Pressed against the fairways of the Crans-sur-Sierre golf course with the Valais Alps stacked behind it, the Guarda Golf Hotel & Residences makes its architectural argument through material restraint: a chalet-scaled building clad in warm larch timber, its steeply pitched slate roof and flower-box balconies placing it firmly within the regional vernacular even as the interiors push toward something richer and more eclectic. The four-storey structure, set within one of Switzerland's most celebrated alpine resort villages, carries 27 rooms and suites across its floors, each oriented to capture those panoramic views across the course toward the snow-capped peaks of the Bernese and Pennine Alps. Inside, the design layers Grand Tour-era antique furniture — carved walnut headboards, Louis XV-style armchairs upholstered in boldly patterned fabric, faux-fur throws in deep tobacco tones — against wide-plank oak flooring and, in the attic suites, exposed timber beams that follow the roofline down. The restaurant softens this antiquarian tendency with a more contemporary register: coffered dark-stained wood ceilings, cognac leather Saarinen-influenced dining chairs, and wraparound windows that hold the pine forest in frame year-round. Below ground, the spa takes a starker direction entirely — a long lap pool lined in luminous turquoise mosaic set against raw stone-textured walls and grid-coffered concrete ceilings, its stillness a deliberate counterweight to the exuberance of the rooms above.

2hr drive from Geneva airport (GVA) or 2hr train ride to Sierre from from Geneva airport (GVA) followed by funicular ride; 3hr drive from Milan Malpensa airport (MXP)

Voted 2nd Top Hotel in Switzerland by TripAdvisor reviewers in 2021 and 2022, Guarda Golf Hotel and Residences is a five star deluxe hotel, member of The Leading Hotels of the World and Swiss Deluxe Hotels. The hotel's 23 rooms and suites have a unique alpine feel, while the 6 Suite-Apartments (laid out over 225 sqm, with three en-suite bedrooms each) are individually and exquisitely furnished in a more modern and elegant style. The hotel's main restaurant, Restaurant FIVE serves Eastern Mediterranean cuisine of the highest authenticity and quality. The Lounge serves international classics all day long, along with specialty teas and spectacular pastries. The Guarda Golf Spa is 600 sqm of pure indulgence, with a pool, jacuzzi, sauna and hammam, as well as 4 treatment rooms and a range of massages, facials and beauty treatments, with products by Swiss brand, La Colline, and KOS Paris. Since the hotel's extension in 2017, the leisure facilities include a Library, Billiard Room, 2 private dining rooms, a choice of event spaces and the 15-seat Sir Roger Moore Private Cinema.