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Sanus per aquam, or simply spa, means health through water. Not surprisingly then, hydrotherapy, an ancient wellness concept, finds a great promoter amidst the legendary thermal springs (Tamina) in Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, a leading spa destination in Switzerland.
Located in the picturesque foothills of the Alps in Heidiland in eastern Switzerland, amongst scenic snow-peaked mountains and fresh-flowing water, this perfect getaway, which offers a respite from modern busy life, is just an hour by train or car from Zurich (110km) and 45 minutes from Altenrhein airfield.
Sprawling over an area of some 500,000 sq m, this exclusive resort, which has been recently revamped at a cost of €100 million ($135 million), offers a unique combination in a single location: luxury hotel facilities with 290 stylish rooms and suites, gourmet pleasures, wellbeing with its own thermal spa water, health, business, golf and yes, even a casino.
A haven of the traditional and the contemporary, this luxury resort not only offers two traditional-style hotels – the Quellenhof and the Hof Ragaz, but also the newly-built and very extravagant Spa-Tower.
The Quellenhof is an all-suite hotel comprising eight suites and 97 junior suites, including a sumptuous 200-sq-m Royal Suite. The 56 new spa lofts and spa suites come complete with butler service and each features a private wellbeing-oasis bathroom with thermal water on tap and steam shower and some also feature their own sauna.
The 440-sq-m Penthouse Suite is one of the largest in Switzerland. Extremely extravagant and luxurious, this suite, which I was told is occupied almost throughout the year (by the world’s wealthiest, of course), comes at a price of €5,000 to €6,667.
And for those extremely pampered people who prefer an even more lavish lifestyle than the penthouse suite – which features terrace with whirlpool, sauna, steam shower, whirlpool in the bathroom, sumptuous bedroom, generous walk-in wardrobe, open fireplace and piano in the living room, dining room, fitness room and separate kitchen – it can be combined with a spa loft to convert it into the penthouse floor measuring 560 sq m at a cost of €6,667 to €8,000. The penthouse, Thomas Bechtold, director of sales, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, explained is a great favourite of celebrities on the run from the paparazzi.
From historic `Palais’ to the Grand Hotel, Hof Ragaz has gone through careful and comprehensive restoration. Reopened in April 2009, this part of the hotel has 106 rooms and 21 suites. Some of the suites are housed in a protected historic monument built in 1774 known as the `Palais’ including the famous Swan Room, Prince Suite and Palais Suites. The revamped look boasts a luxurious yet traditional ambience. The rooms and suites, which convey an impression of grand elegance, says Bechtold, are particularly favoured by tourists from the Middle East.
At the core of the resort is the spring – tucked deep in the ruggedly picturesque Tamina Gorge – which has provided body-temperature thermal spa water for centuries and is the source of Europe’s fastest-flowing acratotherm on which the legendary reputation of the eastern Swiss spa town of Bad Ragaz is founded.
In an area covering 7,300 sq m guests can enjoy a variety of pools with thermal spa water at different temperatures, in addition to whirlpools, a waterfall, current channel, whirlpool grotto, sauna landscape, shops and a restaurant.
The Tamina spring was discovered back in the early middle ages and no less a person than Paracelsus himself praised its healing effect. At first, spa guests had to be lowered into the gorge on ropes until a 4-km-long pipe was constructed to transport the miraculous water to Bad Ragaz in 1840. In 1872, the Tamina Therme opened as the first thermal water indoor pool in Europe. This marked the beginning of its ascendancy into a world-renowned spa and health resort.
The prime point of the revamped Swiss health retreat is its wellbeing spa called ‘To B. Wellbeing & Spa’ in which I, fortunately, had a luxurious pampering session.
Spanning 5,500 sq m, the spa is a complete world of extravagance where one can succumb to being spoilt and pampered.
Bursting with colour, light and fragrance, the spa includes the world’s first herbal steam bath studded with Swarovski crystals, which change colour highlighting the new ‘sauna world’, the splendid Helenabad swimming pool, the circular plunge pool hidden behind a cascading curtain of Ragaz spring water and, of course, unique treatments such as the meditative new Sequoia Massage.
I also had the privilege to experience and enjoy every imaginable luxury in the Andeer Private Spa.
Taking the wellness concept even further, the hotel has even created its own culinary health brand aptly called Cuisine Équilibrée.
In line with the wellness theme, is the fully expanded and modernised Medical Health Centre, mainly known for its department of sports medicine headed by Dr Christian Schlegel which was officially accredited as the Swiss Olympic Medical Centre in 2004. The luxury resort is also the only one in Switzerland to offer two golf courses and for those who are still hungry for entertainment, there’s the in-house casino which has been granted the accolade ‘Friendliest Casino in Switzerland’.
With so much on offer, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is certainly luxury unlimited.
by Pummy Kaul