With multiple restaurants and bars to choose from, W Verbier offers an exciting range of culinary experiences in this popular Swiss ski resort town. The first location of the W Hotels Worldwide group in Switzerland, this luxury hotel started welcoming guests in 2013. Whether arriving in winter for skiing or in summer for hiking and mountain biking, W Verbier will keep you nourished in style with fresh, local ingredients and dishes inspired by Switzerland and beyond.
Restaurants & Bars at W Verbier
The five-star W Verbier hotel is currently home to the following bars and restaurants:
- Arctic Juice & Café: A cozy, modern coffee and juice bar with smoothies, savory bowls and other breakfast and brunch items.
- W Living Room: All the W Hotels have a “living room,” a centrally located space for guests to gather. The lounge and cocktail menu includes sweet and savory dishes and a full array of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
- W Kitchen: Open every day and year-round, this restaurant serves breakfast in the morning and dinner in the evening, with an emphasis on Swiss cuisine.
- Eat-Hola Tapas Bar: Since the hotel opened, Michelin-starred chef Sergi Arola has served as the culinary director of the tapas bar.
- Carve Sushi Bar & Asian Fusion – Currently closed; reopening for the 2022-2023 winter season.
- La Plage at W Off Piste: During the summer months, this outdoor bar and café take on a beach-like atmosphere. In the winter, this space transforms into an après-ski bar.
Sergi Arola’s Eat-Hola Tapas Bar
The Spanish chef, Sergi Arola, has been with W Verbier since the hotel opened nearly 10 years ago. Now based in Chile, he also has a Michelin-starred restaurant, LAB By Sergi Arola, in Sintra, Portugal. Several times each year, he makes his way to Verbier, to oversee the menu planning at his Eat-Hola Tapas Bar. This warm, comfortable space invites you to linger a while over a glass of red wine.
Imagine a warm Spanish-style omelette, described as “parasseuse” (lazy) because its only cooked on one side served with chorizo and thin, crispy potatoes. Chef Arola sources the chorizo from a local butcher in nearby Orsières. Or perhaps you might enjoy a small personal-sized gratin, with crabmeat, Emmentaler and Parmesan cheese. These are the kinds of dishes you would enjoy after a day of outdoor activities in the mountains. Sitting at the bar, you can watch the chefs at work while enjoying your meal.
Working with Local Food & Wine Producers
During my stay at W Verbier, I visited a local vineyard in Chalais that supplies the hotel with a variety of wines. The Ozenit vineyard started in 2013, and their grapevines became certified as organic three years later. In partnership with W Verbier, Ozenit produced a special wine made just for the hotel: “W Verbier x Ozenit Assemblage” (2019), which includes the syrah, pinot noir and cornalin grape varieties.
Made onsite at the hotel with a mixture of Swiss and German flour, W Verbier’s bread also deserves a mention. You’ll find it on the breakfast buffet in the morning, along with other Swiss specialties like Birchermüesli and local cheeses. Using an indirect method of preparation, the chefs add a pre-fermented dough into the final dough mixture with a low quantity of yeast. The result is a crusty exterior with a softer, more open texture on the inside.
123 Rooms and Suites at the W Verbier
Overall, I found that W Verbier has a fun, contemporary alpine vibe. Even though it has all the amenities of a five-star hotel, it maintains a feeling of comfort without feeling overly formal. This atmosphere carries over into its restaurants, which offer exceptional service and a creative twist on traditional Swiss dishes.
How to get there:
Located a short walk from the cable car station in Verbier, the hotel is easily accessed via public transportation (that’s how I arrived there). By car, it’s just over 3 hours from Zurich and at approximately 2 hours from Geneva.
W Verbier, Rue de Médran 70, Verbier, 1936 Switzerland, +41 (0)27 472 88 80
Please note: I stayed at the W Vebier for one night as a guest of this hotel. As always, the thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are purely my own.