Review - Grand Resort Bad Ragaz - Switzerland
Swiss author Johanna Spyri was inspired to write her world-famous children’s book in 1879 after going on spa visits in Bad Ragaz. Just like you and me, her famous heroine Heidi was enchanted by the mountains and didn't want to go back to the dirty city she came from.
Well, to me this town in the Swiss canton St. Gallen at the gate to the Alps was put on the map by the Leading Hotels of the World group. The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is one of the oldest hotels of its kind and wants to adhere to the highest standards of the business to this day. Let’s see if we want to stay with Heidi or rather go back to the big city...
Location
Ragaz was originally a farming village. With the construction of the Palais Hof Ragaz, the village gained importance. In the 19th century, the spring water was piped from Bad Pfäfers in the Tamina Gorge to Ragaz, since then the village has been known as a health resort. In 1937 the village was renamed Bad Ragaz. Today Bad Ragaz enjoys a good reputation among the world's health resorts and has made a name for itself in international tourism thanks to the Grand Hotels.
There are actually three hotels today that make up the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz: the Palais (the original, today a small boutique hotel), the Hof Ragaz (where I stayed) and the Quellenhof (only expensive suites in here). The last two are on LHW (and can also be booked via Virtuoso) as Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. The room name indicates in which hotel you are going to stay.
Atmosphere
I traveled to Bad Ragaz by train from Zurich (probably just like Spyri did 100 years ago). Unfortunately, this made the arrival at the hotel not easy (or so I thought): you exit the train and have to take the bus. And then the bus drops you off at the entrance of the Therme (the adjacent public thermal baths), which means you have to find your way through a labyrinth that feels like a big cruise ship / medical facility.
But then the situation improved immediately: it was a perfect welcome by super friendly and genuine staff. I arrived early and they offered me a welcome drink, I chose (great) coffee. Just Swiss hospitality.
Later I learned that they would have picked me up with a Porsche Cayenne for free from the train station…oh, right…
The core of the Hof Ragaz had a more pleasant atmosphere than its connected medical facilities and public baths with vibes of 19th century grandeur.
Room
Another nice thing happened at check-in: I got a double upgrade, although I pre-booked just a single upgrade (which was one of the new features of the overhauled LHW program at the time). Since I had the lowest status, I was not entitled to double upgrades. But I still got it. Great!
The first thing I noticed when entering my Grand Deluxe Room was the Scandinavian sauna-like cedar-wood scent. Probably the nicest smelling room I have been to, yet. Other hotels would use perfume diffusers, but here it’s all natural, apparently from the wooden floors.
Also style-wise, natural colours and materials were used. While I like everything that mixes nature and civilisation, I think the Hof Ragaz misses the mark by a little bit. Somehow the finesse is missing. The chosen furniture is neither old enough nor modern enough.
A balcony with a snowless winter view of the nearby forest and hills.
Welcome fruits and chocolate, plus a greeting from the manager.
Nice and big bathroom with bathtub, shower and two sinks. Amenity brand: their own 36 Degrees Cosmetics. It was OK, but not my favourite. They included a face cream, which is unusual for hotel amenities.
More pictures of my generous room below.
Spa
The absolute highlight of the resort has to be the Helena bath. A 19th century roman-style high-roofed swimming pool filled with the aforementioned healing waters delivered from the Tamina gorge. I really liked this pool and was only missing an outdoor version of it. There is one connected to the suite-only Quellenhof, but I didn’t know how to get there - especially not in winter.
The hotel has its own sauna area with a small re-modelling of the Tamina gorge (I guess?).
The sauna area in general could have been better placed in the building. The view from the resting area was not very impressive (below only in night-view), but Heidi would’ve loved a view of her beloved mountains. That’s one reason, why we came here.
In addition to the hotel spa you have free access to the public thermal baths, the Tamina Therme, as a hotel guest. I tried it once, but it was surely not the same private experience as it was very busy and the way to get there was cumbersome (basically you have to go all the way through the already mentioned cruise-ship-style labyrinth to the main thermal baths entrance, all the while wearing only your hotel bathrobe).
Only positive thing here: the big outdoor pool with starlight views at night. Oh, and the architecture of the Therme was quite interesting.
Dining
I directly had lunch after arrival in the bar, because I wanted something light and simple I ordered the caesars salad. Pretty good!
For dinner, I opted for an even lighter version. Somewhere in the cruise-ship-like resort building, I actually found a small Sushi place. So I took a nice set of rolls back to my room and had the hotel’s own healing water-powered beer along with it. Wow, pretty healthy!
The number on the beer “36.5” degrees relates to the temperature of the healing waters in the Tamina baths…not the beer’s temperature.
Breakfast wonderful with friendly service and good coffee as usual.
Summary
| Hotel | Grand Resort Bad Ragaz |
|---|---|
| Brand | LHW |
| Good |
|
| Bad |
|
| CT Points | 92 |
The Hof Ragaz is a mixed luxury bag. I loved the service, my double-upgraded room and the hotel spa with the Helena bath. But I was actually missing a connection to the mountains - while the Alps are always visible and quite close, this hotel is located in a rather large and flat river valley. For the real alpine feeling, you need to go higher. Like Flims, Vals, Davos or St. Moritz, for example. So if you are coming from far away to visit Switzerland, this would not be my first recommendation. The luxury segment is very competitive in this country and that makes it hard to stand out if your location is not that special.
For health reasons, the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz might be a good choice, but I can’t comment on that, since I haven’t used any of the medical services. Also, if you are living in Switzerland, the Grand Resort can be a good spa retreat for a long weekend.
I say goodbye with a view from the Porsche backseat on the short way to the Bad Ragaz train station.
