Where to stay: SWITZERLAND

Located in a quiet sidestreet of Lake Zurich, LADYs FIRST is a stylish boutique hotel set in an elegant 19th-century building with modernist interiors. Rooms feature old parquet floors, bright colors, carefully selected lighting and furniture, and quality beds from Swissflex.Although the hotel welcomes everyone, the spa is exclusively for women and offers a steam bath, saunas, special showers, and foot baths.

This one-year pop-up co-working/co-living hotel sits in the former Swissôtel, which opened as the Hotel International in 1972. With 32 floors it is Switzerland's tallest hotel.

An industrial chic hotel in an imposing brewery with an edgy aesthetic offset by warm colours and oak fittings. B2 boasts a perch above Zurich, where views are best enjoyed from the hot rooftop pool with jets. There is also an excellent series of indoor pools.

Set close to the opera house and the promenade that parallels the lake, the small design Hotel Seehof is set in an original 1930s-era private house. The hotel retains the original russet-colored exterior, but the interior decor is angular and efficient, with stark white walls and the kind of black furniture that you'd expect in a trendy art gallery. The angularity is softened, in both the public areas and the bedrooms, with varnished and beautifully crafted oak floors.

This hip hotel is located in the equally hip District 4 of Zurich, just a short walk from the main train station. The hotel has an eclectic style: zany bric-a-brac, including model boats, flamenco dancers and giant Duplo bricks, is arranged around the front desk, while truck tarpaulin bags, made by cult Zurich company FREITAG, dangle from the ceiling.

The Dolder originally opened in 1899 as a retreat from the city, but went on to attract illustrious guests including Winston Churchill, Roger Moore and Sophia Loren. Nowadays, its reputation as one of Switzerland's best hotels continues, in part thanks to two Norman Foster-designed wings of steel, stone and tinted glass that sweep, wave-like, around the shuttered cream-and-merlot Belle Époque building in a glossy interplay of old and new.

This boutique hotel on the River Sihl in central Zurich combines Art Nouveau good looks with design-led charisma. The superbly comfortable Hästens beds are a highlight, but other reasons to stay are the Gault Millau-rated restaurant and a rooftop terrace with 360-degree views.

An immaculately designed hotel project by award-winning Austrian interior and product designer, Nina Mair, the Kursaal offers a contemporary kind of comfort that’s derived from its alpine heritage, one that champions sustainable design, warm hospitality and a connection to nature.

Many hoteliers, faced with the task of designing a hotel in an Alpine setting as awe-inspiring as Switzerland’s Crans-Montana, would opt for something safe and unremarkable, and convince themselves they’re letting the landscape take center stage. Crans Ambassador, on the other hand, takes a more active approach; this building aims to complement the majesty of the Alps, not cower before it, and thanks to its rakish angles and its monumental modern spaces, you’d have to judge it a success.

A luxury design hotel set in five newly built chalets around the original main building from the 1950s. Natural, local materials (wood, stone, felt, loden) adorn the interiors, which although modern give a cosy "lodge" feeling.

Ski hotels were a bit late to get swept up in the boutique-hotel wave. And Switzerland, despite notable pockets of creativity, has a reputation for conservatism that’s not entirely undeserved. So a hotel like Zermama comes as something of a shock. Not just its modern style, putting the bare wood and organic textures of the Alpine lodge idiom to striking novel use. But also its friendly, welcoming atmosphere, its youthful attitude, and even its ultra-casual name.

Positioned on the shore of Lake Geneva, with exceptional views of the city’s famous Jet d’Eau and Mont Blanc as a timeless backdrop, Hotel de la Paix has defined luxury in Geneva since its inception in 1865. It has also stood at the crossroads of history, inspiring many memorable gatherings including the International Congress of Peace, and has welcomed high-profile guests from across the globe, such as the Monaco Royal Family and notable American actor Orson Welles.

Contemporary design meets traditional Swiss at the W. Classy without being stuffy, fun without sacrificing quality, it's well designed to appeal to the professional, international crowd who come to Verbier to ski – and given its location right next to the main lift, they don't have far to go.

Hotel Matthiol is a younger, fresh, alternative to a lot of the more traditional style hotels in the area. A modern chalet style building, constructed in 2009, it is situated at the far end of Zermatt Village. It features modern-contemporary rooms and buzzing common areas. Set on a hillside, the hotel has beautiful alpine surroundings, and you can actually ski-in to the hotel which is unusual for Zermatt. Getting to the center of Zermatt is a 20 minute walk.

The hotel has its own idiosyncratic design, which is perhaps best described as modern rustic chic, with contemporary riffs on a lodge-style building that makes the most of the mountain views with lots of floor-to-ceiling glass. The interiors and furnishings bear the playful hallmark of local architect and artist Heinz Julen, who combines post-industrial elements with muted colours and flamboyant, quirky touches.

A DNA Hotels' favourite, the Bellevue is a stylish indie hotel from the 1930s where tradition meets charming Scandinavian and mid-century design. The timelessly elegant design consists of a linear, classical and streamlined modernistic style (a former sanatorium) contrasting with the rustic village and spectacular Alpine landscape. A renovated lobby features furniture by Finn Juhl, Wegner and Gio Ponti. All this creates a truly authentic hotel experience.