Group accommodation in Eastern Switzerland for up to 12 people

Finding a holiday apartment for two is easy. The moment there are twelve of you, three generations, two families travelling together or one big group with a lot of children, the search gets slow. Suddenly what matters is what no pretty photo ever shows: how many bathrooms are there really? Can everyone sit down to eat at the same time? Where does the person who wants an early night go while the others are still talking? And where do the cars go?

We are Isa and Sandro, and in Alt St. Johann in Toggenburg we rent out two holiday apartments in the same building, the historic SutterSport house at Hauptstrasse 36. You can book them separately or together as the whole house for up to 12 guests. Here is what that actually means for a larger group.

The questions that really matter before you book

Bathrooms. The number people forget most often. We have two, one per apartment, and the one in the Gallery has a bathtub. So you are not queueing for a single bathroom in the morning: the group spreads across two apartments. On a ski morning it still takes some coordination, and we would rather say so honestly.

Kitchens. For a big group, two fully equipped kitchens are worth more than one large one. Someone cooks pasta in the first, someone makes coffee in the second, and nobody is in anybody’s way. A fondue and raclette set belongs to both.

Room to eat. Two dining tables and two terraces. Twelve people around a single table sounds cosy, but it gets tight. Usually one becomes the grown-ups’ table and the other the children’s table, and everyone is happy.

Places to retreat to. With a group it is not the square metres that decide, it is the number of rooms you can disappear into. More on that below.

Parking. Each apartment comes with one parking space, so the whole house has two. If you arrive by train, the bus stop is a two minute walk away.

Louisa’s Loft and Louisa’s Gallery: what you get where

Louisa’s Loft is on the ground floor, around 85 m², and sleeps up to 6 guests: two bedrooms plus a sofa bed, one bathroom and its own outdoor hot tub. Upstairs there is an additional room that belongs to it, the “Schafberg-Chalet”. From CHF 110 per night, plus final cleaning and visitor’s tax.

Louisa’s Gallery is an apartment with a gallery level, around 106 m², for up to 6 guests: again two bedrooms plus a sofa bed, a bathroom with a bathtub, and a gallery floor with table tennis and a desk. The outdoor hot tub here is larger and holds up to 5 people. From CHF 130 per night, plus final cleaning and visitor’s tax.

Together they make up the whole house: up to 12 guests, two kitchens, two bathrooms, two terraces, two hot tubs, from CHF 280 per night, plus final cleaning and visitor’s tax. On Airbnb we are at 5.0 out of 16 reviews, with Guest Favourite status.

Room to eat, room to disappear

A group needs both: the moment when everyone sits together, and the option to slip away quietly. The house has several corners for that. The gallery floor in the Gallery, with table tennis and a desk, where the teenagers end up in the evening and someone writes an email in peace in the morning. The “Schafberg-Chalet” upstairs, a room of its own. Two living rooms, two terraces, two hot tubs.

The fact that the Loft is on the ground floor helps the grandparents: short distances, no stairs on the way to bed. Whoever wants to stay up late takes the Gallery and disturbs nobody.

Children, grandparents and the dog

A travel cot and a high chair are here, so you do not have to carry them across the country. There is a children’s play corner and a table football table for the hours when it rains. Both apartments have a smart TV with Netflix, Disney+ and replay television, plus high speed WiFi. There is a washing machine and a tumble dryer, no small detail with wet ski trousers and a long week for ten.

Dogs are welcome, CHF 40 in the Loft and CHF 50 in the Gallery. Our mini Australian shepherd Lou greets every new guest personally. What a holiday with a dog in Toggenburg feels like, we have written up separately.

Arriving without complications

Zurich is around an hour away, which a group manages even with tired children in the back. Once here, you let yourselves in with a numeric code, no key handover, which helps when two cars turn up at different moments. The village shop is a two minute walk away, for the forgotten bread or the second carton of milk.

In winter it is ski in, ski out: the cross country trail starts ten metres from the house and the ski school is 200 metres away, which makes all the difference with children. How the ski area on the Chäserrugg works has its own article. In summer the mountain lakes Schwendisee and Gräppelensee are the goal on warm afternoons, and around the house stand the Churfirsten, the Schafberg, the Säntis and the Chäserrugg, with routes for every level. If it rains, the Klangwelt Toggenburg suits every generation.

What it costs and where to look next

Louisa’s Loft starts at CHF 110 per night, Louisa’s Gallery at CHF 130 per night, the whole house at CHF 280 per night, each plus final cleaning and visitor’s tax. Have a proper look at the three pages: room layout, photos and calendar are all there.

And if anything is still open, write to us: how many of you there are, how old the children are, and whether a dog is coming. We will tell you honestly whether the house fits your group.