“The Park Hotel Vitznau is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most beautiful, majestic & lavish hotels I have ever stayed at.”
Re opening its doors in March of 2013 after an extensive multimillion 3 year renovation, The Park Hotel Vitznau (click here) has completely transformed itself. Keeping only the original façade, the entire building has been completely restructured from what was once a 104-room hotel to now only 47 individual rooms (made up of 15 junior suites, 15 suites and 17 residences). The decision to reduce the number of rooms was to really increase the ‘spaciousness’ for guests and to provide unparalleled attention to guests as a whole.
Without trying to sound cliché, after staying at Park Hotel Vitznau, It’s not just a magnificent building on beautiful piece of land with good food. It’s my experience that the entire hotel has been articulated in a way to provide a multi-sensory experience.
Check’n In
Walking into the lobby you are immediately captivated by the stunning views of Lake Lucern through doubled sliding doors of the oversized foyer. Outside of the doors, trees were in full Autumn bloom, little automatic robot lawn-mowers were running around impeccably kept lawns & there was a magnificent, larger than life revolving bronze sculpture/fountain called the ‘Bull & Bear”. The bull and the bear symbolises the beasts of the finance market. The (bull) refers to rising markets while the (bear) refers to falling markets.
Check-in was up in our suite. On our way to level 4 in the glass elevator, It’s the first hotel that I have seen murals painted within the glass elevator chamber. There are a few well known murals that have been copied but I found the constant ‘perception of coins falling to the ground’ while you travel up and down the lift quite unique and something I had not seen before.
Stepping out of the elevator onto level 4 foyer the corridor was completely white with a few pictures and hangings. It almost looked like an art exhibition with the rooms being the main attraction.
The Room
Every residence, suites and junior suites have been individually designed. Every room has its own different feel, its own homage to pay, its own texture & materials*. So, you could literally come back to the Park Hotel nearly 50 times and have a different experience.
We were upgraded to the WU** Residence which is a kiwi perk when you book through the KiwiCollection. The room to begin with was lovely. It was extra spacious and consisted of a separate lounge, dual bathroom & king-sized bedroom. Everything was high tech including the key less entry.
The lounge and bedroom were very light and airy thanks to the neutral tones of the limestone used. A dash of purple & gold was used to break up the monotone feeling of the room as well as a striking geometric pendant light.
The bathroom had a his and hers basin (in contrasting stone) on either wall, high tech shower and toilet that both had changing led lights and a free-standing tub.
As charming as the room is by itself, when it is coupled with the view of Lake Lucern and the surrounding snow-capped mountains, this is what makes this hotel magical. Our room took full advantage of the view thanks to the floor to ceiling picture windows and the residences’ wrap-around balcony.
Note:
*Each of our 47 suites has been designed with a different kind of granite or marble
**WU actually stands for Vienna University which is part of the Endowment Gallery.
Food & Beverage
Fine dining is the only way to describe the cuisine at any Park Hotel Vitznau restaurant and incomparable is what can be said about its wine collection.
I have to start with the Park Hotel Vitznau wine collection (which can be seen spread across the lower levels of the hotel.
Within the six wine cellars and champagne cellar there is a collection of over 36,000 bottles of wine with 4000 different varieties. To me this is unheard of and almost unsurpassable if it was not mentioned that the Park Hotel’s sister property in Austria has double the amount. MIND BLOWN
My partner also took quite a fancy to the Hennesy 8 which is a cool 40k per bottle and 1 of only 250 in the world.
As for the food, every meal I had leant toward a fine dining approach more than anything else, including breakfast! Both PRISMA & Focus restaurants have won a multitude of awards and are Michelin-starred recipients.
Breakfast were freshly baked pastries & bread, a small buffet selection with cold cuts & cheese, plus a la carte options which were delicious.
We ate dinner at PRISMA and Verlinde for dinner. PRISMA sits next to the pool in a glass cubed building, so it’s dinner under the stars. The cuisine is a European x Asian fushion.
We ate at Verlinde for something different, It’s the hotels brandy & cognac bar. With a collection of over 200 Vintage Armagnacs and Cognacs and a more ‘homely’ menu. The cocktails, fit out and food were all class.
Pool & Gym
As with the entire hotel, the pool and spa are world class. There is a large infinity indoor/outdoor pool, spa pools with recliners, indoor whirlpool, Finnish sauna, sanarium, tepidarium, steam bath, sunbathing lawn, Kneipp foot bath, ice grotto, plunge pool and relaxation room.
The photos of the infinity pool (see below) don’t do it justice. It is partially inside and outdoors thanks to the clever renovation using the buildings foundation walls as a grotto.
We also made full use of the Finnish sauna followed by the freezing plunge pool/ice grotto. All the water is used from the lake and is the perfect way to shock/boost your lymphatic system & blood circulation.
To top it all off, the spa is home to Switzerland’s largest private seawater aquarium.
Pros:
- The Rooms
- The View
- Beautiful Surroundings
- The Food
- The Spa
- The Rehab Facility ( I didn’t want to get into it on here as its a whole other part of the hotels offering but you can see more about it here.)
Cons:
- Once again the only ‘con’ for some people will be the price tag. For such luxurious offerings, expecting it to be pricey is a given.
Overall:
It is unfair to compare hotels from all over the world to one another. I find it hard to say a hotel in Singapore is better than a hotel in France compared to a hotel in New York. That was until I stayed at the Park Hotel Vitznau.
Park Hotel Vitznau (website)
Seestrasse 18, 6354
Vitznau, Switzerland
+41 41 399 60 60
