Grand Hôtel des Rasses

The Grand Hôtel des Rasses & Wellness stands at Les Rasses, a hamlet high above Sainte-Croix in the Vaud Jura, at around 1,200 metres. Built in 1898, it is a Belle Époque grand hotel of the kind the Jura's high terraces were known for — and on a clear day the outlook stretches across the Swiss plateau to the full chain of the Alps and Mont Blanc. Wellness is central to the hotel today, as the name says: a full-service spa with a sauna, a steam room, an indoor pool and a fitness centre, plus treatment rooms — a generous floor to retreat to after a day outdoors. A library, a lobby fireplace, a restaurant and a bar carry the period character. Les Rasses and Sainte-Croix are a quiet, year-round mountain base: cross-country and downhill skiing and snowshoeing in winter, hiking, mountain biking and the Jura's ridge trails in summer, all from the door. It suits couples on a wellness break, families and walkers who want altitude, views and a historic grand hotel.