Alongside its world-beating restaurant guide, for 2024 Michelin has also revealed its favourite hotels in Switzerland. Nine Swiss establishments were given the highest score by the guide, with hotels ranging from opulent palaces in the mountains to city retreats.
For the first time, Michelin has revealed which hotels in Switzerland are the best of the very best. Hotels which made the guide received one, two or three keys, with three regarded as the highest honour they can bestow.
What makes a top hotel? “These are places that significantly add to your experience as a traveller, each vetted and judged as excellent in five categories: architecture and interior design, quality and consistency of service, overall personality and character, value for the price, and a significant contribution to the guest experience in a particular setting,” Michelin wrote.
After “countless hours of evaluation” by their infamous inspectors, 46 Swiss hotels were given one key, 32 were given two and nine were given the honour of three keys for 2024.
Starting in the west, two hotels in Geneva, the Beau-Rivage and The Woodward, were awarded the top prize by Michelin. The Beau Rivage was given high praise for its 150-year family-owned history and opulent, aristocratic elegance, while The Woodward was acclaimed for its 26-room “all-suite” design, which is the “last word in contemporary luxury."
In Basel, the Hotel Les Trois Rois was given a key for each king thanks to its blend of old and luxuriously new design, not to mention its Michelin-star restaurant. Fans of works by John le Carre will be happy to know that George Smiley’s favourite hotel, the Baur au Lac in Zurich, was also given three keys. “It doesn’t get much grander than a 19th-century palace hotel in Europe’s banking capital,” the guide noted.
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Moving towards the mountains, the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz and The Alpina in Gstaad also featured on Michelin's top list. Fed by a natural hot spring, the old resort of Bad Ragaz still tugs at the heartstrings of hotel reviewers, while the 12-year-old Alpina by contrast was described as “the very picture of the modern mountain luxury hotel.”
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The Bürgenstock Resort, the site of the Swiss-Ukraine peace conference - and home to the best hotel spa in the world for 2024, according to the World Spa Awards - was also given the top prize.
Finally, the fox fur-clad residents of St. Moritz need not fret, as both the Badrutt’s Palace and Carlton Hotel were given three keys by Michelin. Named after the man who convinced the first British tourists to make the ski resort their holiday destination of choice, Badrutt is a castle filled to the brim with luxury. For the Carlton, Michelin said it “is the rare classic grand hotel that actually lives up to its storied reputation."
Want to discover which Swiss hotels were given one and two keys? Check out the official guide.