Down the slope is a pine forest. On the contrary - the blindingly snowy mountain Matterhorn. Around - only the sky and the wind. This is the Swiss Alps - the world ski Mecca At an altitude of 2222 meters above sea level on a mountain plateau Riffelalp, near Zermatt, there is a hotel, whose history goes back over one hundred years. This is a luxurious five star hotel, one of the world's leading (The Leading Hotels of the World). The founder of the hotel, Alexander Seiler, once charmed this area, and especially the view from the plateau to the Matterhorn mountain. A native of Zermatt, he then turned the little-known Swiss village into a fashionable resort, and the Riffelalp Grand hotel opened in 1884, built under his direct supervision, soon became a meeting place for European aristocracy. At various times, the highest church hierarchs and representatives of the royal houses of Europe stayed here. Mark Twain and Ingmar Bergman, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill came here. In 1927-28, after the opening of the winter railway link with Zermatt, Riffelalp became the world center of winter sports. The golden age of pre-war Europe, world wars and depression, the economic rise of the 50s swept down below, without affecting the quiet life of the hotel. And only in the 70s, after the fire destroyed the main building of the hotel, did it temporarily lose its former attraction for tourists. The current owners of the hotel - the fourth generation of the Seiler family - decided to revive the former brilliance of Riffelalp, combining the Victorian style, established here by their great-great-grandfather, with traditional Alpine architecture and technical achievements of the XX century. Roman architect Roman Mooser organically integrated the building into the surrounding landscape. The hotel complex opened on December 1, 2000. In addition to new buildings, it included the restored building of the beginning of the century, the former English church and the winter pavilion. The decorator Dominique Couture, the one who designed the famous Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne, rejected all the interior excesses. Comfortable furniture, working fireplaces, cozy restaurants and lounges could not be more suitable for the ski resort. The chalet suites in the old building, the nostalgia suites in the new building, the swimming pool, with the spa sauna, solarium and fitness center, were equipped with such care, attention to detail peculiar only to Swiss hotels. "Riffelalp, c'est le paradis!" - once exclaimed the famous artist Albert Gos. The question of what attracts tourists from all over the world will be learned as rhetorical. The answer flies at the wind ...
Passing the gallery 
