Old school New England 92 - Scanorama

THE HIT LIST
Cold comforts
(clockwise from left):
Heated outdoor pool;
the library’s whiskey
case; rooms with a view
expectations with several hundred meters of long, inviting carving
bends. Your eyes feast on the Alps’ snowy lunar landscape. What a
start. For a ski run, a day, the rest of your life.
Piste No.7 is a complete experience, something it shares with The
Omnia. The hotel gazes down from a cliff-top over Zermatt village,
the entrance carved into the rock. You turn off from Bahnhofstrasse,
which runs through the center of Zermatt, and along an alley – into
the mountain. An elevator deep inside the cave transports you to
the lobby. It’s an inspiring start to the day, traipsing over to the big
windows in your room to see how the night’s delicate but abundant
snowfall has coated the roofs, treetops and mountainsides in a
thick, white layer.
Early in the morning, before the sun has climbed over the mountain,
the village appears to slumber in a silver-gray doze. For the
full effect, try a bathrobe-clad wander through your Tower Suite
(the hotel has 30 rooms, of which 12 are suites, all with balconies)
from the bedroom, through the living room with its fireplace, dining
area and sofa groups, up to the bay windows where, conveniently
enough, someone has left a telescope.
Another way to get in touch with the village and the elements is
to spend time in the wellness section. The walls are once again of
glass, and the view as pretty as a picture as you lie stretched out in
a recliner listening to mild, soothing jazz. If you tire of that, you can
take a few long strokes in the pool, dive under the surface and come
up in the crisp winter air in the section of the pool that extends outside
the building.
After a day on the mountain, it is wonderful to come home, leave
your skis in the storeroom, take the elevator up to the hotel, find an
armchair in the library, pour a glass of whiskey from the outstanding
selection on the shelf, put your feet up and stare at the flames
in the fireplace for a while before it is time to get ready for dinner in
the restaurant.
Many designer hotels have problems creating soulful rooms, and
both the level of service and the interior can start to deteriorate
after a few years. At The Omnia it’s a different story. After a few
teething pains, it has grown into one of the best hotels anywhere in
the Alps. Rooms from $600.
The Omnia
Auf dem Fels, Zermatt, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 27 966 71 71. www.the-omnia.com
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28 DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012 SCANORAMA
ERIK OLSSON