Switzerland to build Europe's highest altitude hotel on top of an Alpine mountain peak

22 May 2006
Switzerland to build Europe's highest altitude hotel on top of an Alpine mountain peak

Switzerland is to build Europe's highest altitude hotel on top of an Alpine mountain peak.

The hotel is going to be part of a 120m-tall glass and metal "pyramid" that will be erected on the 3,883m-high Little Matterhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps.

Once completed, the Dream Peak, as the project has been dubbed, will host the world's second highest hotel, after the Everest View hotel near the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal.

But the Swiss hotel, the highest point of which will exceed 4,000m, will be only one in the world to use a decompression system similar to that in airplanes to protect visitors from altitude-related ailments caused by lack of oxygen and high pressure.

Apart from the exclusive 100-bed hotel, the Dream Peak project will also include viewing platforms, a shopping centre, bars and restaurants, a multimedia conference centre and a wellness area.

The Mountain Cableways Company from the local town of Zermatt, one of Switzerland's most favoured tourist destinations, initiated the project with a competition to design an attraction that would "upgrade the peak" and provide worldwide publicity to boost tourism.

Zermatt Mountain Cableways spokesman Reto Wyss (CORR) said: "The aim is to create a spectacular attraction that will put us at the height of Alpine tourism.

Construction work will begin next summer and the first phase should be finished by October 2007, while the entire project will take around eight years to complete.

The entire project is estimated to cost up to Sfr80m (£35m).

The Zermatt tourism authorities expect the Dream Peaks project to drastically increase visitor numbers even during its construction phase.

By Jim Glenn (CEN)

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking