sweat, like a wall faced with Bernese granite in front of you suddenly disperses and the brightest white light strikes your eyes. Here, of course, it’s not Dante that comes to mind, but some “Star Wars” – it starts to seem that you suddenly migrated aboard the spacecraft of the future. You move into a square, completely white Infinity Room and rest for twenty minutes under the bright rays of light. The next stage of the procedure is a pleasant mixture of Turkish bath and Balinese massage, then you should spend at least 20 minutes in a magnificent eucalyptus steam room, after which – plunge into a warm pool with mind-blowing lighting and melodic music (and in the pool you are sitting naked, of course, since no one but you is allowed there). The next, sixth stage is relaxation, this time in a very cozy relaxation room, and finally – massage and stone therapy. All together lasts a little more than two hours, after that there is more than enough energy: I want to immediately put on skis and climb the slope (and in the Gstaad area there are more than 250 km of long groomed trails!), Go shopping and start flirting with aristocrats as soon as possible and millionaires who have been coming to this town from all over the world for the second century in a row. In the evening, however, I want to go back to the spa again – to admire the stars while swimming in the hot outdoor pool, sit by the designer fireplace, drink collectible tea … And then, armed with an irresistible natural blush, go out to dinner in your favorite evening dress.
Getting there
By plane to Geneva or Zurich, then directly from the airport by train with a change in Brig or Montreux, or by taxi.
A Swiss visa costs CHF 55. francs, drawn up in three working days. All information at www.myswitzerland.com or by phone:
641-3889, 974-2459
Gstaad Palace,тел.: +41-33-748-5000