I spent months planning our trip to Switzerland; my third trip in 10 years. I wanted to get beyond the most common tourist destinations and see new parts of the country I had never seen before. So, I chose to spend several days in the Lower Engadine Valley at the Schlosshotel Chaste. It became our favorite hotel of our 2 week trip. First, if your train arrives at night, the hotel sits below a 12th century castle, which is all lit up and spectacular to see from the train. The village is quite small and so quiet, which is exactly what we were looking for. Exploring the other local villages was easy to do when combining hiking with either a local bus or train. At the end of a long day hiking, it was heaven to come back to the Schlosshotel Chaste and relax. We both had massages at the end of the day that were very good and you need to plan these in advance (make arrangements that morning or the evening before). The meals were exquisite, the dining room charming, the staff was attentive; the family who runs the hotel is so dedicated to a high quality experience. We loved our room and the beds. Our room had a door to the outside, so we felt like we were staying in a cottage instead of a standard hotel room. When you are making the decision of which hotel to stay at in this region and you are thousands of miles away, it feels like a momentous decision. But, once we arrived in the region, it really is no contest at all. The Schlosshotel Chaste is without a doubt the best in the local area. It is ideal if you want a peaceful retreat in the country. If you want lots of action, it's not the place for you. We intentionally didn't stay in St. Moritz because we felt it was going to be "too busy". It turned out to be the right decision. We loved our stay so much at the Schlosshotel Chaste, that we cancelled a three day excursion to Lugano and instead extended our stay here. Again, we wanted to avoid the summer crowds of Lugano and avoid a noisy city. When you are in the village of Tarasp, you can easily imagine life as it was hundreds of years ago.

Stayed for a weekend and discovered the beauty of the lower Engandin. Impressive mountains, picturesque villages, green meadows and friendly people. The hotel is a gem in the local traditional style of chalets. Yet very modern. It offers all the amenities and the cuisine is extraordinary. The owners, the Parzeller family, do everything to make ones stay pleasant and unforgetable. The near-by castle is beautifully maintained and we had the pleasure to enjoy a memorable dinner with friends (catered by the hotel) in an impressive dinning room. 10 minutes away is a rather challenging 9-hole golf course (Golf Club Vulpera). The hotel is a reason to go back to the Engadin.

The Hotel Chaste is run in the 22nd (!) generation by the family Pazeller and it shows: Their hospitality and love for the details is amazing. The Chaste is great if you want to go hiking in the National Forest or enjoy the untouched sites of the Unterengadin, like Sent and Ftan, where you can also enjoy great restaurants!
We had a dinner with friends at Chaste and it was outstanding!I can recommend the tower suite or the other suite, you will enjoy a nice seperate sitting/dining room with a huge flat panel TV, a large bathroom and a cosy bedroom. They offer free wifi, but at miserable speed .

May wife and I had traveled with our two sons and their families-children 5-14 for two weeks in the alps in Austria and the Dolomites in Italy...walking vacations...absolutely wonderful, especially to be with the kids and grandkids. Then we went by ourselves to the Engadine Valley. We've been six or eight times to other parts of Switzerland but this was our first here. We treated ourselves the last three days to the Schlosshotel Chaste. It is terrific...high end for our normal vacations but if you want to splurge make sure it's perfect...and this is it. Everyone from the chef to the receptionist to our waitress were nice and helpful. The room and the views were gorgeous. Tarasp probably doesn't have...at least around the area of the hotel more than 100 year round residents. And then, of course, there is what we came to refer to as "our castle", started in 1100, 500 years before the hotel, sitting up there above us, looking down. And the food was exquisite. Finally it would be difficult to say too much about the beauty of the setting.