Art of living · March 1, 2021

Arolla, a Place Out of Time

A preserved village-resort beneath the glaciers, Arolla has crossed a century and a half without losing its soul. In praise of a place where contemplation comes before action.

By Patricia · 5 min read

The Kurhaus of Arolla in 1898, a witness to the dawn of mountain tourism

For mountain lovers, Arolla has something mythical about it: it is the place of the “true mountain”, set at nearly 2,000 metres, the last village of the Val d’Hérens. You arrive at the end of the road, where the valley closes around its glaciers. And you quickly notice that time, here, does not quite run at the same pace as elsewhere.

At the origins of travel

From the mid-nineteenth century, wealthy English travellers reached the Valais in search of pure air, a healthy climate and alpine scenery, carried by Thomas Cook’s invention of organised travel. It was the golden age of mountaineering and the conquest of the great Valais summits. Reaching Arolla was then an expedition: two hours by carriage from Sion to Les Haudères, then two and a half hours of mule path up to the hotel. No one came by chance.

A village-resort that stayed itself

Alpine skiing came to Arolla in 1968. But the village never turned into a lift-and-crowd machine. It remained that “small high-altitude village-resort at the foot of the glacier”, apart from the tourist overbidding. A member of the Swiss Historic Hotels, the Grand Hôtel & Kurhaus has preserved its period charm and tells, on its own, a century and a half of mountain tourism.

A “Swisstainable” adventure

Today, you reach Arolla by a paved mountain road or, better still, by the iconic yellow postal bus — a gentle, sustainable way to link the valley to the high mountains, all year round. The journey is already part of the trip: you climb slowly, and feel the world below grow more distant.

The art of slowness

Arolla is lived in five simple gestures, whatever the season: settle on a high terrace, walk without haste, meet the people who make the village, taste the mountain cuisine, contemplate the landscape. It is a bubble of tranquillity, a praise of slowness, where contemplation always comes before action.

Here, you take your time — and you breathe.

That is no doubt what makes Arolla a place out of time: not a frozen backdrop, but a place that has chosen not to rush. You come for that, and you return for the very same reason.