Meridian

A private travel office · Amsterdam You were given a word.

The Alps · In season July to September and December to March

Gstaad

Gstaad is Ibiza in the snow — a stylish, star-studded resort in southwest Switzerland that has long been an enclave for people who could be anywhere.

Tarmak22, Gstaad
Tarmak22 · gloobles

Eat

  1. Le Cerf The fondue of record, from recipes dating to 1958, in a classic chalet room — with Swiss folk music carrying Friday and Saturday nights. Rougemont
  2. The Lobby Bar at Gstaad Palace Gstaad’s living room, just off the garden terrace — club sandwiches, Swiss wines and properly mixed classics, with piano or jazz as the evening rolls on.
  3. Bergrestaurant Wasserngrat Mountain dining at 1,920 metres — Simmental entrecôte, rösti, moitié-moitié fondue with a sharp schnapps, Gruyère double cream on the meringues, and two terraces that follow the sun. Winter tables book out. Saanen
  4. GreenGo Under the Palace since the 1970s — the village’s main late room, a matchbox dance floor, and a crowd that stays out after dinner without leaving Gstaad.
  5. Megu Inside The Alpina and deliberately apart from it — Tsutomu Kugota’s counter, omakase first, backed by the country’s largest sake selection.
  6. Arc-en-Ciel Steps from the Eggli gondola — wood-fired pizzas, fresh pasta and sharing salads, quick and fairly run, with terraces for the hour between ski sessions.
Arnensee, Gstaad
Arnensee · gloobles

Stay

  1. Gstaad Palace Open since 1913 and in the Scherz family since the 1940s — low-ceilinged lounges, roaring fires, an Olympic-size summer pool, and GreenGo keeping it central after dark. The definitive grande dame. Saanen
  2. Hotel Olden Convincingly local — veal Milanese and penne alla vodka unchanged for years, Massimo running the tight-packed room, Campari sodas fuelling the après. Bernie Ecclestone keeps the deeds.
  3. The Alpina Gstaad Above the village, contemporary design under a museum-level collection — Emin, Matisse — with the Six Senses spa and dining that runs from Sant Ambroeus pop-ups to the counter at Megu.

Do

  1. Club de Luge Members only, above Eggli, reached by a six-minute private gondola from the Porsche Design Studio — plates by Themis Zouganeli, panoramas doing the talking, and a waitlist doing the filtering. Eggli
  2. Eagle Ski Club High on Wasserngrat since 1957 — fondue bubbling, live music at lunch, and a member roll that explains the waitlist. Wasserngrat
  3. Gstaad Palace Outdoor Pool The Olympic-sized pool under striped umbrellas — lanes for swimmers, lawns for everyone else, a five-metre platform for the children, champagne and croque monsieurs at lunch.
  4. Hauser & Wirth The gallery’s alpine presence, grown from seasonal shows at the Vieux Chalet — appointment-only exhibitions, Calder in the Alps among them, intimate rather than formal.

Shop

  1. Gstaad Chocolate Shop Handmade Swiss chocolate and truffles, celebration cakes to order, and hot chocolate thick enough to count as a meal after the slopes.
  2. Molkerei Gstaad Everything cheese and fondue in one address — state the headcount and a full kit is prepared, feasted on and returned.

The office can arrange any of this.

You were given a word.