The Park Hotel Vitznau on Lake Lucerne is a legendary, Swiss luxury lakeside villa that has the required DNA of a Grand Dame Hotel stamped right across it’s preened white palacial façade. This rather luxurious five-star recluse plays host, however, to a rather more contemporary, eclectic ambiance of bespoke pieces, muted tones, refined luxury and grown-up ease.
The complete restoration of this famed lakeside hotel & spa opts for a design narrative of modern brevity and elegant prose whilst rubbing shoulders with the architectural grandeur of the past, nostalgically peeking through and thus restoring a sense of originality.
Crafted and bespoke in every sense, the Park Hotel Vitznau is all about Grand Dame living on the shores of Lake Lucerne without pretence, relishing in the attentive informality of a country estate, or a wealthy private club house with a fabulous spa & health facilities.
Rich in concept, this VIP hotel is an aged, luxury sanctuary that happily dances to the style rhythms of polite poshness – Switzerland's Park Hotel Vitznau is a pad for the bohemian luxurians of today, who understand the meaning of luxury without the heavy label or explanation.
East of Lucerne, The Park Hotel sits proudly on the shores of Lake Lucerne in Vitznau, almost at the foot of the mighty Rigi Mountains - which can be enjoyed from the hotel's terraces and suites, views that reach over to the distant Pilatus mountains.
From the village train station you can easily access the cable network to Hinterbergen and Wissifluh.
The highlight though should be a ride with the original rack-railway up to the plateau of the Rigi, that affords a fantastic view across this part of central Switzerland.
Foodies, gourmands, cuisine fanatics and lovers of everything gastronomic will already have The Park Hotel Vitznau on their savvy radar as a must-do cuisine pit stop.
Within this lakeside palace lies an epicurean tale of food delights under the direction of long-time pioneer and Michelin acclaimed Executive Chef Christian Nickel. The Michelin restaurants: PRISMA and FOCUS provide foodies and travel gourmands with an exciting gastro combo set to the dramatic eye-candy setting of the lake and Alpine mountain vistas.
To complement the food, a once-in-a-lifetime curated wine emporium of more than 32,000 bottles, some 4000 types of wine, the oldest from 1811, are housed in 6 creatively designed wine cellars which in itself is a triumph.
Head-Chef Patrik Mahler (prev. fame at the hotel's other Michelin PRISMA Restaurant) is now at the the helms of Michelin restaurant, Focus. Mahler is famed for his intense, precise and intelligent approach to food.
“The essence of things is limited to the essentials. Fresh, surprising and borne of the highest culinary standards,” is how Patrick Mahler describes his approach.
Mahler is hot in foodie circles, his dishes drawing much deserved acclaim – watch this space and book your table at FOCUS Lake Lucerne.
Whilst gazing into the infinity of the lake, it is fitting that food here reminds us travel and adventures – under the direction of new chef de cuisine Philipp Heid. Fusion headlines his culinary style that adopts a playful adaptation of European dishes with the taste of far-eastern flavours – expect fresh plates of taste creatively inspired by travels and local produce. Heid’s touch is magical, creative and delicate.
The menu here is a host of worldly classics executed with youthful vigour and a casual urban notes - harmony meets simplicity with finesse. Book your table with a view at the Restaurant PRISMA.
Private access to perhaps one of the world's most beautiful natural pools, Lake Lucerne, is enough for most natural spa addicts, but add the heated infinity pool of uninterrupted views to the mountains and it gets spa-junkies adrenalines flowing. Being on the water's edge has intrisically inspired the spa of the Park Hotel Vitznau, with lots of life's added luxuries to enhance the experience.
Continuing the watery scene is the floor-to-ceiling 12 metre-long saltwater aquarium that dominates the sauna and indoor wellness zones - decked in polished marble, sleek modernism and cool flow. Here guests will find the Finnish sauna, Sanarium low-humidity sauna and space-like tepidarium with its heated seats, Kneipp foot baths and ice grotto. A full & superb TechnoGym caters for fitness enthusiast with yoga and Pilates available to order.
There is also an outdoor jacuzzi and indoor whirlpool. Treatments here eschew in the premium Swiss brand, La Prairie, using their patented Cellular Skincare that offers an array of beautifying pampering.
Favourite massage treatments are also the Rigi Massage and the Herbal Stamp using mountain herbs. A beautiful, luxurious and refined setting for spA-lists who prefer a little discreet lakeside self-indulgence.
Always immaculately dressed, Urs Langenegger has a natural élan for this palatial lakeside hotel, nicely mixed with his welcoming Swiss charm - he is the gentlemen host of style and gentle grace.
Not wishing to be always at the forefront, he fosters younger talent to flourish under his direction, carrying the dna of Park Hotel Vitznau with luxe and ease, a true hotelier at heart, made in Switzerland.
One for you oenophiles, tour one of the world's best wine cellars in Switzerland and see priceless bottles, themed cellars, vintage gems and 32,000 bottles.
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