At a shade over CHF 1,000 a night to start, and well beyond that in ski season, The Chedi Andermatt asks palace money in a village most people couldn't find on a map ten years ago. So the honest question isn't whether it's beautiful, it plainly is, but whether it's worth it. Here's the straight answer, built from what the hotel actually delivers across every dimension that matters.
- Location
- Andermatt, Switzerland
- Rooms
- 123
- From
- ~CHF 1,000/night
- Best for
- Design, spa & calm
The short answer
Worth it if you're buying design, spa, food, and calm, not gilded-palace theatre. The Chedi is one of the most beautiful hotels in the Alps and, unusually, a genuinely relaxing one. Its spa alone can justify the trip, and it delivers year-round, ski or summer. The honest caveats: Andermatt is a modern, purpose-built resort rather than a storied old village, the skiing is near-ski-in rather than ski-to-door, and the price is very real. Match those against what you want and the answer falls out quickly.
The Chedi at a glance
| Rooms | 123 rooms & suites, most with a fireplace |
| Spa | 35 m atrium indoor pool + 12 m heated outdoor pool, 10 treatment suites |
| Dining | 8 restaurants and bars; The Japanese holds 2 Michelin stars |
| Skiing | Short walk to the Gütsch gondola; SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun |
| From | ~CHF 1,000/night (well past CHF 2,000 in peak winter) |
| Best for | Design, spa, and food lovers who want calm over gilt |
The design: calm, not gilded
The Chedi was the first European hotel from GHM, the Asian luxury group, and it shows in the best way. Architect Jean-Michel Gathy built an Asian-alpine hybrid: dark timber, stone, leather, and glass, with fireplaces almost everywhere, from the twin hearths anchoring the vast lobby to private outdoor ones on the suite balconies. The effect is the opposite of the chandelier-and-gilt palace tradition. It's hushed, warm, and grown-up, the kind of room that lowers your shoulders the moment you walk in. If your idea of luxury is restraint rather than spectacle, this is close to its Alpine ideal.
The rooms
There are 123 rooms and suites, and even the entry categories are large by Swiss standards, with mountain, village, or Schöllenen Gorge views and, in most, a fireplace. Move up and the Deluxe Suites add balconies and outdoor fireplaces; at the top, the Furka Suite has its own kitchen and private spa. The material palette is consistent throughout, so you never get the sense that the money stopped at the lobby. Reviews are near-unanimous on space and quiet, two things that are quietly rare even at this level.
The spa: the reason to book
If one thing tips The Chedi from "lovely" to "worth it," it's the spa. The centrepiece is a 35-metre atrium indoor pool under glass, luminous in any weather, paired with a 12-metre heated outdoor pool you can swim in with snow falling. Add ten treatment suites, a full circuit of Finnish and bio saunas and steam, and Asian-inflected therapies, and you have one of the most beautiful hotel spas in the Alps. On a whiteout ski day or a grey summer afternoon, it turns a wasted day into the best one of the trip. Budget real time here; plenty of guests barely leave it.
The food
The Chedi eats like a small culinary destination. There's access to eight restaurants and bars, led by The Japanese, a two-Michelin-star room from chefs Dominik Sato and Fabio Toffolon that is one of the most serious Japanese kitchens in the Alps, with a second, one-star outpost, The Japanese at Gütsch, perched at 2,400 metres up the mountain, alongside The Restaurant's open show-kitchens. The signature party trick is the cheese cellar: a climate-controlled glass tower stacked with alpine and Swiss cheeses that you can raid, guided, before dinner. Half-board is common in the rates, and given the quality, it's usually worth taking.
Location, and getting there
Andermatt sits at the crossroads of central Switzerland, on the historic Gotthard, roughly 90 minutes from Zurich and about an hour from Lucerne by car. The romantic way to arrive is by rail: the village is a stop on the Glacier Express, which is exactly why we make it the mid-route overnight in where to stay along the Glacier Express. The historic Gotthard line and its Gotthard Panorama Express run just below, a short cogwheel hop up from Göschenen. The hotel is a short walk from the resort's Piazza Gottardo, its shops, and the concert hall, so you're never marooned on a resort island.
Skiing
The lifts are the one place the marketing outruns reality slightly. The Chedi is a short walk to the Gütsch-Express gondola, with a shuttle to the Nätschen–Sedrun side and a ski valet to carry the burden, so call it ski-in ski-out in spirit. What you get in return is real: the SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis is one of central Switzerland's largest linked areas, and the Gemsstock above town is a genuinely snow-sure, steep classic that serious skiers rate. For most guests the short walk is a non-issue; if literal ski-to-door is non-negotiable, know it going in.
Summer, and things to do
Because it runs year-round, The Chedi is one of the better summer luxury bases in the country, and quieter than the winter version. Andermatt in the warm months means high hiking on the Oberalp Pass and the Gotthard, the 18-hole Andermatt Swiss Alps golf course, road cycling over the great passes, and the same scenic trains without the ski-week rates. Pair it with the best time to visit the Swiss Alps to pick your window; June and September are the value-and-weather sweet spots.
The honest catch
Two things to weigh before you book. First, Andermatt is a redevelopment. The luxury quarter, The Chedi included, is part of the large Andermatt Swiss Alps resort built out over the last decade, so it's polished and convenient rather than organically old the way Zermatt or St. Moritz feel. Some love the newness; some miss the patina. Second, the price is serious and swings hard by season. Neither is a reason not to go, but both are reasons to book with eyes open.
What it costs, and is it worth it
Found on Booking.comFrom CHF 1,000/nightAndermatt, Switzerland
The Chedi Andermatt
GHM's first European hotel and still its signature: Gathy's Asian-alpine design, a 35-metre atrium spa pool, a two-Michelin-star Japanese kitchen, and the famous glass cheese cellar, in a serene, fireplace-warmed calm the gilded palaces can't match. Check dates before booking, since rates swing hard between shoulder season and peak winter.
- Guest rating
- 9.1 / 10
- From
- CHF 1,000/night
- Best for
- Design, spa, and calm luxury
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For what it's worth, we'd say yes, for the right traveller. Buy it for the spa, the food, the design, and the quiet, ideally as a two- or three-night centrepiece rather than a whole week, and it earns every franc. Buy it expecting a storybook village and ski-to-door convenience and you'll feel the gap. If the rate is the sticking point, Andermatt still works on a smaller budget:
Found on Booking.comFrom CHF 262/nightAndermatt, Switzerland
Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen, Andermatt
If The Chedi is beyond the budget, this modern four-star in the same car-free Andermatt Reuss quarter puts you minutes from the gondola with a spa and pool, for a fraction of the palace rate. You ski the same mountain and walk the same piazza, just without the fireplaces and the cheese tower.
- Guest rating
- 8.7 / 10
- From
- CHF 262/night
- Best for
- Andermatt for a fraction of the price
How it compares
The Chedi belongs to a small club: the modern design resort, as opposed to the gilded old palace. Its natural rival is The Alpina Gstaad, the other great contemporary Swiss five-star, over in the Bernese Oberland, which trades chandeliers for art and restraint in much the same spirit. So the real question isn't which hotel, it's which region: Andermatt for central-Switzerland access, the scenic trains, and a snow-sure, serious ski area; Gstaad for see-and-be-seen glamour and the Saanenland. And against the storied palaces, the Badrutt's Palace and Gstaad Palace school, the Chedi is the calmer, more design-led, arguably more restful choice, as long as you don't need the century of gilt.
Planning the wider trip around it? See where to stay along the Glacier Express for the whole route, and the most luxurious hotels in the Alps for how it sits among the greats. Or find your perfect Alps base and we'll match the region to how you travel.
