Mont-Collon Arolla Hotel: cocooning at the foot of a 4,000-metre mountain

One more hotel that more than one Englishman who went to climb the Alps at the end of the 19th century fell in love with. We suppose even George VI's doctor stayed there, as did so many other visitors who didn't forget to write their exploits in the visitor's book. Built in 1862, the hotel has always been owned by the same family. Nothing seems to have changed, from the parquet floors in retro style to the soapstone oven. We must remember that here we are at an altitude of 2,000 metres and that this place was almost totally self-sufficient up to 1950, until a road was opened during the construction of the Grande-Dixence Dam. A haven of tranquillity at the foot of a 4,000-metre mountain at the beginning of the mythical race of the « Patrouille des Glaciers », the Glacier Patrol.

Contact and information:

Hôtel du Mont-Collon
CH-1986 Arolla
+41 27 283 11 91
http://www.hotelmontcollon.ch
Photo: Hôtel Splendide

What to do in Arolla:  

Are you searching for peace? Here you will have it all:  pristine Nature and invigorating air; you will find a natural snow cover superior to many other ski hills, thanks to its high altitude. If the number of runs is a little bit limited and the night scene in Arolla tends more to cozying up to the fireplace than to trendy outings, the hill station has a disco and a few bars.

Even more than for skiing, the hill station is a paradise for mountain climbing and trekking - from the hotel, a trail goes right up to the Arolla Glacier. We can also set out on the 3-hour walk leading from Arolla to the  « Cabane des Dix », one of the major stopovers of the Haute Route des Alpes Valaisannes (the High Road of the Valaisannes Alps) and a good starting point for the ascent of Mont-Blanc, Cheilon and Pigne d'Arolla. www.arolla.com.

Did you know? - Arolla takes its name from « arolle », this extraordinarily resistant species that feeds on nothing and grows in the most austere places and does not mind the most extreme temperatures. If this species grows very slowly - a few metres per century - its life expectancy, on the other hand attains several hundreds of years.