Schatzalp

The Berghotel Schatzalp is a 1900 Belle Époque sanatorium on a south-facing plateau 1,861 metres above the Davos valley — accessed by the original 1899 funicular running up from Davos Platz — and is the architectural masterpiece of the resort. The hotel was the model for Thomas Mann's 1924 novel 'Der Zauberberg' (The Magic Mountain), which is set explicitly at a Davos tuberculosis sanatorium and won Mann the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature. The hotel was converted from sanatorium to hotel in 1954 and has run continuously since.

The cuisine is contemporary Swiss-Alpine. Chef Andreas Schweizer runs a deliberately classical menu — Geschnetzeltes Zürcher Art (Zürich-style sliced veal in cream sauce with Rösti); a slow-roasted Engadin venison with juniper jus; hand-rolled Capuns with Bündner mountain cheese; a smoked Davos fera with horseradish butter; the famous Schatzalp 'Magic Mountain Tart' — an apricot tart that uses a 1924-vintage recipe and runs daily through the season.

The wine list is a respectable Bündner cellar — 350 references with deep coverage of Graubündner Pinot Noir (Gantenbein, Donatsch) and a tightly chosen Italian Alpine section. Glass pours start at CHF 11. The cocktail bar at the front of the dining room runs a serious aperitif programme and the hotel's Belle Époque salon — with the original 1900 hand-blown Murano chandelier — is the village's best pre-dinner drinks setting.

The dining room and terrace together hold a hundred and twenty covers — eighty in the Belle Époque indoor room, forty on the south-facing terrace with a 270-degree view of the Davos valley and the Pischa massif. The terrace is the experience: the most photographed dining setting in eastern Switzerland and the canonical Davos lunch experience. Service is family-run and Bündner-warm — the captains rotate from the seasonal staff pool and have worked the property for years.

Schatzalp is the birthday-night room in Davos when the dinner needs to feel like an event. The 1900 Belle Époque architecture is the conversation; the funicular ride up is the entry; the south-facing terrace at sunset is the most photographed Davos dinner view; the Magic Mountain literary reference is the after-dinner topic. Book the south-terrace four-top in summer or the corner table by the Belle Époque chandelier in winter.