Traditional Alpine activities still explain the region's popularity, along with its natural beauty and innate hospitality. Early visitors came from the UK, pioneers in Alpine sports who climbed 30 Swiss peaks between 1850 and 1865, and Queen Victoria who initiated noble Swiss tourism on a 5-week getaway in 1868 with 3 daughters and 2 ponies, in a select guest-house overlooking Lucerne. In 1864, hotelier Johannes Badrutt launched the winter season by inviting four aristocratic English families to spend Christmas in St. Moritz. The Brits introduced sledge rides, skating, snowshoes, bobsleighs, skijoring… Skiing took off in 1893, in Glarus, where Christof Iselin developed skis and organized the first Swiss ski race in 1902, the first ski-jumping event and first Swiss Championship - which he won, with 10,000 onlookers, in 1905. By then, the Swiss Ski Federation had over 700 members.

After a devastating village fire in 1898, Gstaad saw tourism as a life-saver, but the area was hard to reach. In 1905, the Montreux Oberland Bernois company opened the first electrified railway in the Alps, stunning trips from Montreux to Lucerne, winding around lakes, mountains, and calling at Gstaad. Ten hotels were soon built by locals, including the Grand Hotel Alpina in 1907 and the Gstaad Palace in 1913. Belgium's royal family opened a school, followed by Le Rosey's winter campus in 1916. The students' affluent parents comprised an elegant clientele, later joined by celebrities from David Niven to David Bowie… A discerning "high society" won over by Gstaad's quality, professionalism and discretion, its scenery, high-end events agenda, wellness amenities, sports, first-class cuisine, and a mandatory chalet style for new residences adding another source of income. Glamour but very little glitz…