7132 Hotel

Where Architecture Is the Amenity

Vals sits at roughly 1,250 metres in the Graubünden Alps, connected to the outside world by a single valley road that winds through glacial terrain. The remoteness is not incidental. It shapes the entire logic of a stay at 7132 Hotel: you arrive knowing the journey itself is a filter, and that the village's famous thermal springs — the only ones in the Grisons canton that emerge directly from the ground — have drawn a particular kind of traveller for decades. What changed is that the accommodation finally matches the ambition of what was already here.

Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's thermal bath complex, has occupied a singular position in architecture criticism since it opened in 1996. Built from approximately 60,000 slabs of locally quarried Vals quartzite, the structure moves between compression and release, darkness and light, in a way that few buildings achieve. For a long time, the surrounding hotel infrastructure was simply not at the same level. The renovation that produced 7132 Hotel addressed that imbalance directly, and did so by commissioning an unusually diverse set of architects rather than deferring to a single house style.

Four Architects, One Address

The decision to assign different room categories to different architects , Zumthor, Kengo Kuma, Tadao Ando, and Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne , is either audacious or logical depending on how you read it. In practice, it means that no two room types share an aesthetic language, yet each responds to the same landscape, the same quartzite geology, and the same elemental premise of the valley.

Zumthor's rooms use stucco in a way that references centuries of Alpine craft while arriving at something contemporary and deliberately austere. The surfaces are dark, textured, and absorb light rather than reflect it. Ando's contribution reads differently: trained on concrete, he instead pays tribute here to the Japanese teahouse tradition through delicately worked wood, a departure from his better-known idiom that rewards attention. Kuma's oak-clad bedrooms carry a similar Japanophile carpentry logic, while Thom Mayne divides his effort between timber cocoons and rooms finished in figured quartzite. The three Kengo Kuma-designed penthouses extend the suite to panoramic glass walls and private terraces, with helicopter or limousine transfers included for guests at that tier.

The result is a hotel that functions more like a curated collection than a branded product. Choosing a room at 7132 is partly a design decision, in the same way that choosing between a gallery's permanent and temporary collections involves a distinct sensibility. Locally sourced stone, untreated wood, and glass unify the material palette across categories, keeping the property coherent even as the architectural approaches diverge. Thoughtfully calibrated lighting enhances those natural textures rather than competing with them, a detail that becomes apparent after dark when the building's relationship to the mountain exterior shifts considerably.

The Thermal Baths as Architecture-First Experience

Access to Therme Vals is included in the hotel stay, a practical detail that matters considerably given that the baths are the reason many visitors come to this valley at all. The indoor and outdoor pool configuration allows guests to move between mineral-rich water and mountain air, a sequence that changes character entirely depending on the season. In winter, the contrast between warm geothermic water and cold Alpine air is stark in a way that the architecture seems designed to amplify. The hotel's spa operates alongside the baths and uses ESPA aromatherapy products; the baths themselves, however, remain the more architecturally significant experience.

The quartzite used throughout Therme Vals comes from the same geological formation that defines the valley's visual identity, a continuity that Zumthor exploited deliberately. The stone carries warmth, absorbs sound, and creates surfaces that feel almost geological rather than constructed. Spending time in the baths is as much about the spatial experience as the water itself, which is precisely what separates Vals from more conventional spa destinations. For a fuller picture of what draws visitors to this part of Graubünden, our full Vals restaurants and experience guide provides broader regional context.

Dining at 7132: Three Registers

The hotel's restaurant programme is deliberately tiered. At the leading sits 7132 Silver, which holds two Michelin stars and operates around a plant-forward kitchen led by head chef Marcel Koolen, whose sourcing is built on locally foraged ingredients from the surrounding hills. The format and precision expected of a double-starred table make Silver the appropriate endpoint of an evening rather than a casual option. At the opposite end of the register, 7132 Red delivers classic bistro fare in a casually dressed setting. The 7132 Blue Bar offers live music and cocktails in the evenings, a programming note that reflects the hotel's broader positioning: the New York jazz sessions referenced in property materials signal a deliberate effort to animate the property after the mountains go dark.

This range of dining registers is increasingly common at Alpine destination hotels, where the logic is that guests spending three or four nights should have reasons to eat differently each evening. Among Swiss mountain properties that pursue a similar multi-format approach, the comparison set includes The Alpina Gstaad, CERVO Mountain Resort in Zermatt, and Grand Hotel Kronenhof in Pontresina, each of which manages the tension between destination fine dining and accessible daily eating in a different way.

Positioning Within Swiss Alpine Hospitality

Switzerland's premium mountain hotel market has two broad modes: the grand-hotel tradition of long-established resorts, and the design-led boutique tier that has grown considerably since the mid-2000s. 7132 Hotel sits in neither category cleanly. Its architecture places it firmly in the design-led conversation, with credentials that few properties anywhere can match. Its scale , 22 rooms in the primary hotel , keeps it in boutique territory. Yet the Michelin-starred restaurant, helicopter transfers, and thermal bath access give it a service architecture closer to the integrated resort category.

That positioning places 7132 in a peer set that includes architecturally ambitious Swiss properties like Bürgenstock Resort and The Chedi Andermatt, both of which have invested heavily in design and wellness infrastructure in recent years. Further afield in Switzerland's broader luxury hotel roster, properties like Badrutt's Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Baur au Lac in Zurich, and Beau-Rivage Geneva represent a different tradition entirely: the grand-hotel mode built on institutional heritage rather than architectural provocation. Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern and Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne occupy similar positions. 7132 is a different argument altogether: that architecture, geology, and design authorship can justify a remote destination in a way that brand legacy and lakeside views cannot.

The hotel received two Michelin Keys in 2024, a recognition that aligns with Michelin's relatively new hotel evaluation programme and confirms that the property is now tracking against an international peer set, not simply a regional one. For travellers comparing Alpine options at this price tier , rooms from approximately $734 per night , the relevant comparisons extend beyond Switzerland to include design-led mountain hotels across Austria and France. Within Switzerland's own Alpine canon, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and Valsana Hotel in Arosa offer different wellness-led propositions worth comparing directly.

Planning a Stay

Vals is reached via Ilanz in the Rhine Valley, with the final stretch a mountain road that requires adequate time and, in winter, appropriate vehicle preparation. The hotel offers helicopter transfers as an alternative, which compresses the approach considerably and changes the arrival sequence from a gradual mountain ascent to an aerial one. Exclusive helicopter tours also provide access to skiing terrain and high-altitude hiking routes that are otherwise difficult to reach from the valley floor. Horse-drawn sleigh rides to Alp Arosa and access to the hotel's ice rink round out the winter activity programme for guests who want something between the baths and the slopes. Guests considering Vals alongside broader Swiss itineraries might also weigh the urban contrast offered by Hotel Bellevue Palace in Bern or Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel as bookending stays that shift register entirely.

The property also includes 7132 House of Architects, a separate building on the same site offering a less expensive and less formal version of the architectural experience, relevant for travel parties with different budget parameters or for guests who want the design encounter without the full-service hotel infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of setting is 7132 Hotel?

7132 Hotel occupies a remote Alpine village in the Graubünden canton of Switzerland, at roughly 1,250 metres elevation. The location is defined by its geology: the valley's geothermic springs, the local Vals quartzite, and the surrounding mountain terrain all feed directly into the hotel's architecture and wellness programming. Rates begin at approximately $734 per night, and the property holds two Michelin Keys (2024), placing it among Switzerland's recognised design-led destination hotels.

What's the most popular room type at 7132 Hotel?

The hotel offers four distinct room categories, each designed by a different architect: Peter Zumthor (stucco rooms), Tadao Ando (wood-finish rooms referencing Japanese teahouse tradition), Kengo Kuma (oak-clad rooms, plus three penthouses with panoramic terraces), and Thom Mayne (timber and quartzite options). The Kuma penthouses represent the hotel's most complete architectural statement and include private helicopter or limousine transfers within Switzerland. Awards-conscious travellers should note the property's two Michelin Keys recognition (2024).

What is 7132 Hotel known for?

7132 Hotel is known primarily for three things: its multi-architect room programme (Zumthor, Kuma, Ando, Mayne), its access to the adjacent Therme Vals thermal baths , also designed by Zumthor and built from 60,000 slabs of local quartzite , and the two-Michelin-starred 7132 Silver restaurant. The combination of architectural authorship and geothermic wellness infrastructure, in a valley reachable only by mountain road or helicopter from central Switzerland, defines the property's position in the Swiss luxury hotel market.