Swiss-Mosimann

A Deluxe Grand Tour with Anton Mosimann through Switzerland

The renowned chef’s spectacular journey takes in faces old and new and his homeland’s most striking hotels with strong culinary reputations. By Rachel Truman

Montreux Riviera

Vevey to Gstaad

Interlaken to Lucerne

Vitznau to Zurich

Pride and joy: Anton Mosimann shows off his incredible Collection, including the odd stunning cherry red car

It's the launch pad for a special trip organised by Swiss Deluxe Hotels. Some of Switzerland’s leading food and travel writers and influencers have gathered to embark on a car rally led by Anton and his wife Kathrin in their cherry red Jaguar XKR.

The Grand Tour of Switzerland

The Grand Tour of Switzerland is a 1,643km circuit of the country that takes in all of its highlights 650 road signs around the country point the way (or simply let your GPS guide you) There are 46 top attractions, 22 lakes, 5 Alpine passes, 13 UNESCO World Heritage sites on 8 stages of the Tour Multiple photo spots that guarantee the best views Charging made easy: the E-Grand Tour is also easy to complete using an electric vehicle

On our scenic route around Switzerland, we will meet prominent chefs and visit some of the collection’s exclusive hotels that have played a seminal part in Anton’s own journey. A lust for travel and new cuisines and cultures has been integral to his success. He’s cooked in 80 cities worldwide, including a stint in Osaka, where he met Kathrin. The couple were working at the Swiss Pavilion during the Expo ’70. Anton was head chef and Kathrin head of housekeeping. “We never worked together again, as we clashed,” she says now. Aged 28, Anton took over the kitchen at the Dorchester, where he gained two Michelin stars. He left to open his private members club Mosimann’s in Belgravia and catered for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding breakfast and the state banquet for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. He has cooked for King Charles III many times and was awarded an OBE in 2004. “Food is a great leveller,” he says. “It brings people together.” Today he spends most of his time in Montreux, just over the water, and the first stop on our journey.

The Mosimann Grand Tour: Anton and Kathrin drove from their home in Montreux and finished their journey in stunning Zurich

Montreux Riviera

Fine dining: Aerial view of the terrace at Fairmont Le Montreux Palace

Montreux has a Riviera feel – palms, subtropical gardens and Belle Époque palaces and hotels line the shore of Lake Geneva. We pull up at the lavish Fairmont Le Montreux Palace adorned with yellow awnings. Anton worked here in his early career and is now a regular guest. Dinner is served under the vaulted canopy of La Terrasse du Petit Palais as we gaze at the pastel-streaked sunset reflected on the lake. “We stop to watch it every evening,” says Kathrin. We’re dining with Michael Smithuis, the hotel’s general manager, Chairman of Swiss Deluxe Hotels and friend of the couple. “Michael is a great professional and incredible host,” says Anton. “We have many friends in the industry here. There’s a lovely sense of community, as well as incredible views, fantastic food and music.”

Room with a view: Fairmont Le Montreux Palace has spectacular lookouts

Meeting of minds: Anton and Michael Smithuis in conversation

Gastronomic heaven: A divine starter at La Terrasse du Petit Palais

We start with a salad of heritage tomatoes and white peach topped by a basil and limoncello sorbet. It’s followed by vitello tonnato – seared tuna with alpine flowers, asparagus, burned avocado and chimichurri, before a dainty peach cake.

“Valais does the best peaches,” remarks Anton. The menu is perfectly pitched for a sultry midsummer evening, and exactly the kind of food the Mosimanns enjoy. “It’s simple, healthy and full of natural flavour,” Anton says. After a blissful sleep in rooms that open onto views of the lake and hazy blue Alps, we potter along the promenade. “The gardens all along the shore are beautiful – it’s so peaceful and relaxing, and the water is as clean and clear as can be,” says Kathrin. Colourful tents pepper the shore, a sign that the Montreux Jazz Festival is imminent. Fairmont Le Montreux Palace is a central venue where the top-billing stars stay. Those seeking peace during festival season tend towards tranquil Vevey on the lake’s north-eastern shore. The historic Grand Hôtel du Lac is another of the couple’s local haunts and we’re heading there to join the annual general meeting of the Grandes Tables Suisse. The hotel’s new executive chef, Guy Ravet, is the president. Guy greets us, tells us about the chefs’ association and invites us to join their convivial lunch, cooked by the chefs. There’s a lot of Michelin stars and Gault Millau points rattling around on the picturesque lakeside terrace here. And as Anton sees more familiar faces, there’s much handshaking, hugging and lively discussion.

Dream team: Anton joins the hospitality and culinary experts at Grand Hôtel du Lac

It’s clear he gets a buzz from being around chefs at the top of their game and it is wonderful to see the reverence his career affords him. Reflecting later, he comments on how the industry has changed. “Chefs work more as a team these days. They’re friendly rivals. In my day head chefs were more guarded, almost secretive. I remember two chefs in rival hotels in Lucerne who refused to talk to each other! Now it’s very different – it’s great to see these professionals come together and share ideas, experiences from trips, and help each other find staff,” he says. Before we leave, Anton shows us one of Montreux’s hidden gems, the chalet home of the late Claude Nobs, founder of the city’s jazz festival in 1967. A traditional wooden chalet on the outside, it’s an extraordinary sight inside with its avant-garde interiors, high-tech sound systems, rare art works and priceless memorabilia. We take a fascinating audio-visual tour, led by Nobs’ former personal assistant Simon Lepêtre.

Hidden gem: Inside Claude Nobs’ chalet

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Where to stay

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, Montreux

With glorious views across Lake Geneva to the French Alps, this chic yellow-and-white Belle Époque palace has been Montreux’s most prestigious address since it opened in 1906. Along with literary greats, just about every music legend has stayed and played here since the Montreux Jazz Festival began. It continues to charm with slick service and a sense of history.

From Vevey to Gstaad

Hitting the road: Anton and his wife Kathrin in their cherished red Jaguar

We bid au revoir to the Swiss Riviera and follow Anton and Kathrin as they speed away in their Jaguar. A Grand Tour sign directs us along Lake Geneva, past Chillon Castle and the Unesco-listed Lavaux vineyards on the lake’s south-facing inclines. As we wind along near-empty roads, lakes and vineyards fade and flower-flecked hills dotted with dark wooden chalets come into view. Hulking grey mountains follow, some still with swirls of snow and trails of streaming falls. Driving classic cars is one of Anton’s chief pleasures, especially in his home country. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where you have such an opportunity to visit such lovely places by car and experience different food and cultures so easily,” he says. “You can drive effortlessly from the Italian-speaking and Romansch-speaking areas to the French part or the Swiss-German part. Each canton has its own dialect and food specialities. You can enjoy very different cultures and very local food in a matter of hours.”

Surprise visit: Anton was delighted to visit the cheese grotto at the Molkerei Gstaad dairy, where he met with Rene Ryser

We taste a range of nutty, creamy cheeses, including Berner Hobelkäse AOP and a softer whiter cheese flecked with wild mountain herbs.

“It has some of the most incredible five-star hotels, but it’s not showy,” he says. “It’s very discreet and remains a place of tradition and rural communities.” A horse-drawn carriage whisks us from the Bellevue’s grand driveway, past glitzy boutiques and into the region’s green valleys, heading for the Molkerei Gstaad dairy to meet Rene Ryser, head of the local dairy cooperative. He opens a door under a grassy mound and leads us down a ladder deep into the cool, musty air of a former water cistern. Now a cheese grotto, it’s a cathedral-like space with flickering candles that light up row upon row of cheeses. “This is a new experience for me,” says Anton, his eyes lit up by the scene. “I had no idea it was here.” Rene tells us about the vault-like space that contains “the gold of the Alps”, or 3,000 wheels of Berner Alpkäse AOP. This salty, hard cheese is handmade daily from unpasteurised alpine milk and brought here to age.

“We have so many different cheeses, thanks to the wonderfully creamy milk produced by our cows,” says Anton, “and some very talented cheesemakers.” He loves Berner Hobelkäse. “Delicious and typical of Gstaad,” he says. Together we polish off the lot, along with sips of a full-bodied chasselas from Yvorne, a wine-growing town in Vaud we’d driven through earlier. “You should always drink the local wine with the local food,” says Anton. Our appetites piqued, we return to Le Grand Bellevue to dine at Leonard’s. Chef Francesco de Bartolomeis wows us with a flurry of intricate and artful dishes showcasing Alpine produce with an Italian accent.

A pastry fit for royalty: An offering from Le Grand Bellevue in Gstaad

Say cheese: Anton and Kathrin enjoy all that the grotto has to offer

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Where to stay

Le Grand Bellevue, Gstaad

Exploring, planning and navigating the route becomes even simpler with the Grand Tour app. Choosing from predefined route sections is or plan your own journey exactly as you please. The app helps you plan journey times and distances, tells you which highlights you can visit and guides you conveniently and easily along the route to the most beautiful spots in Switzerland.

We’re crossing the röstigraben (“rösti trench”) between French and German-speaking Switzerland into the bucolic Bernese Oberland. Our destination is Le Grand Bellevue in Gstaad. Anton was an apprentice pastry chef at the Gstaad Palace in 1974 and has fond memories of the upmarket Alpine village.

Standouts include delicate leaves made of parmesan, Brüggli salmon trout tartar and a twirl of silky pasta with intensely flavoured and coloured tomato sauce.

It’s all accompanied by excellent Swiss wines. Anton congratulates the chef on his creations, and we head to our stylish suites suitably sated.

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Where to stay

Grand Hôtel du Lac, Vevey

Dazzling water views and tongue-tingling flavours combine at the aptly named Emotions headed by Michelin-starred Guy Ravet in Vevey. It’s the fine-dining restaurant of the Grand Hotel du Lac, open since 1868. With jaunty striped awnings, the lakeside beauty has an intimate feel with just 50 rooms, including nine suites, with pretty interiors exuding old-world charm. Go for waterside rooms to watch the boats come and go from Vevey’s little harbour.

Grand Hôtel du Lac, Vevey

Set behind imposing gates in perfectly preened parklands, Le Grand Bellevue looks like a lavish private home. It is family owned and run, and the oldest five-star establishment in Gstaad, which itself is home to five upscale hotels and counting. It opened in 1912 as a “cure house and spa”. Today it offers guests both luxury and location, being just steps away from the chichi boutiques of Gstaad’s main street. Behind its buttercup-yellow façade, the hotel delights with a hip edge and fabulous facilities.

Le Grand Bellevue, Gstaad

Interlaken to Lucerne

Hitting the road again: Anton’s red Jag waits for him to take us on the next leg of the journey

After an early swim in the Bellevue’s spa, we depart for Interlaken, through dense forests and past swirling rivers before the giants of the Bernese Alps, the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, come into view. Set between the twin lakes of Thun and Brienz, Interlaken is where adventurous types come, with every imaginable outdoorsy activities on offer. We pull up at the Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel, an elegant grande dame hotel with a culinary reputation to match. Kathrin worked as head housekeeper here before they married and Anton reveals he occasionally snuck into the staff quarters. He’s since cooked here at various banquets and gala dinners. At the Michelin-starred Radius, chef Stefan Beer has created a special menu for Anton, someone he’s long respected. He sources his ingredients strictly within a 50km radius. Some he even handpicks from the restaurant’s kitchen garden. As we sit on a sun-dappled terrace, its white columns draped with greenery, we gaze across at towering Jungfrau, known as ‘the roof of Europe’.

Memory lane: Anton is presented with a book he signed in the 1990s for the head concierge at Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel where the touring party enjoyed a spectacular al fresco lunch

It’s a languorous setting for a memorable lunch that includes white asparagus, duck liver parfait with rhubarb and chive capers. Stefan presents a dish called simply “veal and beef in summer”, pouring a delicate spring onion consommé over the meat and diddy cheese toasts. It’s a seasonal and Swiss twist on French onion soup, he explains.

Back on the Grand Tour route, we follow Lake Brienz and take the Brünig Pass. We stop to admire the views. “I just love driving along mountain passes,” says Anton. “It’s so relaxing and Switzerland has so many wonderful ones where you can get away from the busy motorway and take your time.” Arriving in Lucerne, we pass the old town with its domed churches and bridges, including the 17th-century Chapel Bridge. Lake Lucerne is a bewitching sight and we’re given prime views of it in our lakeside suites at the Mandarin Oriental Palace. Anton and Kathrin know these views well. In 1973, they lived in its staff quarters, which occupied the top floor. “We had the best views in all the hotel – that would never happen now,” Anton remarks. He and Kathrin reminisce about the past and appreciate the hotel’s stylish modernisations over champagne and a Middle Eastern-style feast at the MOzern Bar & Brasserie. With its original checkerboard marble floors, gilded circular bar and marble columns, the glamorous brasserie evokes an old-school style that suits our hosts.

Looking back: Anton and Kathrin pose outside the Mandarin Oriental, where they used to live

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Where to stay

Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern

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Where to stay

Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel, Interlaken

As we eat, the head concierge José approaches with a signed copy of a book Anton gave him when they worked together in the 1990s. Anton certainly makes an impression wherever we go and takes time to talk to everyone who recognises him.

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Vitznau to Zurich

On the water: Anton and Kathrin look out over the stunning Lake Lucerne before heading out on the road again for the last leg of the Tour

The next morning we edge east around Lake Lucerne, its water glimmering an opalescent blue, towards the Rigi or ‘Queen of the Mountains’. Pretty villages such as Vitznau pepper the shoreline. Here we’re due to have a wine cellar tour and lunch at Park Hotel Vitznau. Set within a century-old castle, it’s one of Anton’s favourite places – home to the two-Michelin-starred Focus Atelier, one Michelin-starred Prisma and the largest wine cellar in Switzerland. There are, in fact, six separate cellars, as sommelier Torsten Marmé tells us, and divided by region – France, New World, Old World, Château d’Yquem and Champagne – with one dedicated to rarities including a 1945 Château Mouton Rothschild worth 750,000 Swiss francs. All together they contain 35,000 bottles.

Home from home: One of Anton’s favourite places is Focus Atelier, which boasts the largest wine cellar in Switzerland – and is also a two-Michelin starred restaurant

Lunch is idyllic – a tiered platter of seafood with a sensational sauvignon blanc from Schaffhausen by the sun-spangled lake.

One of our group slips in from the hotel’s bathing platform to cool off while I look longingly at the incredible infinity pool. But time is pressing so we set off in convoy for Zurich, our final stop. After an hour on a gently pretty rural route, the vast Zürichsee comes into view, as does Uetliberg, the city’s “home mountain”. Soon we’re driving behind trams on elegant tree-lined boulevards in central Zurich, a city the Mosimanns love and regularly visit. We call in at La Réserve Eden au Lac to see one of their friends, the hotel’s general manager, vice president of Swiss Deluxe Hotels and fellow car fanatic, Thomas Maechler. Sipping drinks and savouring small bites of Peruvian-Japanese cuisines, we have entrancing views of the badi below, one of many bath houses on the lake.

“I always love meeting new people and at this stage in my life I want to give something back to young people. We have to motivate and inspire them to enter the profession. We need to be committed to inspiring the next generation as otherwise one day we’ll just have robots in the kitchen,” he says. Given our experiences, Switzerland is in no danger of that – it excels in personable, high-end hospitality with a cuisine steeped in tradition with a fresh and modern flair. And Anton Mosimann has played a central role in showcasing it to the rest of the world.

Light bites: A little something to keep the group going on a stop-off at La Réserve Eden du Lac

Same time next year? Anton and Kathrin bid the team farewell

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Where to stay

Park Hotel Vitznau, Vitznau

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Where to stay

La Réserve Eden au Lac, Zurich

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Where to stay

The Dolder Grand, Zurich

Our rally ends at the Dolder Grand in Adlisberg, a wooded mountain above the city. Anton and Kathrin have dined at its two Michelin-starred The Restaurant twice in the past six months. We’re invited to see its feted chef Heiko Nieder at work. Anton describes him as “supremely talented, creative and a wonderful human being.” The former managing director of Swiss Deluxe Hotels Jan E Brucker, who helped organise Anton’s food-and-memory-filled rally, accompanies us for our final meal. It’s a light, sophisticated and seasonal menu served on the terrace at Saltz with its elevated views across the city, lake and mountains. They chat until late and share stories of our Grand Tour, even though Anton is due to attend a chefs’ gathering in Bern the next day. “He doesn’t know how to slow down and stop,” says Kathrin, smiling. The next morning at breakfast, I see Anton chatting animatedly once again to a young man. He tells me the 16-year-old recognised him as he was given one of his books by his mother, which inspired his decision to become a chef.

A grand adventure

To plan a culinary journey through Switzerland’s lakes, mountains and cities of your own, follow The Grand Tour Deluxe, which circuits its most scenic roads and mountain passes. It’s a stunning way to explore the country’s diverse landscapes, landmarks and delve into its different cuisines and cultures. Make it even more memorable by picking up a Grand Tour Snack-Box en route, a picnic box filled with regional specialities to fuel your adventures. Visit myswitzerland.com to find routes and download an app.

Swiss Deluxe Hotels

All the hotels mentioned in this feature are Swiss Deluxe Hotels, a 39-strong collection of the country’s most exclusive and unique properties, where luxurious accommodation and exceptional cuisine await

Discover Switzerland

Switzerland is reachable via train from London or by Swiss International Air Lines. And once you land the famously efficient public transport will take you to the regions you want to visit by train, bus or boat using the Swiss Travel Pass, available from the Switzerland Travel Centre. Discover Switzerland for yourself and find out more about the Grand Train Tour.

MySwitzerland.com

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Large and palatial, the 224-room Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel sits opposite Interlaken’s Höhematte Park with a prime view of the always snow-topped Jungfrau. Within its graceful dome-topped exterior are lavish ballrooms, marble columns and fountains. There are elegant tea salons with tinkling pianists and countless dripping chandeliers. But it also has a modern resort-like offering with a vast and slick spa, several tennis courts, impressive kids’ club and array of bars and restaurants. A new outdoor pool is set to open this summer.

Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel, Interlaken

Set seductively on Lake Lucerne, Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern opened in 2022 after a five-year top-to-toe refurbishment. The zhuzhed-up grande dame opened to great acclaim with its historic structure and classic European opulence intact and some Mandarin Oriental magic sprinkled throughout. Start with sharp cocktails at the old-school glam MOzern Bar & Brasserie then lap up lake views and Mediterranean flavours at Quai 10, which spills onto the terrace (breakfasts can be enjoyed here too).

Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern

For those seeking seclusion, serenity and sublime sunsets, Park Hotel Vitznau has it all and then some. A fairy-tale-esque castle on the outside, upscale modern beauty within, its swoon-worthy views unfold the moment you step into its gleaming white lobby. Vast glass doors frame uninterrupted views of the jewel-like lake and wooded hills, opening onto sweeping staircases that lead down to the terrace. There is a bathing platform where you can plop straight into Lake Lucerne’s calm clear waters and borrow paddleboards.

Park Hotel Vitznau, Vitznau

The most elegant pad on Lake Zurich, La Réserve Eden au Lac opened in a turn-of-the-century building in 2020, with interiors by Philippe Starck. Part of Michel Reybier’s small and exclusive La Réserve portfolio, it’s close enough to the water that you can hear the splash of bathers in the badi opposite. It couldn’t be better placed for a weekend break in Switzerland's most exciting city. As you’d expect, interiors are quirky and design-led, with an imaginary yacht club the inspiration behind the French designer’s vision. Check in to one of the 37 rooms or three suites and you’ll find a calming space – some have balconies where you can sit and watch life go by.

La Réserve Eden au Lac, Zurich

An intriguing mix of old and new, the Dolder Grand curves along the wooded hills of Adlisberg above Zurich. It looks like a graceful turreted castle from afar, but when you turn into its sweeping driveway you realise this is not your typical palace hotel. It was transformed by Foster + Partners in 2008, the architects adding two curvaceous steel-glass-and-stone wings to frame the main 19th-century building. With large and luxe rooms, polished service and privacy, the Dolder appeals to A-list guests.

The Dolder Grand, Zurich

Anton Mosimann likes his kitchens calm, polite and quiet. This is also my first impression of the renowned Swiss chef who has cooked at the world’s best hotels, hobnobbed with royalty and penned numerous cookbooks. Softly spoken, he is the antithesis of a fiery chef. “Respecting each other is the most important thing. I never criticise other chefs – everyone is different and has their own style. I might not always agree, but it’s about being open and having a discussion. That’s my approach to everything, not just about food. Listen, communicate and respect other opinions,” he says.

Known for his lighter style of classical cooking, “cuisine naturelle”, the 76-year-old chef cuts a fit and healthy figure. As I will discover on our Grand Tour, he is the epitome of a gracious host and raconteur, so it’s no surprise to learn that hospitality runs in his blood – his parents owned a restaurant in Nidau in the canton of Bern, where he grew up. We start our journey at his pride and joy, The Mosimann Collection – A Culinary Heritage, in Le Bouveret by Lake Geneva. It’s on a campus shared by César Ritz Colleges Switzerland and Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland, and filled with his extraordinary lifetime collection that includes 6,000 cookery books, 2,000 menus (“Lots of fantastic memories of good food” he says), rare artefacts and memorabilia.

Where to stay

Follow in Anton Mosimann’s footsteps by checking in to these hotels. They’re all members of Swiss Deluxe Hotels, a 39-strong collection of the country’s most exclusive and unique properties, where luxurious accommodation and exceptional cuisine await.

Anton Mosimann’s Grand Tour highlights

The Grand Tour of Switzerland App