Gstaad Palace

Gstaad, Switzerland. Set on a hill overlooking the village of Gstaad.

Gstaad PalaceGstaad, Switzerland

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Practical information

90 rooms and suites, including junior suites, tower suites and a penthouse.
Five restaurants, including Le Grand Restaurant, La Fromagerie in a former bank vault and Gildo’s al Fresco, plus the GreenGo nightclub.
Spa with sauna and hammam, indoor and outdoor pools and the traditional Walig alpine hut.
Set on a hill overlooking the village of Gstaad.

12 dates, written by Grand Hotels of the World from the sources below.

1905
Local schoolteacher Robert Steffen buys land and raises funds in Lausanne and Geneva for a “Royal-Hôtel and Winter Palace”.
December 1913
The Palace opens, designed by the Dutch architect Adrien van Dorsser; the First World War soon curbs its early success.
1915
The hotel holds a men’s tennis tournament on clay, the forerunner of the Swiss Open.
1938
Ernst and Sylvia Scherz become the hotel’s directors.
1939 – 1945
A cellar vault safeguards valuables of the Swiss Bank Corporation; it is now the fondue restaurant La Fromagerie.
1947
The Scherz family buys all the shares for about $120,000 and has owned the Palace ever since; royalty soon flocks to it.
1950s – 60s
Scherz helps found the Menuhin Festival Gstaad and brings Maurice Chevalier, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich to perform.
1968
His son Ernst Andrea Scherz takes over; Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren and Grace Kelly become regulars.
1975
Exterior shots of the hotel appear in The Return of the Pink Panther with Peter Sellers.
2001
Andrea Scherz, the third generation, takes over the management.
April 2022
Roman Polanski shoots his film The Palace at the hotel.
2025 – 2026
Le Grand Restaurant reopens after a complete renovation, and a fifth restaurant, Gildo’s al Fresco, opens in summer 2026.