Destination: Andermatt
This tiny Swiss ski village just entered rarified air as one of the top five most expensive alpine destinations. Here's how it happened.
You’ve heard of Verbier, St. Moritz, Zermatt and Gstaad. Now, up-and-coming Andermatt needs to be on your radar.
Glitzy ski resorts from Verbier to Gstaad are the jet-set stuff of legend. But Andermatt, a tiny town nestled beneath the towering peaks of Gemsstock mountain, was never part of that scene. The village was practically dormant for decades as a garrison reserved for the Swiss Army during the Cold War. By the time the army left town in 2003, there were fewer than 1,300 residents.
Bernard (Banz) Simmen, 53, a fifth generation Andermatter who now offers hiking and nature tours to international visitors, is one of them. To listen to him tell it, in English heavily accented by his native Romansh, this was a peaceful place for illiterate, yet skilled mountaineers and off-piste skiers who know far too much about avalanches. But Simmen also insists its potential has been known since Roman times. “We are at the center of Europe here. We have Oberalp Pass connecting the Rhine Valley towards Austria. You have Furka Pass, connecting the Rhone Valley to Geneva to France. And you have Gotthard Pass, connecting [the canton] Ticino to Milan and Venice,” he says, his wolf-like eyes peeking out from under a well-worn cap and skin weathered by years of harsh winters. “We were never isolated. We are the extenders of the Silk Road, as some of the first silk dealers of Switzerland.”
Today, the picture looks radically different. According to the latest report from the Chief Investment Office of UBS, Andermatt is not only among the top five most expensive ski towns in Switzerland, it is currently the fastest growing (according to 10-year average real estate appreciation). Though Verbier has the most expensive homes in the Alps, at around $24K per square meter, St. Moritz, Zermatt and Gstaad are very close behind. In 2024, Andermatt took 5th place with prices hovering around $21,133 per square meter. How on earth did this happen?
The Backstory
In 2005, the Swiss ambassador to Egypt, Charles-Edouard Held, invited real estate tycoon Samih Sawiris to come to Andermatt, because they both recognized that this place, after the military abandoned its barracks, was in decline. Sawiris had made his fortune primarily through Orascom Development Holding, a public real estate company known for ‘creating destinations’ in Egypt, Montenegro and the United Kingdom. The question was: would an Egyptian billionaire’s vision be approved by locals? (They put it to a town-hall style vote, and nearly everyone voted in favor). The fact that Sawiris speaks German is said to have helped his case. By 2008, the company Andermatt Swiss Alps was created as the vehicle to achieve his project, and development began in earnest.
So far, Sawiris has spent $1.4 billion building the 119-room Chedi Andermatt hotel, a 244-room Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen, a world-class concert hall designed by architect Christina Seilern, a championship golf course, two Michelin-starred restaurants, a new eatery by star chef Andreas Caminada, and 42 apartment buildings. According to Tom Rendell, Chief Marketing Officer at Andermatt Swiss Alps, two more hotels are on the way.
Outside Switzerland, Sawiris is also moving ahead with plans for a resort on the coast of Croatia, and an upcoming resort in Barbuda to rival Robert de Niro’s Nobu hotel. This momentum, and the fact that Andermatt is only an hour and a half from Zurich, makes Orascom’s success seem inevitable. But it wasn’t. There were a few big breaks along the way.
In 2014, Sawiris managed to obtain a unique exemption from the country’s stringent Lex Koller law, which prohibits foreigners from acquiring property in the country. In most Swiss cantons, land ownership is restricted to residents of Switzerland only. Now, Andermatt is one of the only ways to own Swiss real estate as a US resident—at least up until 2040. For investors, the appeal is obvious: it’s an opportunity to purchase a revenue-generating real asset, by renting out the property during ski season.
“In the beginning, when Samih came and looked around, he said that he would do a very big project, but not a small one. His view was that in order to make this viable, you had to be able to sell real estate to non-Swiss people. That was the key to it. And in order to do that, we needed to get an exemption from the law,” says Russell Collins, Chief Commercial Officer Real Estate at Andermatt Swiss Alps AG. “We got [the exemption], because the overall project has a very positive effect on the region. You have to consider that we’ve created employment, massive amounts of taxes, and millions of visitors, who would never have come here.”
Then, another breakthrough happened. In 2022, the American behemoth Vail Resorts bought a majority share in the combined Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski area, comprising nearly 112 miles of pristine pistes. That immediately meant anyone with an Epic ski pass could gain access to untouched powder 4,715 feet above sea level. (Vail Resorts also closed on its purchase of Crans-Montana Mountain Resort in Switzerland in 2024, for those keeping track). Colorado’s ski elite took notice.
“Vacations in the Alps became en vogue again—and have remained so: In 2023, most hotels in the top destinations were pretty much fully booked out at peak times, with room rates rising sharply. This also boosted demand for vacation apartments. Because being able to enjoy a break at your favorite location at any time without the stress of booking has become more important,” reads the UBS Alpine Property Focus report.
So, You Want to Buy a Swiss Chalet?
Of course, there’s a catch. Pricing power is increasing as the town matures. “Our property prices have been increasing at a rate of 7.7% per annum on average since we started,” Felix Garifoulline, Business Development Manager at Andermatt Swiss Alps, told Forbes. He also says most properties require a minimum of a 40% down payment (for foreign buyers). If that doesn’t make your eyes water, read on. Here’s a look inside the most expensive penthouses in Andermatt.
The ELVA Penthouse | CHF 6.75 million ($7.6 million)
“I wanted Elva to be a calm building, a house that beams with serenity, like a rock that’s always been there,” says architect Oliver Brandenberger. The 19-foot vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows fill the penthouse with natural light, anchored by the weight of natural stone and wood throughout. “The inside features natural stone from the Valais, as well as larch wood for the floors. There are still some larch forests in and around Andermatt, so this material creates a nice link to the surrounding landscape, plus it smells nice because we use untreated wood.”
The GILDA Penthouses | CHF 3.35 million ($3.7 million)
Gilda is a tribute to 1930’s Bauhaus architecture. Think large curved windows that look out onto the Alps, pale walnut wood and porcelain stone fireplaces. “We interpreted the building’s streamlined design and long lines as the horizon and coupled that with the idea of travel. You see, in the 1930s—the era of Bauhaus—a lot of buildings were curved to mimic the dynamic advancements in automobiles,” says David Marquardt of MACH Architecture.
The Ava Penthouse | CHF2.95 million ($3.3 million)
AVA is a collection of 11 residences and two penthouses designed to modernize the Swiss chalet, by the architects from the Zurich-based firm OOS. Think zen minimalism with design features like Swedish Hästens beds and mod Penta pendant lighting, surrounded by elements of local stone, wood, and glass.
And there you have it. Over a third of the new homes in Andermatt are owned by non-Swiss residents. Join them, before it’s too late.