MEDICAL SPAS REVIEW

MEDI CAL SPAS

People & Places

TOWN OF ANDERMATT WAS A HEALTH RESORT & HEALING VORTEX

SWISS

RESORT OPENS FIRST WELLNESS CENTER WITH

EAST/WEST CHIC, THE CHEDI ANDERMATT Swiss ski resorts like Gstadd, St. Moritz, and Davos are famous for luxury and style.

Now comes The Chedi Andermatt with a new lifestyle: wellness.

WELLNESS

AND FITNESS MIX WITH LUXURY Located half-way up the famed Gotthard Pass Railway, the SKIING AT THE FIRST NEW RESORT IN THE town of Andermatt has in the past been a health resort and healing vortex.

SWISS ALPS TO CAPITALIZE ON WELL-BEING.

Built by a developer with Asian and Egyptian roots, the Swiss (CHF) 300-million project represents the first phase in an ambitious plan to offer winter sports combined with a new twist on spa traditions with an Asian accent.

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MEDI CAL SPAS Review •

Discovered ten years ago by Egyptian entrepreneur Samih Sawiris, who declared it a sleeping beauty, the hotel and spa became centerpieces for an ambitious plan that includes hotels, golf course, and a new skilift that will unite with an existing network . www.medicalspasreview.com

MEDI CAL SPAS

THIS VILLAGE ONCE ATTRACTED QUEEN VICTORIA & JAMES BOND

People & Places

Standing by is your sport butler, with Head skis and mountain bikes. Catering to ski enthusiasts who enjoy personal attention, the butler selects boots and skis in a warm, comfortable lounge, outfits you, and escorts you across the road to the new ski lift. Surrounded by the Swiss Alps, the valley enjoys ideal snowy conditions, but the combination of facilities for Sedrun and Andermatt is Opened in 2013, the hotel’s interpretation of traditional unprecedented, and will offer the finest skiing in central Swiss style conceals its Asian roots. Past registration, you Switzerland. suddenly are in a royal court of the heavenly Himmalaya.

On one side, a 35-metre swimming pool, glass covered; in Creating the Chedi’s East/West ethic was the task assigned the central section, conversational firepits among soaring to Jean-Michele Gathy, chief designer at Denninston columns are a setting for tea and talk. The hotel’s twin International Architects and Planners Ltd., based in Kuala kitchens offer Asian and European menus, illuminated by Lumpur. The restaurants designed by SPIN Studio in 12 huge chandeliers. Beyond, the spa welcomes you to Tokyo introduce a new attraction: sushi or traditional Swiss.As a compromise, The Chedi Menu (CHF 125) offers wellness.

Shanghai spring rolls or Maine lobster, tandoor-marinated The Spa opens like a lotus flower. At the registration desk, monkfish, saddle of local veal with Alpine cheese yak tart, manager Irmgard Kuchernig offers choices: signature Jade and dessert of Guanaja chocolate with caramelized combination of shiatsu, Balinese, Thai, Lomi-Lomi, and cherries. Cheese comes from a five-metre-high glassSwedish techniques (60 min., CHF 350), work on the lymph walled cellar that houses the valley’s famous unpasteurized system combined with energy-building Tibetan Ku Nye product from Uri canton. massage done by a therapist from Tibet (90 min, CHF 300), Built on the site of a former health spa, there are just 104 or go for chakra massage of muscles (75 min., CHF 250). rooms and suites, 31 deluxe rooms, and 13 grand deluxe, Made in Austria, Alpienne containing oils from plants and plus 45 condos, and 196 fireplaces. Here it’s all about fruits found in the Andermatt region allows the spa to Alpine chic meets Asian zen: dark wood walls, heated stone floors, soft leather chairs and a long sofa under a feature an indigenous menu. mural of a ski scene. Bathrooms feature free-standing Treated in one of 10 spa suites, I was left alone to enjoy soaking tub, separate rainshower and toilet. Even the swimming pools, hammam, or manicure, pedicure, and wardrobe area is detailed in leather, with space for a winter hair styling. Active guests work out on a full line of visit.

Technogym equipment with the Visio Web line, Kinesis wall, Power Plates, and Pilates machines. Then I discover Walking around Andermatt evokes the old village history the hydrotherapy pools, three heat zones inter-connected, that once attracted Queen Victoria and James Bond. Time for a beer and fondue, perhaps. But those who are sensitive plus rainshowers and saunas. True bliss. to metaphysical vibrations of the earth will enjoy a sense of well-being at the energy hot spots or vortex. The local tourist board has compiled 10 such maps, including the source of the River Rhine.

Sawiris brought in General Hotel Management (GHM Ltd) to develop and operate the hotel, while Andermatt Swiss Alps went about selling investments in luxury homes and apartments. The Chedi (meaning a stupa or Thai Buddhist monument) known for Asian resorts like the Naam Hai in Vietnam, now has its first European hotel.

Future plans for physical rehabilitation facilities will add to the attractions of Ursener valley.

The Swiss Army training center may have left, but for now, The Chedi is reviving a commitment to well-being. www.GHMhotels.com www.medicalspasreview.com

MEDI CAL SPAS Review •

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