Badrutt's Palace

Alfred Hitchcock honeymooned here in the 1920s and returned for decades — reportedly, it was watching alpine choughs circling the hotel's tower that inspired The Birds. American bobsledder Billy Fiske, later killed in the Battle of Britain, was better known at Badrutt's for his habit of swinging from the bar chandelier. Opened in 1896, the neo-Gothic palace designed by Chiodera and Tschudi has 157 rooms, eight restaurants, a 30,000-bottle wine cellar, and a spa built into the rock over three floors. Its New Year's Eve party — fancy dress, naturally — books out a year in advance.