Hotel Villa Honegg

Even simply breathing is a pleasure at Villa Honegg. A classic Swiss mountain hotel that’s been given a modern luxury hotel makeover, it sits on a mountain where the air is so fresh you’ll want to bottle it up and take it home. Maybe it’s the breezes off the snowcapped peaks and lakes, maybe it’s all the alpine trees and the lack of traffic — whatever it is, it induces deep, relaxing breaths. The fundamental appeal of Villa Honegg hasn’t changed since it opened as a summer resort in 1905. The views remain stunning, the quiet just as peaceful, and there’s a sense that you're a very long way from the city, even if Zurich’s international airport is actually only an hour away. Yet for all the throwback charms of a Swiss mountain resort, the hotel’s recent renovation was quite thorough. While the exteriors remain pure Swiss Alpine, the interiors are more cosmopolitan-contemporary, which is perhaps just a fancy way of saying they’d look perfectly at home in Zurich or even Shanghai. Given Villa Honegg’s setting, though, fittings like the big flat screens, the entertainment system, the free high-speed wi-fi and arguably even the Nespresso machines seem positively high-tech. The outdoor infinity pool, perched on a hillside beneath the spa’s stone facade, mirrors the lake below, the sky above and the mountains all around. Fortunately the views are attention-holding, because there’s no end to them, particularly in a terrace restaurant that’s supplied by the surrounding farms. After dinner, a nice long sit in a leather sofa at the fireside cigar lounge puts the cherry on top of a full day’s leisure — and for those who want to keep their lungs happy after all that fresh mountain air, there’s a second lounge for non-smokers.