Short stay: The Alpina Gstaad, Gstaad, Switzerland

On completion of its construction in 2012, The Alpina Gstaad was the first five star hotel to be opened in Gstaad for over a century. Set in five acres in the Bernese Oberland, the hotel blends traditional Swiss architecture with contemperary flair – both inside and out.

This 56-room luxury hotel is co-owned by Jean Claude Mimran and Marcel Bach – look carefully and, within the hotel’s regularly rotating art gallery, you’ll find artwork to signify the owners’ respective Senegalese and Swiss roots. The interiors combine Ringgenberg limestone, antique fir wood and tanned leather to give a modern, minimalist, yet cosy feel in a chic Alpine setting.

The welcome

We arrived by train from Lausanne, changing at Montreux, and had…