The landscape comes with the room
Waldhaus Sils has Val Fex at its door, a valley protected by agreement since 1954.
Josef and Amalia Giger-Nigg were 61 and 59 when they opened Waldhaus Sils on 15 June 1908. After decades managing grand hotels for others, they spent 2½ years working alongside architect Karl Koller to build their dream. They decided everything from the building’s perch on its wooded hill to the dining-room cutlery. Swiss Historic Hotels calls the result an exceptional original. Waldhaus feels grand and deeply personal at the same time.
That personal touch is tangible because the same family still runs it. The 5th-generation brothers Claudio and Patrick Dietrich have led the hotel since 2010. For decades, the family has invested several million Swiss francs a year while keeping the hotel close to its original size, so the atmosphere can remain intimate.
The restored 1908 suites still have their original living-room and bedroom furnishings, along with the original fittings in 1 of the 2 bathrooms. The hotel received ICOMOS Suisse’s 2016 anniversary award for the way the family had cared for the historic hotel while continuing to develop it. The same respect for old materials appears in Sextantio’s restoration.
Rising above Sils-Maria between the Upper Engadine lakes and Val Fex, the hotel enjoys an unusually well-preserved landscape. A 1954 agreement between the municipality, the Swiss Heritage Society, Pro Natura and Pro Helvetia ruled out new car parks, ski lifts, chairlifts, overhead power lines and holiday homes in the valley.
Traffic remains strongly restricted today. Visitors explore Val Fex’s open meadows and walking paths on foot, by bicycle or by horse-drawn carriage, alongside authorised local and service vehicles.
A landscape you can hear
The ambient sounds around a hotel can shape how restful your stay feels. A large 2022 review of transport noise and sleep offers a clear contrast. Across 36 studies and 173,160 responses, higher night-time aircraft, road and railway noise was linked with more reported sleep disturbance.
Another review looked directly at natural sounds. A 2021 paper found 36 publications on sounds such as water, wind and birds. Natural sounds were linked with less stress and annoyance, and with better mood and other health measures.
The 1954 agreement kept several new sources of traffic and machinery out of Val Fex. That gives the valley’s natural sounds more room. Our guides to quiet, darkness and a cool temperature cover the room itself. Val Fex shows how much the land around a hotel can add.
Make the landscape easy to enter
Waldhaus treats the outdoors as part of the stay. In summer it offers guided walks from Monday to Friday. Guests staying 2 nights or more receive local public transport and mountain-lift passes. The hotel makes walking easy to include in the day.
A 2019 study helps explain why easy access to the valley is valuable. It looked at 19,806 adults in England and the time they had spent in nature during the previous week. People who reported at least 120 minutes were more likely to report good health. Those 120 minutes could be gathered through several shorter walks across the week.
Other hotels can borrow this idea by putting one good walk on the programme, including local transport and making sure staff know the route well. That first walk also pairs naturally with the morning light guide. At Waldhaus, the protected valley is already waiting beyond Sils-Maria’s village square.
Useful details
Can natural sounds help reduce stress?
A 2021 review found overall evidence that natural sounds were linked with lower stress and annoyance, along with better mood and other health measures.
Which natural sounds were included in the research?
The review covered water, birds and mixed natural sounds. It identified 36 publications and combined 18 of them in a meta-analysis.
Does night-time transport noise affect sleep?
A 2022 review found that higher night-time transport noise was linked with more reported sleep disturbance across 36 studies and 173,160 responses.
Which kinds of transport noise were studied?
The review examined aircraft, road and railway noise experienced by people at home.
How much time in nature was linked with good health?
In a study of 19,806 adults in England, people reporting at least 120 minutes in nature during the previous week were more likely to report good health.
Do the 120 minutes need to happen in one visit?
No difference was found between reaching 120 minutes in one long visit or through several shorter visits across the week.
What counted as nature in the 2019 study?
The survey included parks, canals, nature areas, beaches, countryside, farmland, woodland, hills and rivers. It excluded routine shopping trips and time in a private garden.
Does a walk count as time in nature?
Yes, when the walk takes place in a natural setting such as a park, woodland, beach or countryside. The study counted recreational visits to these kinds of places.
For the hotel history, Waldhaus Sils records the founders, opening date and construction, along with the 5 generations of family management. Swiss Historic Hotels confirms the founders, architect, family continuity and attention to the original building. The hotel documents the restored furnishings in its 1908 suites. ICOMOS Suisse and Swissinfo record the 2016 award.
For Val Fex, PROFEX records the 1954 agreement, its signatories and its terms. The municipality of Sils describes the valley’s restricted traffic, walking times and routes. Waldhaus lists its guided walks and included regional transport.
The 3 research papers are Smith, Cordoza and Basner’s 2022 review of transport noise and sleep, Buxton and colleagues’ 2021 review of natural sound, and White and colleagues’ 2019 study of time in nature. The first 2 are systematic reviews. The 2019 paper analysed a national survey of adults in England. Its observational design could not establish cause.
Dominik Baur photographed Waldhaus Sils. The hotel supplied the images and approved their use here.