Kempinski Palace Engelberg

The Palace opens onto the Kurpark, among Engelberg’s mountains. Choose it for village life and walking trails with a grand hotel to come back to.

A week here, month by month

I come to the Palace for its 32 °C water after a day in the mountains, in a 15-metre pool. Only from 6.30pm is it adults-only, though: earlier, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, there is a splash hour for children.

The hotel website

Is it for you?

For 2, the Belle Époque Room would be my choice for its circular bedroom and south-facing windows. Its balcony gives you a place for coffee overlooking the mountains.

I’d ask for
A Belle Époque Room with a balcony.
Worth knowing
This category has a king-size bed.
The circular Belle Époque Room bedroom

Like a regular

The staircase and marble of the historic lobby

10 min readHow we write the guide

  1. Titlis Suite for 4

    For 4, ask for the top-floor Titlis Suite: it sleeps up to 4, and its private terrace overlooks the Titlis and the village.

  2. Parking in 2027

    Garage parking costs CHF 30 a night until 31 December 2026 and CHF 35 from 1 January 2027. Outdoor parking costs CHF 25 a night.

  3. Setting off to ski

    During the ski season, take the complimentary shuttle to the Titlis valley station, Brunni or Klostermatte. For equipment, Intersport Achermann has a hire shop in the hotel, with skis and even clothing available.

What Kempinski Palace Engelberg is

The Palace is a Belle Époque hotel, restored and extended over 5 years. Today it has 129 rooms and suites. The Grand Belle Époque Suite joins a suite and 2 further bedrooms around a shared living area, a choice for a holiday across generations.11

In the Lumina Guide

Lumina Guide 2027

In the guide because the Palace makes a grand hotel part of an Alpine holiday: you can travel light and still find room for a large family.

Distinctions

How we choose the hotels

Its badges

What makes it rare

What makes it rare

A badge is an experience travellers look for, that is really here and that few hotels in the guide have.

What the badges are

The 5 things that matter, as guests tell them

What do Kempinski Palace Engelberg’s guests say? They write it in their reviews, even those who only came for a drink or dinner: we read every one and tell the 5 things that matter, from the location to the bill.

  1. Location

    Nearly every guest who mentions it is happy with it. Guests enjoy walking around the village and being close to the station. Strolls among its shops and restaurants become part of the stay.

  2. Room

    9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Guests enjoy the beds and the choice of pillows. In hot weather, however, several have struggled with rooms without air conditioning.

  3. Staff and service

    8 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. The concierge looks for alternatives: when a family cannot book a horse-drawn carriage, he offers a private golf cart tour. Other guests remember a cake for a celebration.

  4. Breakfast

    9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Breakfast’s variety appeals: one guest remembers rösti, pancakes and even chicken curry. Another notices gyoza and a buckwheat crêpe on the separate breakfast menu.

  5. Price

    The bill divides opinion: one guest considers the experience worth the expense, while others expected more, particularly from the spa.

Where Kempinski Palace Engelberg leads

  • Breakfast

    On breakfast it comes ahead of the 4 other hotels it is compared with among Swiss five-star hotels.

How we count
Kempinski Palace Engelberg in numbers
WhatGuests’ scoreGuests who mention itHappy
Location9.06398%
Room7.75886%
Staff and service7.912981%
Breakfast8.33394%
Price–128%

167 guests said so on Google, from 11 November 2024 to 13 October 2026. The reviews include visits to restaurants and bars without an overnight stay. The other hotels are assessed on the same 5 themes. The score is the average of what they say, from 0 if they speak of it very badly to 10 if they speak of it very well. Where only a few mention something, the score stays close to the guide’s average: a handful of voices does not make a reputation.

The hotels we weigh it against among Swiss five-star hotels:

Price: for 2, the night of 15 November 2026, from 411 CHF on Google Hotels on 23 October 2026.

What a night costs, period by period

Nights cost more from late November to March; from late March, prices fall.

PeriodCHF a night
25 October to 26 November 2026399–578
27 Nov 2026–20 Mar 2027536–1,203
21 March to 24 June 2027468–680
25 June to 18 September 2027553–723

One night for 2 adults; room category, meals and taxes unspecified. November also has single nights at CHF 399; the table ends on 18 September 2027. Google Hotels prices, 23 October 2026. For 7 nights booked together from 16 to 23 November 2026, CHF 436 a night from the lowest seller, CHF 443 in the hotel’s listing.

Through the palace

The façades, restaurant and spa interiors.

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The palace and garden from abovefrom 0:22 · Kempinski Hotels · 31 October 2022Watch on YouTube
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The dome and the mountainsfrom 0:34 · Kempinski Hotels · 31 October 2022Watch on YouTube
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The façade against the mountainsfrom 1:10 · Kempinski Hotels · 10 February 2026Watch on YouTube
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0:47
The restaurant with tall windowsfrom 0:47 · Kempinski Hotels · 10 February 2026Watch on YouTube
YouTube
25:50
Relaxing beneath the spa’s glass rooffrom 25:50 · DRelicious Story 4K · 25 April 2023Watch on YouTube

Where to linger

The Cattani dining room with flowers and chandeliers

Cattani Restaurant

Cattani draws on southern Europe and North Africa, using ingredients from the region. It is my choice for Mediterranean flavours after a day in the mountains.1

The indoor pool beneath the rooftop spa windows

Swim above Engelberg

The indoor pool measures 15 × 5 m; the whirlpool faces the Hahnen. Spa admission is included for resident guests.11

Good to know before you book

  • Check-in is from 3pm and check-out is by 12pm. Source: kempinski.com

  • A dog costs CHF 50 per day, including a dog bed, bowls and a toy. Source: kempinski.com

Choose your room

Boutique RoomBoutique Room25–29 m²Up to 2 guests.View the room Superior RoomSuperior Room30–38 m²Up to 2 guests.View the room Belle Époque RoomBelle Époque Room39–48 m²Up to 2 guests.View the room Deluxe RoomDeluxe Room42–49 m²Up to 3 guests.View the room Premier RoomPremier Room41–47 m²Up to 4 guests.View the room Junior SuiteJunior Suite52–55 m²Up to 4 guests.View the room Belle Époque SuiteBelle Époque Suite53–58 m²Up to 4 guests.View the room Titlis SuiteTitlis Suite55 m²Up to 4 guests.View the room Park SuitePark Suite68 m²Up to 4 guests.View the room Grand Belle Époque SuiteGrand Belle Époque Suite131 m²Up to 8 guests.View the room

Getting here

AddressDorfstrasse 40, 6390 Engelberg

A day at the Palace

In the morning

Take time over breakfast

The breakfast buffet includes à la carte dishes at no extra charge. At weekends you have until 11am; Monday to Friday, until 10.30am.

Before going out

Choose a virtual class

At the Palace Gym, try the fitness mirror for a virtual yoga or boxing class. The gym is open 24 hours.

In the afternoon

Tea in the boots room

The Wintergarden was the boots room in the early 20th century. Today, book tea here from 2pm to 5pm, with scones, clotted cream and lemon curd.

Before dinner

A sauna with a view

Choose a wooden bench in the Finnish sauna facing the mountains. The sauna area stays open until 9pm.

On a winter evening

Fondue in the chalet

Chalet Ruinart reopens on 26 November 2026. For fondue at its wooden tables, choose the 6pm sitting or the one at 8.30pm.

Reviews of Kempinski Palace Engelberg

Google

Guest voices

Google

Breakfast before departure

Before leaving, a guest arranges breakfast to take away the previous evening. A full breakfast is ready for the journey in the morning.

Google · 2026-04-09Read the review
Google

A first holiday with a baby

A family arrives with a 6-month-old baby and finds a cot, steriliser, changing table, nappy bin and a little bathrobe. The transfer has an appropriate baby seat too.

Google · 2025-02-18Read the review
Google

A hot-water bottle

After a window has been left open by mistake, a guest finds a hot-water bottle ready. It is the small gesture they remember from the stay.

Google · 2024-11-11Read the review

Before you travel

Do you need a car and where can you park?

I would arrive by train: the station is 100 m from the hotel. If you bring a car, the garage has 20 spaces with electric charging.1

What does a night at the Palace cost?

For one night for 2 adults, CHF 419 on 16 November 2026, CHF 687 on 15 January 2027 and CHF 553 on 17 March 2027. Room category, meals, taxes and other fees are unspecified. Prices from Google Hotels, checked on 23 October 2026.

Can you hold a wedding at the Palace, and what does it cost?

Yes: the Fairytale package costs CHF 299 per person and the Dream package CHF 359, both with a 1-hour aperitif, a 4-course dinner, wedding cake, a dance floor and room hire. The Kursaal, dating from 1902, takes up to 160 guests for a banquet and 400 for a cocktail reception; for a smaller private party, the Private Dining room off the Cattani holds up to 20 guests.1234

Can you use the spa without staying at the hotel?

Yes: Monday to Thursday, entry costs CHF 100 for the whole day, or CHF 70 for the morning (8am–12pm) or the evening (7pm–10pm); Friday to Sunday, CHF 150 for the whole day or CHF 100 for the evening. It includes the pool, the saunas with a bathrobe, the gym and towels; children aged 2 to 12 pay half, and under-2s go free. With a treatment from CHF 195, entry is half price.1

Is there a New Year’s Eve dinner or party?

Yes: for 31 December 2026 the Palace offers 2 Venetian Carnival-themed packages, with dinner at Cattani or a party with a show and live music in the Kursaal. Both include the midnight countdown in the Kursaal, an after-party with a DJ at the Palace Bar and a children’s dinner in The Hall with a buffet and a bouncy castle. They apply only to stays that include 31 December, with a minimum stay.12

Are there any offers or packages?

For stays until 30 November 2026, the flexible rate drops by 15% for 3 nights or more and 20% for 5 or more, with breakfast and spa included. Booking ahead saves 15% when booking at least 45 days ahead, 10% at least 14 and 5% at least 7, but that rate is non-refundable and paid in full when you book. Booking a Junior Suite for at least 2 nights until 30 November 2026 brings an upgrade to a Belle Époque Suite and CHF 50 to spend in the spa.123

Still choosing?

The Dolder Grand from the air at sunset: the turreted 1899 building between its two curved modern wings, on the wooded hillside above Zurich

The Dolder Grand

Curhaus towers above Zurich, art in the corridors and warm water facing the city.

The Belle Époque façade on Rue du Grand-Chêne: red awnings, wrought-iron balconies and the carved gable above the columned entrance porch lettered “Lausanne-Palace”, with flags; the brasserie’s green awning on the left

Lausanne Palace

Lausanne climbs behind the palace; from the right rooms, the lake appears beyond the rooftops.

Steam rising in the morning from the outdoor sports pool, with frost on the shrubs and the garden, the chalet wings with their wooden balconies on the right and rocky peaks against a clear sky on the left

ERMITAGE Wellness- & Spa-Hotel

At Ermitage, I would keep the afternoon for cake at Bärgblick.

The palace lit up at blue hour in winter, its towers above the snow-covered chalet roofs of Gstaad, with ski slopes on the mountain behind

Gstaad Palace

The palace Gstaad looks up to, from fondue in an old vault to music at GreenGo.

The Alpine Spa’s outdoor infinity pool at dusk: two bathers at the edge, a lit fountain bowl, and the lake and its shores under a pink and violet sky

Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa

From boat to ridge, Lake Lucerne returns in the view from the warm pool.

The view over the hotel’s roofs in summer: flags over the park, the Schanzengraben canal lined with boats, and Lake Zurich with the Alps on the horizon

Baur au Lac

Johannes Baur opened the hotel in 1844.

The tower and green roofs of Badrutt’s Palace under a pale pink sky, with a Swiss flag and the snow-covered Engadin mountains behind.

Badrutt’s Palace Hotel

163 rooms and suites in the Badrutt family’s towered grand hotel of 1896, with 11 restaurants, 2 pools and Via Serlas at the door; open in winter and summer

Park Hyatt Zurich exterior seen from above with the city and lake beyond

Park Hyatt Zurich

Classic rooms from 36 m² and new Deluxe categories; a redesigned Lobby Lounge between the financial quarter and lake, with refurbishment continuing.

Junior suite with a painted ceiling, frescoes and black armchairs beside the bed

Widder Hotel

49 individual rooms

Armchairs, sofas and tables around the Mandarin Lounge fireplace

Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich

Paradeplatz below the windows, tea by the fire

The Schweizerhof façade opposite the station

Hotel Schweizerhof Zürich

The station opposite, breakfast already included

Sauna with a window overlooking Zurich

Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel

Upper-floor Zurich West, from 30 m²

Up for breakfastHeld by a hotel in the top sixth for breakfast, among the guide’s hotels where at least 30 guests write about it.20 hotels of 440 hold it.

This guide is written with Lumina, the marketing system for hotels.

18 photographs

The Palace beside the Kurpark with mountains surrounding Engelberg
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The staircase and marble of the historic lobby
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The Cattani dining room with flowers and chandeliers
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The indoor pool beneath the rooftop spa windows
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Boutique Room
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Superior Room
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Belle Époque Room
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Deluxe Room
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Premier Room
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Junior Suite
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Belle Époque Suite
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Titlis Suite
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Park Suite
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Grand Belle Époque Suite
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The circular Belle Époque Room bedroom
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The Kids Club toy kitchen and little table
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The furnished Premier Room balcony facing the mountains
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The Palace Bar armchairs beside the fireplace
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