Villars Lodge

A laid-back lodge in Villars-sur-Ollon

Villars Lodge is a hotel at Route des Hôtels 36 in Villars-sur-Ollon and a member of the Villars Alpine Resort, whose other properties listed on the site are the Villars Palace, the Victoria Hotel and Residence, the Chalet RoyAlp Hôtel and Spa and the Villars Palace Academy. The lodge describes itself as "a laid-back Swiss Lodge, where casual meets trendy", meant for people who want to escape "the formal vibes of traditional hotels". The building has history: it dates from 1870 and was once called the Bellevue Hotel.

For weddings, the lodge's offer is the whole house. Its private party page asks "Looking to organize a birthday party? Your wedding? A baby shower?" and invites couples to "Make the Lodge yours". That makes it a venue for a wedding weekend with the guests staying under one roof, in a relaxed mountain setting rather than a formal hotel.

Size and spaces

The private party page gives the key numbers in two places, and they do not quite match. The prose speaks of 57 beds, a large open bar and 90,000 m² of outdoor space, while the figures panel below it lists 57 rooms and suites, 142 beds, 1 restaurant and 2 meeting spaces. A couple should confirm the room and bed count before planning who sleeps where. Either way, the lodge describes itself as "both spacious and intimist".

The bar is the social center. The page describes an open wooden bar where the bartenders make classics or something fancier, and says that for wine lovers "the Lodge’s selection of Swiss wine is out of this world". For food, the lodge offers either "a seated dinner with your friends or a good old buffet for enhanced conviviality", and asks couples to tell it what they have in mind. The about page promises cuisine to satisfy any foodie, and the services list names delicious food, a flexible space, friendly staff and a trendy cocktail bar.

The grounds and activities

The grounds are large and set up for play. The equipment list includes a tennis court, a basketball court, a football field and a beginners' ski slope on site. Nearby, the page lists ski slopes 10 minutes away on foot, equipment rental, an ice rink, a sledging slope and an indoor swimming pool. The same page offers the lodge as a private venue for school camps in winter or summer, which shows both seasons are used.

For a wedding, that points to a winter weekend with skiing by day and dinner at the lodge by night, or a summer weekend with sport and outdoor time on the grounds. The page does not describe a garden, a terrace or a specific outdoor spot for a ceremony, so a couple wanting to marry outside should ask where on the 90,000 m² that could happen.

How booking works

The private party page has its own enquiry form for the events team, which asks for the event date, the type of event (hotel privatization, wedding, birthday or other), the number of people, and what is needed: a private dinner, breakfast, full hotel privatization, semi-privatization of specific floors only, or meeting rooms. So a couple can take the whole lodge or just part of it. The events team is reachable at sales@var.ch or +41 24 496 22 07. The lodge itself is on +41 24 496 22 95 or lodge@var.ch, and the resort's general line is +41 24 496 22 96 or info@var.ch.

The site is available in English, French and German, and the English pages are complete and written in a chatty, informal tone. The pages do not say which languages the events staff work in, so ask.

The resort behind it

The about page sets out the lodge's values: hospitality, education and sustainability. It says the lodge preserves its hospitality heritage through the Villars Palace Academy, a leadership and hospitality school within the resort, and calls itself "Eco-conscious to its core". The resort's French text adds that the group is working toward a net-zero goal. For a couple who care about how a venue is run, that is a stated commitment worth asking about in detail.

The resort's French text also describes a team with long experience in hotels that takes pride in the art of receiving guests, whether for a night, a dinner or a drink, and says the academy runs exhibitions, a cultural program and seminars open to guests. The lodge's own site links to rooms and apartments, restaurants and bars, the Villars Palace fitness club, a festive-season page, activities in Villars and gift cards, which gives a wedding party a fair amount to plan around beyond the day itself.

What the site does not say

There are no prices on the private party page: not for full or partial privatization, not for dinner or the buffet, not for rooms. There is no stated maximum for a seated dinner, no description of the restaurant or the meeting spaces, and nothing on whether a ceremony can take place at the lodge, civil or symbolic. The page gives no end time for a party, no policy on outside suppliers such as a DJ, and no minimum stay or deposit terms. It also gives no directions from Geneva airport or from a railway station and says nothing about parking, which matters in a mountain village in winter. And the mismatch between 57 beds and 142 beds needs clearing up before anyone books.

Who it suits

Villars Lodge suits a couple who want a casual, sporty mountain wedding where the guests take over the whole lodge for a weekend: skiing or tennis by day, a buffet or a seated dinner, then drinks at the wooden bar. The option of partial privatization helps a smaller wedding, and the English site makes the first steps easy from abroad.

It suits less well a couple planning a formal, black-tie wedding; the lodge itself says it is for those escaping formal hotels. Couples who need a ceremony space confirmed, published prices or clear access instructions for guests without cars will have to get all of that from the events team first.