Yikes, I wanted to start my “wellness in former times“ article at the beginning of the week – and now the week is already over. I arrived at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz after visiting a couple of fun festivals, sleepless nights filled with the laughter of people, and the consumption of various culinaric highlights in between. For that reason, it was all for the better because today, Sunday, should turn out to be a pretty fitting day for the topic: Wellness!
For me, that means one thing above all: Taking time for myself in order to feel good in my body again; a body which courageously adheres to all my demands. Every now and then I come to the realisation that it”™s time to do something good for my body, so this month, my friend and photographer Nina Stiller and I visited the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Heidiland.
Heidiland – welcome to Switzerland!
We travelled from Braunschweig to Stuttgart and from Stuttgart we headed on to our final destination, Heidiland; an eastern Swiss holiday region located directly at the feet of the Alps. Heidiland served as the inspiration for Rainer Maria Rilke and Johanna Spyri”™s world-famous children”™s book “Heidi”. With this scenery, this air and this water, it”™s no wonder Heidi had no desire for big city life.
I love to just put the car in gear, lean back, and stop wherever we see something interesting. I like to be independent and feel the closeness and sometimes distance to the places we travel. For those who prefer to travel by air, you can catch a flight to Zurich and then take a train which takes 1 hour to arrive at today”™s health resort destination, “Bad Ragaz”. The resort is located in the canton of St. Gallen which has a population of 5,500 very relaxed inhabitants.
Wellbeing at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz offers a varied combination of services including a luxury hotel, restaurant, and health and spa treatments. Guests can choose between accommodations in the Grand Hotel Quellenhof, Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz, in the Spa suites or in the landmarked Hof Ragaz Palais. The rate is approximately € 400.00 per night. If you”™re looking for a beautifully styled urban spa & hotel you will be pleasantly surprised. The 5-star ambience in all areas of the resort is quite “royal” traditional and elegant – but it is still possible to stroll to breakfast in your spa slippers ;) what luck!
And here, we get to experience the exciting of “Wellness in former times” and today’s luxuries: A four-kilometer-long pipeline brings the thermal water from the Tamina Gorge directly to the hotel. The pool is located directly in the spa center of the resort and in previous years it was rather laborious to bathe there before the spa. Well… it still feels luxurious, to be honest.
From the gorge to the leading wellbeing and medial heath resort in Europe: For centuries, the legendary source has allowed bathers to luxuriate in body-temperature thermal water which forms the basis for a unique synthesis of wellbeing and health. It is a rather exciting story into which I naturally threw myself into immediately.
The day started with a yoga class in the morning sun and continued with a delicious breakfast. After that, a variety of different treatments were offered for our well-being. For me, the “Sequoia ceremony“ was on the plan. I had heard so much about people embracing the majestic trees right in front of the Hotel. After I began to feel the effects of tree essences, such as relaxation and regeneration through a full body herbal massage with warm oil, I was convinced of the rejuvenating effect of the trees and will certainly embrace the next possible tree to express my gratitude!
By the way, since recent years, the resort houses an internationally renowned medical center with more than 70 doctors and therapists with different areas of specialties like Check-up & Diagnostic, nutrition and metabolic optimization, movement, sports & performance (Swiss Olympic Medical Center), dermatology, plastic surgery and developed ophthalmology. We had the opportunity of talking about plastic surgery at a sumptuous dinner with various experts and are now up to date on the topic. But now back to my preferences:
The rest of the day was occupied with the different thermal water worlds with varying temperatures of water (Helenabad 34 °, sports pool 28 °, Garde pool 28 °) and the large sauna selection of Finnish saunas, and a steam bath up to the ice cave. Because you deserve nothing else but pure indulgence…
” except maybe a light dinner after that?
Dining at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is distinguished with 58 Gault Millau points and 1 Michelin star. But what is that really all about? The highest creativity and quality for the best possible preparation and the implementation of a high degree of culinary art. And it should be more than commonplace. Therefore, in addition to the classic Swiss dishes in the rustic Zollstube there are other options, for example the Japanese cuisine and the “Cuisine Equilibrée” menus with especially healthy and low-calorie dishes!
You”™ve already noticed that you will be quite spoiled in this resort – and even more so if you can enjoy it with someone. Applause, applause!
Last summer also the visits of VfL Wolfsburg and the guys from Borussia Dortmund have been celebrated this way, who visited the Resort at the same time as part of their summer training. Staring was allowed – even though I would not have recognised a single face of any of the players ;)
Activities outside of the Resort, Discover Heidiland
Heidiland certainly offers much to discover outside of the resorts. You can occupy your time with a variety of athletics like tennis, biking, climbing, horseback riding, hiking, alpine slide, Nordic walking and much more. In winter, of course, skiing and snowboarding are also possible. But you can also go snowshoeing or tobogganing. I would be up for a visit in late summer for a “ride” on the resort’s own Harley Davidson (i.e.; squealing like an excited child while sitting on the back of course) and in the winter then to have fondue. What are your tips for Heidiland?
The pictures in this post were taken by my dear friend Nina Stiller. We were invited for this press journey without any obligations.
Grand Resort Bad Ragaz AG
Bernhard Simon Strasse
CH-7310 Bad Ragaz
