That feather-light holiday feeling begins right in the centre of Vevey: an accordionist plays French chansons and delights not only us tourists. We stroll towards the water and our hotel: the Grand Hôtel du Lac sits right on Lake Geneva.
There we take a Junior Suite on the third floor. My companion, sleeping in a luxury hotel for the second time in her life, bursts into delight. The corner room is especially light and looks straight out over the lake. We open the balcony door and a breeze ruffles our hair. In the harbour, boats bob; gulls romp among the ducks. If there were palms instead of chestnut trees, it would be just like the seaside. We look across to France and start to fancy a glass of wine.
Clouds and Vaud
Before the aperitif, Sales Manager Maxime Hops takes us on a tour of the 155-year-old Grand Hôtel. The ground floor comes in three styles: an oriental lounge, an elegant restaurant and an Asian-Japanese bar. The 2006 renovation and the interiors bear the signature of French architect Pierre-Yves Rochon. On the same floor is the gourmet restaurant Emotions par Guy Ravet, where we’ll be seated in the evening.
The listed Salle Viennoise, with its stuccowork, cloud-painted ceilings and chandeliers, is empty; the weddings come later in the year. «We have a secret door into our kitchen», says Maxime Hops, fiddling briefly beneath the mirror and opening it with a small trick and no effort. We do indeed step into the kitchen, where two cooks are in conversation. Chef Guy Ravet took over the kitchen here last year; before that he caused a stir at the Ermitage in the canton of Vaud with his now-retired father.
Charlie Chaplin and Champagne
The rooms of this Relais & Châteaux hotel are spread over three floors. Long ago, guests also slept on the ground floor; those rooms have given way to communal spaces. The suites are on the third floor. Maxime Hops unlocks the Suite Léman which, at 110 square metres, is a veritable apartment.
The Duplex Suite, designed for families, spreads over two floors. We look down on the harbour from higher up and notice: outside, a spectacular sunset is brewing. The sky was supposed to be a radiant blue today. Luckily the weather app was wrong: the clouds reflect the last rays of sun in golden-yellow.
After the tour we dress up. Again and again we have to pause and sit on the balcony to marvel at the evening glow. The play of colours mirrors on the water’s surface. We almost lose track of time, but appetite slowly returns. We sit down in the packed bar. In the restaurant guests are at dinner when the pianist takes up her playing and fills the historic rooms with her voice. We can easily picture Charlie Chaplin – one of the hotel’s famous guests – seated here at the bar back in the day. What might he have ordered? Surely not tea, even if he was British by birth.
Celeriac and Caviar
In the fine-dining room, every table is taken. Each evening, Guy Ravet’s team pampers 25 people. A six-course menu is on the card, with the option of a cheese course. The sommelier recommends a journey through Swiss wines, which we eagerly accept. Course after course is served at a leisurely pace. My companion loves the dish of scallops accompanied by fennel and a beetroot jus. For me, the millefeuille of celeriac on a vegetable sauce with caviar is outstanding.
After the main course – wagyu with black Périgord truffle and Ticino polenta with baby carrots – the chef does the rounds of the tables. «How did you like it?», asks Guy Ravet. A rhetorical question, of course: the produce is of the finest, everything perfectly staged and classically interpreted. The Gault & Millau guide has awarded the likeable chef 17 points. Ravet seems a little disappointed that the French Michelin Guide hasn’t discovered him yet. Since he’s only cooked here since May 2023 and can now trade on his reputation, the inspectors are sure to make a stop this year.
We’ve overeaten and ask whether we may order dessert to the room at the latest possible moment. We may. Up there, we change into comfortable clothes and chat in the armchairs over a nightcap. The suite is so spacious that we wonder whether you could turn a cartwheel in it. My companion – a fit amateur boxer – takes the test. She manages it without trouble and without touching the furniture. We have to laugh.
The dessert raises a smile too: it’s a fake mandarin made of chocolate, its interior of coconut mousse and chestnut ice cream. The work of pâtissier Cyril Sauvan, here for 14 years already, had impressed us in the afternoon: his home-made chocolate and airy macarons sweetened our arrival.
Riviera and Room Service
Content, we sink into bed, to be woken the next day by sunbeams. The light is dazzlingly bright as we look out of the window. The ultimate question arises: a jog along the lake or room service? The gym kit naturally stays untouched in the suitcase; instead, before eating, we visit the spa. It’s tiny: a hammam with lovely mosaic and an 80-degree sauna. For a workout you’d have to go al fresco, as there’s no gym room.
Back in the room, the food is brought to us in a flash. We don’t want to lump extra work on the service woman when she offers to unfold the table. Ironically, we then can’t manage it ourselves – of course. With the balcony door open and the lake light glittering, we eat a flawless club sandwich and a crisp Caesar salad. «Right, now I’ve had enough of the room», says my companion. Out we go to the Riviera, where all of Vevey is out for a stroll.
* The stay was supported by the Grand Hôtel du Lac Vevey.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/24 (May 2024).
