Posthotel Rössli: Gstaad's 1845 Inn Below the Palace

Posthotel Rössli stands on Gstaad's car-free Promenade. The house dates the building to about 1823 and the inn to 1845, and says it came through the July 1898 fire that destroyed half the village. The Gstaad Palace opened 68 years after the inn, in December 1913. In the Stübli, hung with deer and chamois antlers, fondue moitié-moitié costs CHF 28. The wine list is Swiss by canton, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Graubünden and Ticino, with no bottle from Bern, the canton Gstaad belongs to. You can read the dates at the door, find a house the fire made, order the half-and-half and pick a bottle by canton.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Read the Inn's Dates at Promenade 10 History · Free

   Free, at the door: the house's dates, and one sum.

   Start at the door.

   Where: Posthotel Rössli, Promenade 10, on Gstaad's car-free Promenade.

   What: the house dates the building to about 1823 and says Bendicht Steffen took it over in 1844, ran it as an inn from 1845 and around 1855 also kept the village post counter here, hence the name Posthotel. The house also says older residents remember letters and parcels leaving from here by coach for the valleys. Now the sum: the Gstaad Palace opened in December 1913, 68 years after the inn.

   How: free, from the street, any day.

   Backup: none needed.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Find the House the Fire Made History · Free

   Free: 70 m to a house built after the 1898 fire; the house says the Rössli was spared.

   Where: walk about 70 m along the Promenade to Promenade 35, today the Hotel Olden.

   What: the old houses of Gstaad burned down in July 1898, and Gstaad tourism says the fire destroyed half the village. The canton's building inventory records this house as built in 1899, after the fire, entirely of masonry. The house at Promenade 10 says its own building was spared. The Gstaad Palace, about 240 m east of the Rössli door, is a hotel overlooking the village; the Palace says it was planned on the Oberbort. It opened in December 1913, 15 years after the fire.

   How: free, outdoors, any day; the Promenade has been closed to cars since 1995.

   Backup: none needed.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Order the Half-and-Half Under the Antlers Adventure · Price: moderate

   The Stübli: fondue moitié-moitié or butter rösti.

   Book a table first: +41 33 748 42 42 or online; the house asks hotel guests to book too.

   Where: the Stübli, inside Promenade 10.

   What: find the deer, roe-deer and chamois antlers on the walls and the photographs from earlier times. Order the cheese fondue moitié-moitié, half Gruyère and half Vacherin (CHF 28, or CHF 45 with black truffle), or the butter rösti with cheese, ham and fried egg (CHF 27), the plate a 2017 Voyages d'Affaires guide called «l'assiette du skieur».

   How: à la carte 11:30–14:00 and 18:30–21:45.

   Backup: the Alti Poscht serves the same menu.

   Log Memory
4. 4 Choose a Swiss Bottle by Canton Wine · Price: moderate

   Find the canton missing from the list, then choose by canton.

   Where: at your Stübli table.

   What: Gstaad lies in the canton of Bern, and Bern grows wine: 22 ha between Thun and Bern, Spiez among the places, plus the vineyards of Lake Biel. Open the wine list and name the cantons on its Swiss pages: Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Graubünden and Ticino. There is nothing from Lake Thun, Spiez or Lake Biel. Then choose by canton: Fendant 2024 from Charles Bonvin, Sion (Valais, CHF 44), the Valais name for a Chasselas white; Grain Blanc La Côte, a Chasselas from Parfum de Vigne in Dully (Vaud, CHF 44, 70 cl); or the Oeil de Perdrix, a pale rosé made only from Pinot Noir (CHF 40). The list prices bottles, not glasses.

   How: for zero-proof, the Suure Most without alcohol, 49 cl, costs CHF 7.5.

   Backup: alcohol-free Valaisanne or Erdinger beer, CHF 6.5.

   Log Memory
5. 5 Photograph Rosie at the Rössli's Door Adventure · Free

   Free: your photo memory with the calf at the fountain.

   Where: back outside, at the fountain almost right in front of the Posthotel Rössli.

   What: find Rosie, the calf sculpture drinking from the fountain. Liza Todd Tivey made it in 1999; Gstaad tourism says Elizabeth Taylor sponsored it and her daughter Liza designed it.

   How: take your photo memory with Rosie in front and the Rössli behind. Free, any day.

   Backup: inside, the Stübli's antlers make the photo.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Off-season, from September to mid-December and from March to the end of June, both restaurants close on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Some listings show only Wednesday; the house's own rule is both days.

• The Rössli in Feutersoey, at Gsteigstrasse 161, is a different restaurant. This one is the Posthotel at Promenade 10 in the centre of Gstaad.

• L'Etivaz, the alpine cheese made over a wood fire only from 10 May to 10 October, comes from the Vaud Alps next door, Rougemont and Château-d'Oex among them. The Rössli's own cheese fondue is moitié-moitié.

• The house says its breakfast buffet in the Alti Poscht, 07:30 to 10:00, is open to all.