Parkhotel Bellevue & Spa

Parkhotel Bellevue & Spa

Morning at Parkhotel Bellevue & Spa starts with a coffee at the window, the center of Adelboden below and the high peaks and old maples of the Bernese Oberland pressed close around the building itself. The hotel sits near enough to the Adelboden Ski Resort, the Tschentenalp lift and Marmot's Paradise that its own ski storage and ski shuttle matter more than a map does. Fifty-three rooms across four floors keep this a house-sized resort rather than a sprawling one, and it carries two things most alpine hotels in the valley cannot claim: a kitchen holding 14 GaultMillau points and Relais & Châteaux status, both dating back to a building that opened in 1901. Winter brings the ski school and passes sold at the desk; summer hands the same address to hikers and cyclists on rented bikes, with an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, sauna, steam room and solarium open regardless of season. There is a playroom and family rooms for parents traveling with children, a bridal suite for the occasion that calls for one, and a conference hall for meetings nobody wanted on holiday. Pets travel for a modest fee. Staff switch between English, French, German and Italian without missing a step, and the kitchen sends up breakfast, packed lunches or a diet menu on request. None of this suits someone chasing a design hotel in a city center, or arriving without a car in summer, when the village itself is the whole point. It suits the woman who wants a serious base for the mountains without having to rough it to get one. Check in at four, and those peaks are still where she left them by morning. Fifty-three rooms in the center of Adelboden, with ski storage at the door in winter and an indoor-outdoor pool circuit year-round. The kitchen carries 14 GaultMillau points and the address has held Relais & Châteaux status since 1901. It suits a mountain base, not a city break.