Pelerin Palace, Palace hotel in Chardonne, Switzerland
Pelerin Palace is an eleven-story building rising above Lake Geneva, featuring Belle Époque architectural elements and views across the Swiss Riviera. Today it houses 22 luxury residences ranging from 200 to 500 square meters (2,150 to 5,380 square feet), complete with indoor and outdoor swimming pools.
Henri Fatio, a Geneva-based financier, drew Vevey investors to fund the hotel, built between 1902 and 1907 and opened on 3 June 1907 in Belle Époque style. A fire on 29 April 1917 destroyed the roof and bankrupted the hotel; it reopened in 1929 as a boarding house, then as Hôtel du Parc from 1936 to 2001. In 1947 it hosted the founding conference of the Mont Pelerin Society.
The hotel's name changed with its uses: Pelerin Palace until 1917, a pension from 1929, then Hôtel du Parc from 1936 to 2001, when it became the Business School Chardonne. In 1947 it hosted the founding conference of the Mont Pelerin Society; the society's fiftieth reunion in 1997 moved to the neighbouring Hotel Le Mirador because of the building's poor condition.
The building stands at Chemin de l'Hôtel du Parc 5 in Le Mont-Pèlerin, above Lake Geneva rather than on its shore. The Vevey–Chardonne–Mont Pèlerin funicular, opened in 1900, serves the locality. The address is in the commune of Chardonne, canton of Vaud.
The hotel's poor condition in 1997 forced the Mont Pelerin Society to hold its fiftieth-anniversary reunion at the neighbouring Hotel Le Mirador, drawing around 100 people. In 2022, under French entrepreneur Jean Lecler, the palace became the first palace whose share system rests on the blockchain.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,054 contributors worldwide.