There is a thermal spa in a remote valley in the Swiss canton of Graubünden that architects travel from across the world to experience. Not to stay at a hotel nearby. Not to take a day trip en route to somewhere more famous. But specifically, deliberately, with considerable planning and expense, to stand inside its quartzite chambers and feel what Peter Zumthor — widely considered one of the greatest living architects — created when he built it between 1993 and 1996.
The 7132 Therme in Vals is that rare thing: a building that changes the way you think about what buildings can do. And the 7132 Hotel, which grew up around it and now incorporates rooms designed by four Pritzker Prize-winning architects, has turned a pilgrimage destination into one of Europe’s most remarkable places to spend a night — or several.
Getting There Is Part of the Experience
Vals is not easy to reach. The village sits at the end of a narrow valley in the southeastern corner of Switzerland, approximately an hour’s drive from Chur along mountain roads that discourage the casual visitor. There is a PostBus service from Chur via Ilanz, but most guests arrive by car, or aboard the 7132 Hotel’s own helicopter, which offers transfers from Swiss airports for those who have made the decision to arrive as dramatically as possible.
This geographic remoteness is not a flaw in the hotel’s proposition. It is the proposition. Vals has been insulated from mass tourism precisely because reaching it requires commitment. The village retains an authenticity that more accessible Alpine destinations lost decades ago. And the sense of arrival — driving through increasingly narrow mountain scenery, the valley closing around you, the village appearing unexpectedly — sets the psychological tone for a stay that is, at its core, about slowing down.
The Therme: Architecture as Healing
The 7132 Thermal Baths were placed under heritage protection by the canton of Graubünden shortly after they opened — an almost unprecedented honour for a building so new. The 
spa was built using 60,000 hand-cut slabs of Vals quartzite, a local stone with a distinctive grey-green shimmer, layered in horizontal bands that suggest geological strata. The effect is of entering something that was not built but excavated — a thermal cave that the mountain has always contained, simply revealed.
Inside, Zumthor created a sequence of interconnected spaces, each with a different temperature and character. The main indoor pool sits at a comfortable soaking temperature, surrounded by the quartzite walls and lit by narrow skylights that shift throughout the day. A fire bath reaches 42°C, intended for brief immersion only. Cold baths provide the necessary contrast. Twelve sweating stones — a Swiss variant of the steam bath — occupy their own chambers. The outdoor pool, open year-round, faces the valley and the mountain slopes beyond, and on winter mornings, bathing in 30°C thermal water while snow falls on the surrounding peaks produces a particular quality of contentment that is difficult to describe to anyone who hasn’t experienced it.
The spa’s rules are notably strict by contemporary hospitality standards. No smartphones. No cameras. No devices at all within the bathing areas. Guests receive a bracelet on entry and move through the spaces at their own pace, in their own silence. The thermal baths have been described as a place where bathing is restored to its original ritual status — not a leisure activity but a practice, with intention.
The water itself, drawn from the St. Peter’s spring, is among the most highly mineralised in Switzerland. Regular bathing is associated with significant skin benefits, and guests who spend multiple days at the hotel frequently report measurable improvements in sleep quality and stress levels.
Four Architects, One Hotel
The 7132 Hotel proper — the five-star property connected directly to the therme — offers something genuinely unusual: rooms designed by four of the most significant architects
working in the world today, each with a completely distinct aesthetic.
Peter Zumthor’s Stucco rooms employ an ancient Italian plasterwork technique updated with a contemporary minimalist sensibility. The surfaces are dark, richly textured, and deeply calming. Tadao Ando’s rooms evoke Japanese teahouses — spare, precise, and light-filled in a way that seems to have nothing to do with the windows’ actual dimensions. Kengo Kuma’s spaces are warmed by oak detailing inspired by traditional Japanese carpentry, with a particular attention to the relationship between material and touch. Thom Mayne’s rooms are the most overtly dramatic — futuristic spatial experiences in which quartzite stone and finely crafted wood interact in ways that surprise at every turn.
Guests don’t choose a room size. They choose a design sensibility. It is the only hotel in Europe — and possibly the world — where this is the organising principle of the room inventory.
Spa Treatments and Wellness
Beyond the thermal baths themselves, 7132’s spa offers a curated menu of ESPA treatments using sustainably sourced ingredients, including several locally inspired rituals. Valser 
Hot Stone Ritual employs the same quartzite found in the building’s walls — warmed stones applied to the body’s meridian points, combined with a body peel using mineral-rich water from the St. Peter’s spring. The Vals Poultice Body Ritual uses local herb-infused wraps applied to the full body before a deep-tissue massage. Water Massage — a hydrotherapy treatment administered in a private pool — is among the more unusual offerings available at any European hotel spa.
Treatment rooms maintain the same architectural rigour as the rest of the building, with quartzite walls and a silence that is noticeably physical — the acoustic design absorbs sound in a way that makes even 45 minutes on a treatment table feel twice as long.
Dining at 7132
The hotel operates three distinct restaurants. 7132 Silver holds two Michelin stars and is led by chef Sven Wassmer. The menu is a tasting experience built around Alpine ingredients interpreted with technical precision — this is destination dining that would justify a visit even without the thermal baths or the architecture. 7132 DaPapà serves an entirely different register: home-style Italian with wood-fired pizza, generous pasta, and wine lists that reward exploration. 7132 Red occupies the middle ground, a modern casual dining room for the nights when Michelin-starred formality feels like too much.
Summer and Winter
Vals is not a ski resort in the conventional sense, though there is a small and beautifully situated ski area above the village. The hotel’s great strength is that it works equally across seasons. In summer, the hiking around Zervreila Lake — a glacial reservoir at 1,860 metres — is among the most spectacular walking available in any Swiss valley. Winter brings the
particular pleasure of combining cold mountain air with the therme’s warm water, plus a sense of the valley’s remoteness that deepens with snow.
Prices and Practical Details
Single rooms at 7132 Hotel start from approximately US$410 per night, with Spa Deluxe rooms from around US$980. The Penthouse is approximately US$3,100 per night. All hotel room rates include access to the 7132 Thermal Baths — a meaningful inclusion given that day entry to the therme alone costs around CHF 70 for non-guests. Children under 3 are not admitted to the thermal baths. Hotel guests receive priority access and can book exclusive night-bathing sessions on Wednesdays (11pm–1am), when the quartzite chambers take on an atmosphere that multiple guests describe as genuinely otherworldly.
The hotel also operates a sister property, 7132 House of Architects, which offers a more accessible price point and a similarly distinctive architectural experience, though at a lower service level.
Best for: Architecture enthusiasts; spa purists; couples seeking a completely different mountain experience; anyone who has read about the therme and wanted to stay rather than just visit for the day.
Address: 7132 Vals, Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland Website: 7132.com