Hotel Waldhaus Sils

The Waldhaus stands in a larch wood on a rise above Sils Maria. Josef Giger and Amalia Giger-Nigg, who had long managed other people's grand hotels, opened it on 15 June 1908 to plans by the St. Moritz architect Karl Koller, and it has never left the family. Since 2010 the brothers Claudio and Patrick Dietrich, the fifth generation, have run it. The continuity shows in small rituals: each morning the managers wind the 1908 master clock outside their office, which still drives a dozen wall clocks around the house, and many regulars first came as children.

The 140 rooms come in traditional, nostalgic and modern styles, and the 1908 Suites keep restored original furniture from the opening year. Miller & Maranta of Basel designed the spa that opened in 2016, 1,500 square metres on three levels, and the sauna area grew again in 2020; the 20 metre indoor pool dates from 1970. Theodor W. Adorno, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse and Albert Einstein all stayed here, and readings and concerts in the salons still shape the evenings.

Families get free childcare in the kids club for ages three to twelve, connecting room combinations and, in winter, a free ski pass for children up to twelve when booked ahead. Dogs are welcome for a nightly surcharge, though not in the dining rooms. The hotel driver collects guests at St. Moritz station at no charge, and in winter a free shuttle runs to the Furtschellas cable car and into the village.