There are spas and there are spas. We like ours to fall into the blockbuster category – vast, glossy and architecturally striking; the kind that look so incredible in a single photograph, that we want to airbrush ourselves into the scene immediately.
When we saw the pool in the new spa at the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz, we couldn’t book flights fast enough. Such a space. Such light. Such an awesome backdrop.
For generations St. Moritz has been on the superyacht set’s radar for its winter sports and incandescent social calendar highlights. It’s the fur-trimmed, champagne-fuelled, Swiss party town par excellence – it is the spirit of tuxedo-clad, louche, Oliver Tobias, 1970s disco, travelling at speed on a pair of Chanel skis, after arriving on a private jet.
The Kulm Hotel has been the place to bed down for the beau monde for over a century. It’s the most historic and luxurious five star hotel in town, and probably always will be. It’s the epitome of old school Alpine glamour (with just a touch of The Shining about it). It’s now also home to one of the most lavish spas in Europe.
The Kulm Hotel’s spa opened in December 2012, after an £8mn construction project. If it lacks the exterior design fireworks of, say, Peter Zumthor or the Tamina Therme at Bad Ragaz, it’s still pretty spectacular, and certainly has interior substance. Even before you get to the treatment rooms, there’s that view: the spa has been built facing St. Moritz Lake, and the architecture is big on floor to ceiling glass, with suitably lavish volumes. The views are unlike anything we’ve ever seen, at any spa, anywhere.
The 10 x 20m indoor pool doesn’t disappoint – it’s a beautiful, pristine glass box affair, finished in meticulous grey granite, and boasts underwater music (a nice touch, as long as they get the playlist right). You could spend days here, soaking up the warmth, the clean lines and the fairyland views. There’s also a year-round outdoor pool, and a separate children’s pool.
The buzzwords at the Kulm Hotel Spa are “relaxing”, “detoxifying” and “regenerating”. Which could apply to just about any spa, of course, but they make a big deal about distinguishing between each quality, and mark each treatment on the spa menu with an icon to tell you which of the three results you can expect. So if you want to relax, book an Alpine Wild Herb Bath or a Classic Full-Body Massage. Looking to detox? Have a Peat Mud body wrap, with mineral-rich peat mud. To regenerate, there’s an Energy Lift by Ericson Laboratoire facial, a Sore Muscle Bath, or the Morpho Bust treatment, designed to firm breast tissue.
On our visit, we experienced an “intensive” facial using NIANCE products (Swiss, of course – using local glacial waters). The results were magnificent – we felt deeply moisturised, and looked brighter and fresher. It’s a treatment that straddles, apparently, both “relaxing” and “regenerating”, and we can’t argue at all.
Given St. Moritz’s party reputation, the Kulm Hotel’s spa might well be the most opulent (and certainly effective) hangover cure anywhere in Europe. C
Kulm Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland
+41 81 836 80 00; kulm.com