World Art Utopia

Hotel Belvédère — Seiler family, Furka Pass

The Hotel Belvédère, a stone building with green shutters, a white mansard roof and red HOTEL letters, stands alone inside a tight hairpin bend of the Furka Pass road, with a rocky slope on the left and a deep green valley below
Artwork FileFurka Pass, Switzerland

Hotel Belvédère

SeenAug 2024

Seiler hotel family · mountain hotel, 1882 · Furka Pass road, Obergoms, Valais, Switzerland

Photo: LIU Xiao / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), taken 28 July 2018, as published on Street Art Utopia (Buildings in Impossible Places (8 Photos), 28 October 2026).

The Hotel Belvédère stands in a hairpin bend of the Furka Pass road in Valais, so precisely, the NZZ wrote, that it seems as if the road had been laid around it. The Seiler hotel family built it in 1882 for its view of the Rhône Glacier, which has since retreated so far that, according to Swissinfo, it can no longer be seen from the hotel. The hotel has been closed since 2015. Source Source Source Source Checked

Seen Aug 2024. Evidence date: 20 August 2024, the camera date of a photo by Edtrnchf on Wikimedia Commons that shows the building standing in its bend. The building stands, but the hotel is shut: Swissinfo, the NZZ and Wikipedia all say it has been closed since 2015. Source Source Source Source Checked

💡 4 things to know

  1. A bend made for the viewHotel historian Roland Flückiger-Seiler writes that the new Furka road of the 1860s was deliberately led towards the Rhône Glacier, and that the small Belvédère was built in its striking bend in 1882. The Baedeker guide of 1883 announced it at “the second bend”. Source Reported
  2. The 1904 mansard roofAccording to Flückiger-Seiler, the house was enlarged in 1894 and again in 1903–04, when it gained four window bays, two floors and the mansard roof that gives it its look today; the Baedeker of 1907 listed 90 beds. Wikipedia gives the building phases as 1890 and 1903. Source Source Conflicting
  3. The glacier moved awayWikipedia says the Rhône Glacier retreated more than a kilometre from the Belvédère; Swissinfo says it can no longer be seen from the hotel at all. Source Source Reported
  4. Famous, and shutThe NZZ called it perhaps the most famous pass hotel in the world, its front on the cover of the book “Accidentally Wes Anderson”. The Carlen family, owners since 1988, closed it in 2015; Swissinfo reported in 2023 that it was for sale. Source Source Source Checked

📍 Where it is

In the second hairpin bend of the Furka Pass road above Gletsch, Furkastrasse 378, 3999 Obergoms, Switzerland Source Source Reported

Open in Maps

Map pin from the coordinates on Wikipedia (46.576681, 8.388400). The button opens a plain map.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 1983Sep

    Photographed with the Rhône Glacier

  2. 20043 Oct

    Picswiss photo of the pass and hotel

  3. 201316 Aug

    Photographed on the Furka road

  4. 201828 Jul

    Photographed in its hairpin bend

  5. 202215 Jul

    NZZ: “the closed icon”

  6. 202328 Aug

    Swissinfo: closed since 2015, for sale

  7. 202420 Aug

    Photographed standing in the bend

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

NZZ21 November 2024

Why the famous Belvédère hotel at Furka pass may close forever

“It is perhaps the most famous pass hotel in the world: The building from the Belle Époque stands so precisely in the bend at the Furka, it seems as if the road had once been laid around it.”

Read the source →

SWI swissinfo.ch28 August 2023

Swiss lost places: Hotel Belvédère

“Since the hotel opened its doors, the Rhone Glacier has retreated so much that it can no longer be seen from the hotel.”

Read the source →

Historische Hotels (Roland Flückiger-Seiler)undated

Hotel Belvédère am Furkapass (VS) von 1882/1894/1904

„… entstand 1882 das kleine Hotel Belvédère, initiiert vom damals 24-jährigen Josef Seiler (1858-1929).“

“… the small Hotel Belvédère was built in 1882, initiated by the then 24-year-old Josef Seiler (1858–1929).”

Read the source →

✅ The facts

Name
Hotel Belvédère (Hôtel Belvédère) Source Source Source Checked
Built by
The Seiler hotel family. Flückiger-Seiler, Swissinfo and Wikipedia name Josef Seiler, then 24; the Gletsch Infopoint names his father, Alexander Seiler the Elder, and the NZZ says Alexander had it built for his son Source Source Source Source Source Conflicting
Enlarged
1894 and 1903–04 according to Flückiger-Seiler; 1890 and 1903 according to Wikipedia Source Source Conflicting
Beds
90 by 1907, according to the Baedeker guide Source Source Checked
Altitude
About 2,300 m, according to the Gletsch Infopoint Source Reported
Address
Furkastrasse 378, 3999 Obergoms, Valais Source Reported
Owners
The Canton of Valais bought the Seilers’ company in the mid-1980s (1985 according to Flückiger-Seiler, 1984 according to Swissinfo); the Carlen family of Brig has owned the hotel since 1988 Source Source Source Conflicting
Film
Seen in the James Bond film Goldfinger, released in 1964; Swissinfo dates Bond’s drive past the hotel to 1965 Source Source Source Source Conflicting
Closed
Since 2015 Source Source Source Checked
For sale
Reported for sale by Swissinfo in August 2023 Source Reported

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Photo: LIU Xiao / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), taken 28 July 2018, as published on Street Art Utopia (Buildings in Impossible Places (8 Photos), 28 October 2026).

Last checked: 28 October 2026 · How we verify art