Andermatt

For centuries Andermatt was a place men passed through — muleteers, then Gotthard coachmen, then the Swiss army, which garrisoned the high Urseren valley and left it beautifully unspoiled. Its rebirth is recent and remarkable: a once-sleepy village at the crossroads of the Gotthard, Furka and Oberalp passes has become the Alps' most interesting new address, anchored by serious investment and the Gemsstock's legendary freeride faces. The Schöllenen Gorge below, where the Devil's Bridge spans the young Reuss, supplies the drama; the village itself supplies something rarer — space, silence and snow-sure altitude well within two hours of Zurich. The connoisseurs arrived early. Others are beginning to understand.

From Zurich your chauffeur runs south past Zug and along the Axenstrasse, carved above Lake Lucerne, joining the A2 through the Reuss valley to Göschenen before the final climb through the Schöllenen Gorge — around one hour and forty-five minutes. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is in its element here, composed on the gorge's curves and indifferent to weather at 1,440 metres. Your chauffeur tracks Gotthard-corridor traffic to time the departure, carries chains from the first November snows, and coordinates arrival with The Chedi's residence team. In summer, ask for the long way home: the Furka Pass, where Goldfinger was filmed, remains one of the great driving roads of Europe.

The Chedi Andermatt rewrote what an alpine hotel could be — Japanese restraint, open fires, a glass cheese tower in the lobby and The Japanese Restaurant's starred precision. Ride the lift to lunch at Gütsch, 2,300 metres above the valley; in winter, take the first Gemsstock cable car after a storm, when the north face is still untracked. Summer brings the championship golf course on the valley floor and concerts in the Andermatt Konzerthalle, the village's surprising new hall. End with the Glacier Express, which pauses here on its way between Zermatt and St. Moritz — quiet proof that Andermatt has always been the centre of the map.