7132

The narrow valley tightens as the Valserrhein carves its way through tunnels, echoing between cliffs draped in lichen and forest. At 1,250 meters, the road opens suddenly onto a V-shaped bowl of alpine meadows and sturdy stone houses topped with slate. This is Vals. Postal code: 7132. Here, Valser water is bottled. Here, mountain air is drawn deep into the lungs. And here, one slips into thermal pools of perfect 30°C.

A quartet of masters
The Anglo-Saxons call it a destination hotel — not merely a place to spend the night, but to spend time. The first vision here was audacious: a thousand-bed spa hotel raised in the 1960s by a German investor. When the commune took over, history shifted. In 1996, the Baths by Peter Zumthor were unveiled, securing a place in the canon of contemporary architecture.

Today, the property continues its metamorphosis: annexing the baths, cultivating stars, yet remaining cocoon-like. Gentle curves in the furniture echo the sweeping façade that hugs the mountain. In the deluxe spa rooms, a giant flying-saucer lamp mirrors the round bowl of the freestanding tub.

Next door, the House of Architects wears one star less but more personality. The rooms are compact, yet singular. Four visionaries have each inscribed their ideal world: a Japanese-inspired cocoon of pared-back wood and tea-house serenity by Tadao Ando; an oaken nest clad in overlapping planks by Kengo Kuma; fine panelling from floor to ceiling, or black-veined quartzite walls by the American deconstructivist Thom Mayne — also the author of the hotel lobby. Zumthor returned, too, this time with a moody opulence of concrete, exotic parquet, and silk drapery.

A temple to beauty
The Baths remain the property’s spiritual core — a pilgrimage site for architects the world over. They catapulted Zumthor to fame, earned him the Carlsberg Prize, and contributed to his Pritzker in 2009 — the Nobel of architecture. Drawing from local stone honed during his restoration work on Graubünden’s monuments, Zumthor liberated tradition into a minimal contemporary aesthetic. Few words, no extravagance: only purity and atmosphere.

A labyrinth of quartzite slabs is topped by a hidden puzzle of concrete, buried beneath turf, pierced with shafts of daylight. There is no door to enter; one arrives by an underground corridor from the hotel. To the east, tall windows frame the mountains, but within, chiaroscuro reigns. Rough-hewn stone pools, indoors and out, recall natural springs, enfolding grottoes and resonant chambers as if carved into a sacred mountain. Guests trace their own paths from 14°C to 42°C.

Over the years, the Baths have inspired more than visitors. Janet Jackson filmed The Velvet Rope here. More recently, French graphic novelist Lucas Harari turned their mysterious aura into the backdrop of Swimming in Darkness, where two rivals obsess over Vals’ hidden secrets. The book’s dreamlike tension mirrors the otherworldly reality of this place, where time dissolves and clocks are banished.

Guests, however, need not rely on fiction. They can immerse themselves until dawn: the Baths offer nocturnal sessions on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. The spa can even be fully privatized. A blessing, indeed.

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