Hotel Chalavaina

The house is ancient. It was first documented in 1254, and the moment you step inside, you can feel it. The beams have carried the ceiling for centuries. Today, beneath them, stands a USM Haller reception desk, and behind it Isolde, smiling. She takes us through the house and its history. The beams above the check-in desk, she tells us, are pierced with holes because this was where arriving knights once rested their lances before entering the Stube, as etiquette required.

The rest of the room carries its history just as naturally. A black-and-white handwoven rug from Tessanda, the century-old weaving mill in nearby Santa Maria, highlights the space. Much of what we see comes from the valley.

The rooms have been renovated with heart, beautiful in their simplicity. The bathrooms are the current project, adding the comfort today’s guests might want. In the smallest single room stands the original 16th-century bed frame, lengthened by a handspan by the carpenter — people were smaller then, and it shows in every corner. The frame is history. The sleep isn’t.

So even if you’re tall, come anyway. Just duck where you must – in what might be Switzerland’s oldest hotel. Follow Isolde as she picks up the cast-iron keys and leads you through the house’s history. The house, the garden, the neighbouring Kloster St. Johann, the village, the valley. It’s more than worth the journey.

We don’t wait long that evening to claim the Stube for ourselves. From what we decide is the best seat, taking it all in, the plates arrive one after another – and the proximity of South Tyrol just over the border certainly makes itself felt. Everything we taste is wonderful. The dishes are as colourful as the garden outside the door. We’d already spotted the apricots from the tree outside being preserved in the hallway and waited for them to arrive as dessert, tonight with milk chocolate mousse.

For the tall chef Oliver Thialer, the worktops were raised a few centimetres. He’s at the stove from midday, preparing what’s served so effortlessly by evening. Fine cooking in the old Stube – every bit as grand as it sounds.