Therme Vals is to spas what the Eiffel tower is to Meccano sets

Vals is a small village deep in the Swiss Alps, at the very end of a long, narrow valley. It is no more picturesque than any other and it is quite unlikely to find yourself there accidentally. The roads are narrow, shepherd’s huts are arranged along the steep slopes and if, by chance, you walk through a parking garage up to a caged neon sign saying Therme, that is where you will turn around if you don’t have a reservation.

That is why going to the Therme feels more like a pilgrimage than a daytrip. Spas are considered places of well-being and praised for their medical effects on the Continent. Vals takes this sentiment and takes it to a whole new level. It truly feels like a temple to the Body.

Arriving at the underground entrance and passing the sign that wouldn’t look out of place in Manhattan back alley, one does think whether or not this is the fabled place. Because only a certain number of visitors are allowed at any one time, reservations are checked at the reception. The changing rooms are the first sign of what is to follow as we change behind red leather curtains and prepare ourselves on black sofas. Next, a stone ramp gently takes us down to the glittery pool enclosed by a stone wall cut with almost perverse precision.

As we explore the Therme further, a succession of caverns, waterfalls, cauldrons and nooks unfold themselves, with the grand outdoor lake topping the procession. All these spaces seem as if they were hewn out of living rock, all with the same exact and uncompromising chisel. Tying this magnificent materiality together is a set of impressive proportions which appear throughout, creating airy as well as enclosed spaces and occasionally even conjuring an air of sanctity.

Sunbathing by the outside pool, looking through the framed views into the surroundings with their pastures, huts and cows, it even seems as though it is the mountains that were created to complement this place and not the other way around.