After 24 years leading the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Artistic Director Christoph Müller concluded his tenure this summer with a record-breaking season. His successor, internationally acclaimed violinist Daniel Hope, made his debut at the closing concert

After 24 years leading the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Artistic Director Christoph Müller concluded his tenure this summer with a record-breaking season. His successor, internationally acclaimed violinist Daniel Hope, made his debut at the closing concert

Throughout August, running enthusiasts took on the challenge of this year’s Tiger Trail Run at Wasserngrat. A total of 36 participants braved the course, setting a new record for the event.

A new digital platform, Keey, is set to launch in Gstaad, giving second-home owners an easy, private way to share their properties with family and friends – and in the process, bring more life to homes that often stand empty for much of the year.

In 2025, not all groceries arrive by car. Above Rougemont, 86-year-old farmer Elsy Gäumann still carries on a mountain way of life — with the help of her goat, Sissi, who faithfully hauls the weekly shopping up the slope to her farmhouse.

Classic cars, culinary delights, and alpine elegance: the anniversary edition of the Gstaad Palace Challenge delighted participants with a start in France and plenty of passion.

In her recent Expat Adventures column, Anna Charles captures something we all recognise: the quiet trust that defines life in the Saanenland. From neighbours who carry fainting children home without hesitation to chalets so welcoming that late-night travellers might mistake them for their own, these ...

Graff’s latest high jewellery suite, simply titled 1963, takes its name from the year the House was founded.

High on the Wasserngrat ridge, two unusual guardians keep watch over a flock of Oberland sheep. Ari and Benji are llamas, gentle but vigilant protectors, who spend the summer months ensuring the animals of Biohof Giferspitz can graze safely in the wild.

For twenty years, the Gstaad New Year Music Festival has illuminated the festive season with a singular focus: the human voice.

Last April, SarinaMed AG acquired Dr. Perreten’s medical practice and has successfully continued to provide care for its patients. The next step is now underway: the planned integration into the main practice in Saanen.

Four September stages, four different moods

When the Weber Law was approved in 2012 at a constitutional level and the respective application law implemented three years later, it fundamentally changed the Swiss the holiday home market. By restricting the construction of new second homes in municipalities where they already exceeded 20%, the law ...

Just beyond the Chamaveau woodlands, in the village of Les Moulins, lies a quiet parcel of land. No cows graze here; instead, beds of rare heirloom vegetables stretch across the soil, bees flit among aromatic plants destined for herbal teas, and the first sound on arrival is the chorus of hens. This ...

As high season wraps up and the crowds clear out, the whole region can start to feel a bit quiet. Locals  know the drill. You get used to figuring out what’s open and finding somewhere you can actually go. But not everything shuts down.

Over the summer, the region comes alive. You notice it in the bustle on the Promenade, the mix of languages, and even in the number plates, with cars from all over including the UK, Poland, Monaco, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and of course from Swiss cantons like Zurich and Geneva. With all that ...

For wildlife photographer and conservationist Griet van Malderen, the camera is not only an artistic tool but a way to give endangered animals a voice. Speaking to Griet, it quickly becomes evident that every frame she captures focuses more on urgency than on aesthetics.

Even in the wake of a recent incident, life in the Saanenland continues to be marked more by trust than by tension. To better understand how this sense of security is sustained, Jeanette Wichmann sat down with James Otibah, owner of Excel Security, to hear his perspective on what “feeling safe” ...

The Gstaad Yacht Club (GYC) has had much to toast this summer – from winding Alpine roads at its signature Rally & Yachting to podium finishes on international waters. Whether behind the wheel or at the helm, the club continues to showcase its blend of elegance, competition, and camarader ...

Some places just feel safe. Not in a “safety rating” kind of way, but deep in your bones. That’s how it feels here in the Saanenland. I grew up in a village where we never locked the door, so to find that same quiet trust–decades later and halfway across Europe–feels quietly ...

On Saturday, the 6th, the “Gstaad Züglete” will take place, featuring the traditional descent of cattle herds through Gstaad’s Promenade.

Friday, 19 September 2025, 8.00 pm in the Church of Saanen – doors open at 7.30 pm

Château-d’Oex rolled out a Bavarian-style welcome for the 24th International VW Meeting on 22–24 August, drawing 10,000 fans, 1,220 vehicles and plenty of Oktoberfest cheer.

Last weekend, the Hublot Polo Gold Cup once again brought high drama and sporting elegance to the Saanen airfield. In the final, Team Gstaad Palace defeated Albinati Aeronautics 7:4.

Alpine flora and fauna in Saanenland and Pays d’Enhaut

One of the things I’ve learned in editing GstaadLife is that new paths don’t always announce themselves. They’re not necessarily bold decisions or dramatic departures. Often, they appear quietly—hidden in plain sight, waiting for us to notice them.

SAANEN’S CHARMING MARKET DREW  CROWDS AND SUNSHINE Saanen’s historic centre came alive with colour, conversation, and the scent of grilled specialities, as the annual Brocante and Market once again transformed the village into a treasure-hunter’s paradise. With a record ...

CF Immobilier Compagnie Foncière SA and the BARNES Signature

Strength in Numbers

Dooly’s: Rougemont’s new local favourite

Nowadays, it is rare to be able to boast nearly a quarter of a century in the same job. But in Gstaad, we like to give time, time... Portrait of Christoph Müller, the undisputed boss of the Menuhin Festival, who is stepping down after 24 editions (one edition being  cancelled because ...

We asked Christoph Müller to share some of his funniest memories, and he was generous with his anecdotes. Here are the most memorable ones:

Botanical painter Katharine Amies and her father, world-renowned wildflower expert Charles Flower, recently visited the Saanenland. GstaadLife caught up with them to talk magical meadows, the importance of grazing animals, and why protecting the delicate balance between people, plants, and wildlife ...

DISCOVERING THE ENCHANTMENTS OF PORTUGAL' S GENTLE ANSWER TO THE G&T.

For over five decades, artist David Montalto has worked with the most delicate of tools, a diamond-tipped stylus, to create glass engravings of remarkable finesse and spiritual depth. Now, the Musée du Pays-d’Enhaut in Château-d’Oex presents a major retrospective of his life’s ...

At Studio Naegeli, Trix and Robert Haussmann’s private universe opens to the public for the first time. Tucked behind the clean lines and conceptual clarity that defined Swiss post-war architecture, the Haussmanns cultivated a world of playful irreverence, poetic disruption, and sculptural imagination. ...

At Tarmak22 this summer, sculpture moves, breathes, and even speaks. Heavy Hitters brings together six leading Spanish women artists who are redefining the medium through the use of unexpected materials and bold conceptual thinking.

Graff ’s golden ode to light, love and timeless radiance

Raphael Faux on legacy, light, and the luxury of looking closer

Auctions in Valais — Art, Luxury, Design, Collections & Sustainability - a responsible vision of luxury.

Sandra Hirschi, the Gstaad Palace Hotel’s in-house upholsterer, gave GstaadLife a behind-the-scenes look at the practical skills her job requires. From repairing and re-covering furniture to restoring antique trunks, her work combines care, precision, and tradition, continuing the Palace’s ...

As the summer season draws to a close, Gstaad once again becomes a stage for some of the world’s most compelling cultural voices. The Gstaad Cultural Encounters, held every August at the Gstaad Yacht Club, continue to enrich the region’s intellectual landscape with a carefully curated series ...

From clubhouse to cockpit – virtual sailing comes to Gstaad Though Gstaad may be miles from the nearest coastline, the Gstaad Yacht Club continues to bridge the gap between mountain air and sea spray. This summer, the club has introduced a new venture into uncharted waters: virtual sailing. Developed ...

It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,” the Queen remarked in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. But as I recently learned, it’s a poor sort of vision that only sees what it expects to find.

It is impossible to speak of luxury leather goods without mentioning Hermès. Their handbags, now icons in their own right, are in high demand on the secondary market.

...and it reaches an unprecedented level

Optimism, despair, hope, and unease – the concert at Saanen Church on Sunday, 3 August, channelled the full spectrum of emotions that come with contemplating the state of our planet. “Unauffälliger Rebell – Music for the Planet”, part of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival ...

Gstaad Menuhin Festival 2025 approaches its Grand Finale