Dolder Grand Hotel, Zürich
James Bond meets the “Magic Mountain”
Published in the Financial Times Globetrotter column, 26 February 2024
https://on.ft.com/3UVOQPX
Photograph by Andrew Jones
The Dolder Grand hotel is a rare and engaging hybrid. A few minutes after leaving metropolitan Zürich, you arrive at a place that has the look and feel, as well as the facilities, of a mountain resort. The hotel is both traditional and deeply contemporary: the fanciful fin-de-siècle towers of the original building rise, crown-like, from the forest of the Zürichberg hill above the city, but, as you approach, Foster + Partners’ undulating wings unfurl before you, revealing a playground of spas, bars and restaurants. The Magic Mountain meets James Bond, with an occasional sprinkling of Walt Disney.
The hotel is an excellent place for a longer stay in the city. It is close to downtown Zürich and yet detached from it. You awake to a panorama of the city and the lake below, with the Alps a distant backdrop, take breakfast on the terrace, can walk in the woods behind, swim in the 25-metre pool or choose to play golf or tennis. And when the longing for city life takes over, you can hop into the hotel shuttle or the charming 1970s Dolderbahn rack railway and be in town in 15 minutes.
The Dolder has a surprisingly local feel. Its many facilities serve a local clientèle as much as the hotel guests, a country outing for city dwellers. Our room overlooked the wedding lawn and suite from which on sunny weekend afternoons would rise a genteel hum of Schweizerdeutsch against the background of the theme tune of Un homme et une femme.
The hotel is large and varied enough to cater for all sorts of guests. Those in need of pure swank are catered for by the pop-up Krug and meze bar, gold-leafed and crystal-decked main restaurant and private spa suites. But the delightful concierge team will also tell you where the best river swimming is, how to walk to the nearest farm or where to cycle in the woods.
Photograph by Andrew Jones
Rooms
Most of the bedrooms are in the Foster wings and are supremely comfortable in a very modern and elegant way. Floor-to-ceiling windows slide back so that you can enjoy the views, sleep with the windows open and wake with the birds. Stone-walled bathrooms with multi-nozzled showers and lovely Swiss-made products, and in the bedroom, Bang & Olufsen audio-visual equipment and proper desks and good lighting all contribute to a sense of thoughtful and practical wellbeing.
The hotel has a large contemporary art collection, as diverse as the hotel’s clientèle: a Barry Flanagan hare leaps out from the porte cochère; a shabby Duane Hanson “Traveller” is slumped next to the bar; a pert and polychrome Niki de Saint Phalle ballerina greets you on the way to the spa. QR codes are posted next to artworks for those wanting to learn more about each piece.
Restaurants and bars
The hotel’s main restaurant, Saltz, is a modern, relaxed brasserie with a large terrace. The breakfast buffet is exceptional, whether you are looking for bio-bread and bircher muesli, steak tartare or dim sum, Bündnerfleisch or blueberries, or a daily special such as Eggs Dracula (poached eggs, hollandaise, Rösti, spinach and truffles – first concocted for a party at the Dracula Club in St Moritz). The menu for lunch and dinner offers immaculately prepared, unfussy food and there is a brunch on Sunday.
The Restaurant is the haute cuisine option, offering a six- or eight-course menu at dinner (SFr300 and SFr340) and a lighter offering at lunchtime. While the room itself may be a tad formal and glossy for some, the confident and inventive dishes quickly take over. This is grand luxe (using ingredients such as turbot, Wagyu beef and oscietra caviar) but also seasonal and local (potatoes from the Albula valley, white asparagus, Alpine roebuck), with some vigorous flavours (the lobster with melon, estragon, fennel and green curry). The wine list reflects this mix with grand international bottles alongside a comprehensive selection of Swiss and other regional wines. Chef Heiko Nieder is reassuringly present, a craftsman at the pinnacle of his career who is clearly still enjoying himself. The service is focused and friendly.
In addition, a suite has been turned into an eight-seat omakase bar, and there were an assortment of pop-ups when we visited: temporary restaurants for lobster, Krug champagne and meze. A large and comfortable bar, Canvas, also serves casual classics such as club sandwiches and salade niçoise.
At a glance
Good for: Destination pampering; views; a sense of nature
Not so good for: City life is not on your doorstep and requires a small amount of effort/planning to reach
FYI: In summer, this is a wonderful place from which to watch firework displays on Lake Zürich below. But it’s also quite far from the lake should you want to swim in it
Gym and spa: There is a huge (4,000 square metres) and luxurious spa with a 25-metre pool, beauty salon and every manner of treatment you can think of
Sports facilities: Five tennis courts, winter ice-skating, and gym (plus, a nine-hole golf course and driving range nearby)
Rooms and suites: 115 rooms, 60 suites
Rates: From SFr790 including breakfast