A little more room

A kitchen, a table and a door that closes can change the character of a mountain stay. They give a few days away the possibility of becoming an ordinary week, with room for breakfast at home, an unfinished piece of work and a less scheduled evening.

This week's announcement from Scuol puts that choice in focus. Plavna is due to open in December, bringing serviced apartments into the Belvedere hotel family's orbit. The attraction is the possibility of choosing how much service to add to a domestic base. The detail to read carefully is what the apartment rate actually includes.

Elsewhere, the choices are more immediate. Celerina/Schlarigna offers both a hotel with a new executive chef and studios whose modest kitchen facilities deserve a closer look. In Flims, a family-run hotel and a mountain guesthouse make very different promises about comfort, company and connection.

I would choose the shape of the week before choosing the room. A holiday with occasional email needs less infrastructure than five days of calls. A deliberate break from work can benefit from the very absence of it. This edition is about recognising the difference before unpacking.