Davos divulged
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN The world’s biggest shots meet this month in Davos.It’s a good choice. The Swiss ski resort – easily accessible from Zurich – has plenty to offer, whether you’re a hard-pressedfifi nancier, Hollywood star or simply discerning traveller SWITZERLAND IS BRACING it self. The neat 13,000 population Alpine resort of Davos-Klosters will suddenly [...]
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN
The world’s biggest shots meet this month in Davos.It’s a good choice. The Swiss ski resort – easily accessible from Zurich – has plenty to offer, whether you’re a hard-pressedfifi nancier, Hollywood star or simply discerning traveller
SWITZERLAND IS BRACING it self. The neat 13,000 population Alpine resort of Davos-Klosters will suddenly face an avalanche of international visitors when it hosts the 39th World Economic Forum. Based around the theme ‘Shaping the Post-Crisis World’, the event will bring together some 2,500 of the world’s brainiest financial thinkers, including 1,500 senior business executives, 200 government representatives, 30 or so leaders of international NGOs and, crucially for a bit of celebrity razzledazzle, 20 so-called ‘cultural leaders’.
Back in 1971, Klaus Schwab, then professor at the University of Geneva, now the forum’s executive chairman, founded the forum in Davos, Europe’s highest-altitude town (reached by flying in to Zurich and then driving or taking a shuttle train on a three-hour journey). The snow-shrouded Swiss mountains have offered a winter-wonderland backdrop to the event ever since.
So, to celebrate this year’s forum, which takes place from 28 January to 1 February, Voyager asks: “From blue skies thinking to off-piste action, which kind of Davos player are you?”
Mervyn King
The governor of the Bank of England is in a tight spot.With the British economy going down the pan, Mervyn King can’t be seen to be flogging his expense account too hard. But how can a financier with a taste for the good life do Davos on a budget and still keep up with the Euro-Joneses?
Thankfully for these precarious times, Davos-Klosters does have some budget-conscious accommodation. The Allod Park Apartments in Davos Platz offer simple but centrally located serviced suites from £375 a week for two bedrooms.You can even order fresh bread rolls to be delivered each morning. Hearty but good-value food is also available at the local stübli: rustic Alpine eateries for high-carb, low-priced food. One of the best is Walserhuus Sertig, a familyrun restaurant with venison and meat fondues from £6 per person.
Frankly, going on the piste can be a pricey affair: you’ll have to budget at least £34 for a one-day ski pass, plus around £20 for ski and boot hire. So better arm yourself with a stout pair of shoes and experience the perfect still of the Davos-Klosters mountains by following the resort’s 84km of pristine and free – snow-shoe trails. The aprèsski action could push the most prudent of banker into their own mini credit crunch, so instead of joining the beautiful people at Audi’s Graströchni on red piste 21, head over to the Monstein Brewery, the highest brewery in Europe. The Brewer’s Aperitif tour costs £19 and – crucially – ends with a drink-your-fill (hic) tasting session.
Angelina Jolie
The forum loves a sprinkle of Tinseltown stardust and Angelina brought it in spades a few years back. For the international humanitarian who skips from red carpet to Unicef refugee camp in a brisk turn of Jimmy Choos, accommodation has to be holistic as well as glamorous.
Step forward then the new Igloo Village. Set on the Davos Parsenn ski slopes, its 17 separate igloos are built for total privacy yet offer international hotel-style services when you emerge from your pod. The Romantic Plus igloo, ideal for a sub-zero tryst with partner Brad Pitt, lets you enjoy a guided night-time snowshoe trek before retiring for a dip in the heated whirlpool bath.
The holistic approach also extends to Davos-Klosters’s biggest draw away from the slopes: wellness. Davos fi rst came to prominence in the 1860s when Dr Alexander Spengler championed the clean mountain air for convalescing uberculosis sufferers. Today there are around 500 clinics in Davos-Klosters alone, so after a hard day of pressing the fl esh at the forum, it’s time to indulge in some serious pampering. The original Wald Sanatorium, dating from 1911, is now the slick Waldhotel Davos. Located in a peaceful location on the edge of a forest, it boasts an indoor saltwater grotto and lymph drainage therapy – although Jolie may be disappointed to fi nd you can’t wear the contents in a vial around your neck afterwards.
Rupert Murdoch
Murdoch is to be one of the co-chairs of this year’s event and will doubtless find this Alpine enclave the ideal hideaway to plan his next move towards world domination. Better still, the 77-year-old newspaper and TV baron is in good company with the resort inspiring a tradition of literary greats: Robert Louis Stevenson finished Treasure Island while convalescing here in 1881; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle penned a few Sherlock Holmes tales and found time to lay out Davos’s first golf course. But it’s the German novelist Thomas Mann who is most closely associated with the area. His Davos novel, The Magic Mountain, was first published in 1924.
Of course, any multimedia powerhouse worth his weight in king-making deals wouldn’t be caught dead in one of the resort’s mere hotels – strewth, no. So Mr Murdoch may be interested to learn that Descent, the luxury chalet company, has launched a new, uber-luxurious property in Davos-Klosters called Tivoli Lodge. The design-led, fiercely discreet chalet is just a two-minute drive – chauffeured, it goes without saying – from the centre of Davos Dorf. It boasts a home cinema and a study, from where to prod cowering editors about their front-page splash. Afterwards, make a splash yourself in the spa complex with its hot tub and indoor pool.
Finally, round off another power-broking evening with your co-chairmen at Hubli’s Landhaus, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the tiny village of Laret, just outside Davos. Expect great local fish and game, served amid a high-powered ambience.
Bono
The forum has courted a more rock ’n’ roll vibe in recent years with the likes of high profile attendees such as Bono, the larger-than-life U2 frontman, who seamlessly blends philanthropy with lobbying against poverty.
Away from the deal-sealing meetings, Davos-Klosters is perfect for some adrenaline-pumping high jinx of rock star-esque proportions.With 54 ski lifts, 320km of slopes and 75km of crosscountry ski tracks, located at altitudes between 1,124 and 2,844m, the six Davos-Klosters ski areas are a winter sports mecca. The Jakobshorn slope is the place for snowboarders with its half-pipe and monster pipe constructions, while the municipality of Wiesen is home to a 1,500 sq m open-air ice rink, also the venue for a spot of ice-stick shooting, an Alpine take on curling. Alternatively, join a ‘ride the night on snow’ event with full-throttle night skiing on the Parsenn slopes.
Even an international jet-setter likes a bit of home comfort sometimes and Chesa Grischuna, an elegant, frescoed, chalet-style hotel in the centre of Klosters, offers exactly this – and then some. Combining local woodcarving with modern amenities, the cosy Sali lounge can be turned into a VIP area for a wannabe rock god to hold court about saving the planet.
Later that night, invite a select group of business groupies to hang out for some high-altitude fine dining at Bruhin’s Weissfluhgipfel, a restaurant located at the highest point in Davos-Klosters – that’s 2,864m, since you ask
– before moving on to Davos Platz for late-night drinks and a bawdy karaoke version of With or Without You. Cabanna Club, Cava Grischa at the Hotel Europe and Ex-Bar are the in places and stay open until late.
Contact details
Allod Park Apartments, Davos Platz available via Interhome. +44 (0)20 8780 6629, www.interhome.co.uk
Walserhuus Sertig, Davos Sertig +41 81 410 6030
Monstein Brewery, Davos Monstein. +41 81 420 3060, www.biervisionmonstein.ch
Tivoli Lodge available through Descent. +44 (0)20 7384 3854, www.descent.co.uk
Hubli’s Landhaus Prättigauerstrasse 37, Laret. +41 81 1417 1010
Igloo Village Online booking at www.iglu-dorf.com
Waldhotel Davos Buolstrasse 3, Davos Platz, +41 81 415 1515, www.waldhoteldavos.ch
Chesa Grischuna Bahnhofstrasse 12, +41 81 422 2222; www. chesagrischuna.ch
Bruhin’s Weissfl uhgipfel Parsenn. +41 81 417 6644
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:Swiss tours www.myswitzerland.com
Davos-Klosters Tourism +41 81 415 2121,www.davos.ch
The World Economic Forum www.weforum.org.
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