Gstaad

Een bestemmingspagina is geordend naar tijd: wanneer de locatie van belang is, welke evenementen dat belang bepalen, en hoe die locatie door het jaar verandert — gevolgd door de praktische geografie (luchthavens, jachthavens, wijken, hotelgebieden).

A fire destroyed much of Gstaad in 1898, and the resort that exists today was largely built in what followed. The village sits in the Saanenland, an upper valley of the Bernese Oberland in the canton of Bern, at about 1,050 meters below a ring of limestone peaks, and gives its name to a wider municipality, formally Saanen, whose roughly 9,200 residents are spread across Gstaad and a handful of smaller villages - Saanen itself, Rougemont, Schönried, Gsteig - along the valley floor. Rebuilding after the fire coincided with the 1905 arrival of the railway that became the Montreux-Oberland-Bernois line and, in 1913, the Gstaad Palace hotel that still stands above the village.

Skiing arrived formally with the valley's first ski school in 1923, and Gstaad's particular character was set in 1957, when the aristocrat Charles Greville founded the private Eagle Ski Club on the mountain above the village in the same year the violinist Yehudi Menuhin founded the classical-music festival that still carries his name. A sporting foundation and a musical one, arriving together, still describe Gstaad's two seasons fairly precisely.

Today's 220 kilometers of linked pistes, reaching glacier skiing at Glacier 3000, define a conventional winter season running roughly December to April. Summer is busier by other measures: the Menuhin Festival alone runs seven weeks from mid-July to early September, overlapping with an ATP clay-court tournament and the Hublot Polo Gold Cup on the grass of the village's own airfield, making Gstaad's summer program larger, by number of consecutively scheduled weeks, than its winter one.

01Wanneer Gstaad zaken

Twaalf maanden activiteit berekend op basis van de evenementen in de kalender van deze bestemming — het belang van elk evenement uitgespreid over de dagen die het beslaat. De evenementen die verantwoordelijk zijn voor elke maand staan naast de balk vermeld.

Jan Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad

Feb Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul Gstaad Menuhin Festival

Aug Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad

Sep Gstaad Menuhin Festival

Oct

Nov

Dec

Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad · Jan–FebGstaad Menuhin Festival · Jul–Aug–SepHublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad · Aug

Inscription on the facade of the "Posthotel Rössli", 10 Promenade, Gstaad, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. "Posthotäll Rössli

Hotel und Restaurant Olden, Promenade 35, Gstaad

St. Niklaus Chapel, 59 Promenade, Gstaad, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, view from north

02De agenda hier

Binnenkort

29 Jan → Feb 6, 2027

Gstaad · Switzerland · Culturele festivals Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 27th edition · January 29 – February 6, 2027 · 27th edition Bevestigd

Regionaal
15 Jul → Sep 4, 2027

Gstaad · Switzerland · Culturele festivals Gstaad Menuhin Festival 70th Menuhin Festival Gstaad · July 15 – September 4, 2027 · 70th Menuhin Festival Gstaad Verwacht

Regionaal
19 Aug → Aug 22, 2027

Gstaad · Switzerland · Polo Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad 30th edition · August 19–22, 2027 · 30th edition Bevestigd

Regionaal

Elk evenement op de kalender

St.Josef Gstaad, Gstaad Menuhin Festival

Culturele festivals Gstaad Menuhin Festival Jul 15 – Sep 4, 2027 Polo Hublot Polo Gold Cup Gstaad Aug 19–22, 2027

Culturele festivals Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad Jan 29 – Feb 6, 2027

Abonneren op de agenda van deze bestemming (ICS) · Openen in de agenda

03Waarom het relevant is

Gstaad's standing in the Alpine calendar owes less to its skiing, respectable but not exceptional by regional standards, than to an unusually deliberate summer season most ski resorts never attempt. In our reading, the Menuhin Festival's seven weeks of classical music, now in its eighth decade, did more to fix Gstaad's international reputation than any run on Glacier 3000, giving the village a claim on the calendar in July and August that competitors with larger mountains do not share.

04Het jaar, maand voor maand

JanuariSkiing is at its height and the Sommets Musicaux chamber-music festival opens in the last days of the month, running into early February.

FebruariThe Sommets Musicaux concludes in the first days of the month; skiing across the Saanenland's slopes and Glacier 3000 continues at its winter peak.

MaartSkiing remains reliable, particularly at altitude, as the season moves toward its close.

AprilThe ski season typically closes around Easter, snow cover permitting, and the village settles into its quieter shoulder period.

MeiA quiet month, between the ski season's end and the start of any summer programming.

JuniStill quiet by Gstaad's own standards, though the village begins preparing for the Menuhin Festival's mid-July opening.

JuliThe Menuhin Festival opens in the middle of the month and an ATP clay-court tournament is played in the same weeks, marking the real start of Gstaad's summer season.

AugustusThe Menuhin Festival continues and the Hublot Polo Gold Cup fills a long weekend on the village airfield in the third week, the summer's busiest overlap.

SeptemberThe Menuhin Festival closes in the first days of the month; hiking and mountain activity continue at a quieter pace through the rest of September.

OktoberA quiet autumn month with neither skiing nor the summer festival programme running.

NovemberThe Saanenland's calmest month, as the resort prepares for the coming ski season.

DecemberThe ski season typically opens in the second half of the month, and the village fills for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

05Weer per maand

Bron: Wikipedia climate table for Gstaad (1,045 m; 1981-2010 normals; MeteoSwiss data). Langetermijngemiddelden; een bepaalde week kan afwijken.
Maand	Hoog °C	Min °C	Neerslag mm
Januari	2.9	-7.8	108
Februari	4.6	-7.2	105
Maart	8.5	-3.5	98
April	12.3	-0.1	89
Mei	17.3	4.2	125
Juni	20.7	7.0	151
Juli	23.3	9.3	143
Augustus	22.6	8.9	144
September	19.0	5.9	104
Oktober	14.7	2.3	98
November	7.8	-2.8	98
December	3.5	-6.2	118

06Hoe er te komen en te bewegen

LuchthavensGeneva Airport (GVA) · 150 km · commercieel — the main international gateway to the Saanenland, about two hours by road.

PrivéluchtvaartSaanen Airport, on the valley floor beside Gstaad, dates from 1942 and handles light aircraft, helicopters and gliders; business jets more commonly use Sion or Bern, with Geneva handling the largest aircraft.

HelikopterCharter helicopters serve the valley for private transfers and, in winter, heli-skiing; there is no scheduled shuttle route.

Verplaatsing ter plaatseThe MOB (Montreux-Oberland-Bernois) railway, part of the GoldenPass route between Montreux and Lucerne via Interlaken, reaches Gstaad directly and is the valley's main non-road link. A car is useful for reaching the smaller villages of the Saanenland but unnecessary within Gstaad itself, which is small and walkable.

07Waar alles zich bevindt

Wijken

Gstaadthe resort village itself, with the Palace hotel on its hill above the train station and the main shopping street below.

Saanenthe larger administrative village of the municipality, with the parish church used for Menuhin Festival concerts.

Schönrieda smaller, quieter village on the rail line toward Zweisimmen, closer to some of the smaller ski lifts.

Hotelgebieden

The Gstaad Palace, on its own hill above the village since 1913, remains the resort's best-known hotel landmark and the reference point for the area's other hotels, most within a few minutes' walk of the train station and main street below it. Saanen and the smaller outlying villages offer a quieter, less expensive alternative a short train ride away.

Restaurantwijken

Gstaad's main street holds the village's concentration of restaurants and cafés, busiest in the winter season and again during the Menuhin Festival. The outlying villages keep a simpler, more local register.

Culturele instellingen

Gstaad Menuhin Festivalfounded by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin in 1957, centered on the church at Saanen and a festival tent at Gstaad.

Eagle Ski Cluba private ski club founded on the mountain above Gstaad in 1957 by Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick.

Winkelen

Gstaad's main street carries a concentration of boutiques dense for a village of its size, within a few minutes' walk of the train station.

08Hoe de bestemming verandert

Gstaad divides its year between a conventional winter built on 220 kilometers of linked pistes and a deliberately cultivated summer built on music and sport. The Menuhin Festival's seven weeks make July and August, if anything, busier than the ski season by the number of consecutive weeks with something scheduled; May, June and the second half of autumn are genuinely quiet.

09Geschiedenis

Gstaad was principally an agricultural and dairy-trading village until a fire destroyed much of the settlement in 1898; its rebuilding coincided with the 1905 arrival of the railway that became the Montreux-Oberland-Bernois line and, in 1913, the construction of the Gstaad Palace hotel above the village. The valley's first ski school opened in 1923. Gstaad's particular character was set in 1957, when the aristocrat Charles Greville founded the private Eagle Ski Club in the same year that the violinist Yehudi Menuhin founded the classical-music festival that still carries his name - a sporting and a musical foundation, arriving together, that between them still describe the resort's two seasons.