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LUXURY TRAVEL - SWITZERLAND
GRANDHOTEL
GIESSBACH – LAKE BRIENZ
19th Century Elegance at the Giessbach Falls
There
are number of grand hotels in Switzerland, built during the 19th Century
glory days
of the Grand Tour, when
aristocrats came for the summers to the lake shores
and mountains. Many of these have been so updated that you’re very
aware of the current century. The Grand Hotel Giessbach in
its secluded park above Lake Brienz, offers a very different experience.
In its
elegantly
appointed
salons of carefully restored antique furniture you feel as if at any moment,
you might encounter Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a tail coat, inviting you to
a game of billiards, or share a tea with the Grand Dowager of Moldova. The
Grand Hotel Giessbach first opened in 1875, after two years of construction,
built by the Hauser Family of hoteliers, commissioned from French architect
Horace Edouard Davinet. The magnificent location next to the cascade of the
400 meter high Geissbach Waterfall and breathtaking views of Lake Brienz
brought painters and the practitioners of that new art of photography to
picture the
splendor of the falls and attracted the aristocratic custom of kings, statesmen
and diplomats.
The
Grand Hotel Giessbach had reached its zenith of popularity by the time of
the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, but the next war brought
a hard decline for the Swiss tourism business and the Giessbach Hotel suffered.
It
had gone through many owners and was renovated in 1949, but finally closed
its doors in 1979. Plans were made to demolish the old building and replace
it with a concrete chalet hotel, but it was saved by Swiss Ecologist Franz
Weber who purchased the property in 1983 and placed it in a preservation
trust as a Swiss landmark. The hotel played a role in the fictional war as
a film location. In the last episode of the HBO WWII television series “Band
of Brothers”, the
101st airborne arrives at a lakeside mansion, which is supposed to be in
Austria, but is in fact on Lake Brienz in Switzerland. Many of the scenes
were filmed
in and around the hotel.
The
Grand Hotel Giessbach is uniquely reached by boat with a historic funicular
from the Lake Brienz boat dock (you can get there by car too, but why spoil
the experience). The Giessbach Funicular is the
oldest of its kind in Switzerland, rising from the lake shore to the hotel,
past
the
tumbling
spray
of the waterfall (see Giessbach
Funicular).
The funicular is timed to meet the boat for transfer to the Brienz train
station or to Interlaken. And while the Giessbach Fall could easily double
for the
more notorious Reichenbach Falls from the Sherlock Holmes stories, that cataract
is a train stop away in Meiringen (see Sherlock
Holmes Museum Meiringen).
The Giessbach parkland provides ample hiking opportunities with a rock bridge
underneath the waterfall, and a base for cruising the lake. Many rooms offer
lake views or a view of the waterfall. The hotel is a ten minute boat ride
from Rothorn Mountain Railway to high scenic hiking at the Brienz dock (see Brienz
Rothorn Railway).
For visiting
Switzerland castles see Favorite
Castles of Switzerland.
The
Grand Hotel Giessbach is a popular destination for its restaurants. The
Park Restaurant Les Cascades offers classic cuisine in the elegance
of window
niches and bays looking out on the view of the waterfall. The Terrace Restaurant
seating is in front of the hotel with views of the lake and vista of the
distant Alps. The fine dining Gourmet Restaurant Le Tapis Rouge features
regional seasonal
innovative cuisine of sophisticated ingredients by Chef Mike Zarges. Reservations
are recommended for non-hotel guests. The Hotel Bar and the Salons of Davinet
and Giron offer a relaxed seating environment to enjoy a drink or a sweet
in the old world La Belle Epoch elegance of the grand architecture, while
in the afternoons
and evenings to the sounds of live piano. © Bargain
Luxury Travel
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Grand Hotel
Giessbach
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