Travel

The renaissance of the Alpine summer

Between larch forests, mountain lakes and the last snowfields of Monte Rosa, a new idea of Alpine summer is emerging. Less summit stress, less self-optimisation, less Alpine folklore. Instead, more peace, more space and that rare feeling of simply being exactly where you want to be. The Aethos Monterosa in Valle di Ayas captures this zeitgeist with astonishing precision.

Text
Jack Weil
Photos
Aethos

There is a new way of looking at the mountains. Away from functional sports, away from alpine performance thinking, away from wellness as a bathrobe routine. Instead, places are being created that translate being outdoors in a new way: more relaxed, more aesthetic, almost Mediterranean in their lightness. The Aethos Monterosa in Valle di Ayas belongs to this new generation of Alpine retreats.

While many hotels in the Alps are still trying to carve tradition as heavily as possible in wood, the hotel at the foot of Monte Rosa favours openness. Large windows instead of a home theatre. Natural materials without folklore. Rooms that look more like an international members club than a classic mountain hotel. Following a comprehensive renovation, the Aethos Monterosa is now starting the summer season - with new suites, an extended spa and a panoramic pool, which is likely to be one of the most beautiful places to spend long afternoons this summer.

The new part of the building was designed by Astet Studio from Barcelona. The architecture remains deliberately calm: lots of wood, stone, steel, warm tones, soft transitions between inside and outside. The decisive factor here is less the individual design object than the feeling that is created. This rare interplay of reduction, tranquillity and landscape.

In general, the Aethos Monterosa functions less as a classic hotel and more as a base camp for a different pace. Out on the trails in the Valle di Ayas in the morning. Back to the pool in the afternoon. In between, hiking, mountain biking, maybe yoga, maybe just nothing. The mountains are not staged here - they just happen.

The atmosphere of the hotel also fits in with this. "The Doping" marks the return of the bar that has long been more of a social meeting place than a hotel bar. Aperitivo, music, long evenings, people who actually only wanted to stay for a weekend and are suddenly thinking about extending their stay.

Perhaps this best describes the new luxury of the Alps: less programme. More sense of being in the right place at the right time.

→ aethos.com

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