Where was the BBC’s ‘The Night Manager’ filmed in Zermatt?

The £20m adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel ‘The Night Manager’ started this week on BBC to critical acclaim.

The cast of The Night Manager

‘The Night Manager’ on location in Zermatt

As well as being a cracking tale of spies and villains, much of episode one of ‘The Night Manager’ was set in the stunning Swiss ski resort of Zermatt.

‘Cool, dramatic and expensive’

The director of the series, Susanne Bier, explained that one of the reasons she chose Zermatt as a location was that it was almost geographically opposite to the previous location in the programme, which was set in Egypt (but actually filmed in Morocco).

We wanted locations that were extremely different,’ said Bier. ‘You go from the troubles in Cairo to the sereneness and remoteness of the Swiss mountains.’

‘Right from the start Susanne wanted it to look cool, dramatic and expensive, so Zermatt was the finest ski resort we could get to.’ Supervising Location Manager Tom Howard said.

The serene Swiss Alps

Hotels and luxury ski chalets

The unique sight of the Matterhorn features in many of the beautifully framed shots in the programme.

It’s the draw of this iconic mountain that draws celebrities from around the world to Zermatt. Whether international arms dealers such as the character Richard Roper from ‘The Night Manager’ also visit is another question.

If they did they would have a choice of over 100 hotels as well as some of the most impressive luxury ski chalets in the Alps.

Filming on location in Zermatt

Which hotel in Zermatt was ‘The Night Manager’ filmed at?

In the programme, the eponymous night manager Jonathan Pine is working at a Hotel Meisters.

There is no hotel of this name in Zermatt, but some of the exterior shots were filmed on location at Riffelalp – a 5* resort that is reached via the Gornergrat railway. Celebrities and arms dealers (fictionally) might choose to stay in one of their suites, which cost up to CHF2270 per night.

However, none of the interior shots in the programme were filmed at the hotel. Instead they were filmed in the UK on a set.

The restaurant where Pine meets the British agent Angela Burr, played by Olivia Coleman, is a real Zermatt location however. This takes place in the dining room at the Chalet Hotel Schönegg.