This is perhaps my favorite type of post to write about because I get to show off some of my favorite landscapes :). There is no denying the benefit of having a fantastic scenery at your doorstep or from the comfort of your hotel room both in terms of time saved and ease of taking great photos. Here is a list of some of the hotels our team has stayed in with fantastic landscapes right at the hotel’s doorstep. I’m a lazy being so most of my pictures were taken from my hotel room. You will notice though that in contrast to my earlier list, this list has far fewer chain hotels (almost none actually).
Series: The Best Views We’ve Seen from Our Accommodations
Part 1 – Hotels with the Best City Views
Part 2 – Hotels with the Best Landscape Views
Part 3: Vacation Rentals with the Best Views
Again a heads up before I begin: I do not get any sort of commission for the credit card links in the descriptions, and all images are property of Grabamile and its authors. The images are not to be reproduced or used for commercial purposes, but please feel free to use them personally for say a wallpaper.
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My first trip to Switzerland was back in 2013, when I spent an entire 2 weeks touring the Swiss countryside. There is only one axiom at Grabamile these days: “Switzerland is the most beautiful country on Earth, period.” So no surprise to say that Swiss towns have some of our all time favorite views.
Hotel Matterhorn Focus – Zermatt, SUI
The beautiful alpine town of Zermatt most definitely has at least 10-12 hotels with jaw dropping views of the famous Matterhorn, which is known most commonly as the mountain that graces the cover of the Toblerone, you buy at the store. During our visit we stayed at the Hotel Matterhorn Focus, which is right next to the Glacier Paradise Gondola station. My parents and sister never stop talking about how awesome it was to wake up to this view of the Matterhorn every morning:
My dad who lived in Nepal for a few years in his early life compared it to seeing Everest emerge from the clouds.
While my parents had the Matterhorn View Room, my sister and I had the mountain meadow view. The meadow was absolutely stunning with its abundance of wildflowers and the backdrop of the houses in the valley. We would often walk out onto the hill from our balcony and have fun taking pictures of the town and bees collecting nectar from the flowers.
Best Western Alpen Resort Hotel – Zermatt
Sasidhar stayed at the Best Western Alpen Resort Hotel in Zermatt a couple of months before us, and also had a ridiculous view of the Matterhorn from his room. He actually had plenty more pictures of the Matterhorn, but lost almost all of his pictures after a burglar robbed his apartment while we were in India 🙁 Though he paid around 150 CHF to book his reservation, the hotel is actually available on points and costs 36,000 points per night. AMEX used to be a transfer partner with Best Western, but I believe that has ended leaving Diners Club Rewards as the only transfer partner.
Hotel Wengener Hof – Wengen, SUI
I consider the Lauterbrunnen Valley area to be the most beautiful place on Earth. The valley actually became the inspiration for Rivendell in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy after he trekked through the area back in the 1910s. Most views from the upper part of the village look down upon the valley and at the Jungfrau, which is the mountainous backdrop at the center of the valley. Though the rooms at the hotel are a bit dated, the terrific views, and great service make up for most of it. The one downside to my first visit to the valley was that it rained for almost the entire time I was there. This did make for some great photo opportunities though 🙂
Hotel Sunstar and Others in Wengen, SUI
During Sasidhar’s visit to Wengen (before my trip), he stayed at the Sunstar hotel located in the lower part of the village. Though his hotel didn’t feature a direct view of the valley, as soon as he stepped out of the door each morning, he was met with this:
Most hotels in Wengen provide this view in one way, shape, or fashion so this is not specific to this hotel. So don’t sweat it if you book a different hotel because you can just take a few steps out the door to take in the best view on Earth.
No list is complete without the real life Middle Earth. There is no questioning the beauty of Queenstown and the Southern Lakes, and nothing portrays this better than some of the views of the Remarkables from the Rees Hotel in Queenstown. If you are staying here a lake view can be worth your while in money because the sunrises, sunsets, and night skies are just terrific over of these noted peaks in the Southern Alps. I had loads of fun taking some of these pictures from my balcony:
Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables Before Dawn:
The Star of Queenstown – The Sun rises over the Remarkables:
A Sky Full of Stars over Queenstown:
If the Rees is filled up (as it is usually in peak season), there are also plenty of other hotels with awesome views. Unfortunately there is no consolidated center for hotels with the best views of the Remarkables so I would just consult Tripadvisor to check those out.
The Fairmont Chateau – Lake Louise, CAN
When I visited the Canadian Rockies in June, I couldn’t imagine that such a beautiful place could exist just a few hours by plane from the U.S. The glacial blue-green color of the Lake Louise stands out as one of the most remarkable sights in the world. To be able to constantly witness this during your stay is out of this world great. It was absolutely amazing watching the day go from sunny to cloudy to rainy to windy to snowy back to sunny all in a matter of 20 minutes. Another added bonus is that the Fairmont is available for free night redemption using the certificates obtained from the Chase Fairmont Credit Card, which may disappear due to their impending acquisition by Accor Hotels.
Sunset Over Lake Louise
Time Lapse Taken from The Double Bed Lake View Room
The St. Regis Princeville – Kauai
When our family went to Hawaii back in 2013, Sasidhar stayed at the St. Regis Kauai on the last night of our stay, while I flew back to Honolulu. He personally thinks it is among the best hotels he has ever stayed in purely because of that view out the window he had every morning.
I’m not 100% sure whether rooms outside the suites feature these rooms, but even if you aren’t staying at the St. Regis, the hotel’s beach is open to most during the day and offers the best views on the island. Watching a sunset from the beach or the balcony in your room can be an altogether astonishing sight. Though the nightly award rate is ridiculously pricey at 30,000 Star points, SPG Platinum membership is well recognized in terms of suite upgrades and more, if you plan to go by that route.
Fairmont Park Lodge – Jasper, CAN
The views at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge are not as astounding if you have been to the Fairmont Lake Louise. However this hotel easily sits on one of the best lakes in Jasper National Park (outside Maligne Lake). Furthermore, the removed nature of the hotel from gives it a secluded feel, which is devoid of tourists and major foot traffic. About half of the cottage and main building rooms feature views of the lake and surrounding mountains. The cherry on top here is that the Fairmont is available for free night redemption using the certificates obtained from the Chase Fairmont Credit Card.
The emerald colored waters and surrounding mountains provide a nice contrasting backdrop for the Canadian flag:
Since the weather wasn’t too warm during my visit to Jasper, I did thoroughly enjoy the lakeside walk all to myself.
As I said before, this is not an extensive list of hotels with great views, but merely serves as a taste of what’s out there. I would encourage everyone to not continue to plan your trips around points and miss out on some of the world’s greatest sights in Swiss, Austrian, and other towns/villages.
Stay tuned as I come back with some of the best vacation rentals we’ve stayed in……
