IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PRC GROUP
Paracelsus Recovery
Best for
Addiction · Mental health · Executive detox
Typical stay
4 to 6 weeks
From
From CHF 95,000
Expert verdict
A psychiatric clinic run like a private household, one client at a time
Best rate, guaranteed
Same price as Paracelsus Recovery's own site, never more, with an independent expert advisor by your side.
Utoquai is the road along the eastern shore of Lake Zurich, past the boat moorings and the opera house, and its nineteenth century apartment blocks carry no plaques. The top floors of three of them are Paracelsus Recovery. There is no sign, no reception and no building anyone would recognise as a clinic.
What happens inside is medical. This is a psychiatric and addiction service treating depression, trauma, alcohol and drug dependency, eating disorders and burnout, with withdrawal supervised around the clock where it is needed. It is in this catalogue because of who it serves and how it works, not because it is a health retreat. Nobody comes here for a week of hiking and hydrotherapy.
The model is one client at a time and fifteen specialists to that one person: doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, a live-in therapist on 24 hour call, a private chef, housekeeping, a driver and a concierge. They come to the residence for ten to twelve hours a day, so the client is never in a waiting room and never passes another patient. Jan Gerber runs it, having founded it with his parents in 2012, his father Werner a psychiatrist and his mother Christine a clinical nurse. Thilo Beck is the lead psychiatrist. Thomas Südhof, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2013, chairs the medical advisory board.
The residential programme is CHF 95,000 a week and runs four weeks or more, so CHF 380,000 is the smallest real commitment. The seven day executive detox and the seven day check-up are CHF 120,000 each. A three day assessment is CHF 25,000, and it is the only thing on the list that does not come with somewhere to sleep.
The honest limit is that this is a treatment centre in a city, not a retreat in a landscape. There are no grounds, no estate and no spa of its own: the wellness half of the programme happens at the Dolder Grand, fifteen minutes uphill, on an access pass. A client who wants to step out of their room into forest is looking at the wrong address. A client who needs to keep a phone, keep working, keep a diary and be met with medical seriousness rather than a programme timetable is exactly who this was built for.
At seven in the evening the driver is downstairs, the chef has cleared the kitchen, and the therapist who arrived that morning is still in the flat. That, rather than the chandelier, is what the money buys.
The property
Fifteen people, one client
The claim Paracelsus makes for itself is a ratio: a minimum of fifteen dedicated professionals per client, and only one client under treatment at a time. Everything else follows from that. There is no group therapy because there is no group, no timetable set by a house because the house has one guest, and no shared clinical space because treatment is delivered in the residence.
Treatment opens with assessment rather than with a programme. Over 100 diagnostic markers are read across the inflammatory, biochemical and neurochemical picture, alongside a psychiatric evaluation, whole genome sequencing, a full body MRI, cardiac work including a 24 hour ECG, and sleep, cognitive and laboratory testing. The treatment plan is written afterwards, from the results, which is why their own literature refuses to publish a sample four week schedule.
The psychiatric work is conventional and unconventional in the same building. Cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, EMDR and trauma-focused psychotherapy sit alongside ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and, where indicated, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy under Swiss limited-medical-use authorisation. Detoxification is medically supervised, with a doctor or psychiatrist present around the clock where withdrawal requires it.
Biochemical restoration is the piece that distinguishes them from a psychiatric hospital. Deficiencies in amino acids, micronutrients and gut biology are corrected by infusion and by diet as part of treating the mental health condition, not as a wellness extra, and Paracelsus was among the first in the field to bring functional medicine into addiction care.
Around it runs the softer half: yoga, breathwork, meditation, acupuncture, reflexology, shiatsu, massage, art therapy, personal training, and equine and dog therapy. Those therapists coordinate with the clinical team rather than working in parallel, which is the difference between a spa timetable and a treatment plan.
Aftercare is priced separately and starts at CHF 2,500 a day. It runs from continuing sessions with the same psychiatrist and psychologists to placing a live-in therapist in the client's own home, which for the conditions treated here is the part that decides whether the four weeks hold.
A private chef, and nobody else at the table
There is no restaurant, no dining room and no menu, because there is no other guest. Each client has a private chef who cooks in the residence kitchen, to the nutritional plan the medical team has written and around whatever the medical picture requires.
Nutrition is treated as clinical material rather than catering. Psychonutrition, probiotic therapy, nutritional therapy and vitamin and mineral infusions are listed among the therapies, and the food is built on the same laboratory work that sets the supplement protocol. For a client withdrawing from alcohol or in recovery from an eating disorder, that is the point: what arrives at the table is part of the prescription.
The practical consequence is flexibility a resort cannot match. Meals happen when the day allows, the kitchen is in the flat, and a client keeping business hours through treatment eats at nine at night if that is when they are free.
The counterweight is that there is nothing social about it. No communal table, no other guests to eat with, no shared kitchen of the kind that carries so much of the work at a group rehab. Clients who want that will not find it here, and the ones who come to Paracelsus generally do not want it.
Three penthouses on Lake Zurich
The clinic is three penthouse residences on Utoquai, each about 250 square metres, named Harmonia, Equilibria and Serenitas. Each has a master bedroom with an en-suite, a full kitchen, a living and dining space under the original white roof beams, and rooms set aside for therapy and treatment. Two look straight down the lake to the hills; the third gives on to the rooftops.
Most treatment takes place inside the residence. A consulting room and a treatment room with a lake view sit within the building for the medical work, and there is a roof terrace with a shaded table and loungers over the water. Anything needing a hospital, imaging or a scan is done at one of the Zurich hospitals Paracelsus works with, and the driver takes the client there.
Each client gets five people on the hospitality side: chef, housekeeper, driver with a recent Bentley Flying Spur, concierge and a live-in therapist on 24 hour call. The concierge handles family visits, travel and the administrative debris of being away for a month.
There is no spa on site. Wellness runs at the Dolder Grand, about fifteen minutes uphill, whose 4,000 square metre spa carries a 25 metre pool, whirlpools, separate men's and women's sauna areas, a meditation room under a mirrored dome and a gym. Access is included and children are welcome there from twelve. It is a good arrangement and it is still an arrangement: getting to the pool means getting in a car.
What the address gives instead of grounds is a city. Bellevue and the opera house are a few minutes on foot, the old town is across the water, and Zurich airport is about twenty minutes by car. For a client who intends to keep working through treatment, that proximity is worth more than a park.
Paracelsus Recovery prices
2026 rates — program plus room, for single (1 guest) and double (2 guests) occupancy. Open a program to see room categories; some programs offer more than one length of stay. Final price confirmed on availability.
Residential Rehabilitation Programme
28 nights from CHF 380,000 · 42 nights from CHF 570,000 · 56 nights from CHF 760,000
From
CHF 380,000
Residential Rehabilitation Programme
28 nights from CHF 380,000 · 42 nights from CHF 570,000 · 56 nights from CHF 760,000
From
CHF 380,000
3 room categories · CHF 380,000 – CHF 380,000 for 28 nights (1 guest)
| Room | 1 guest | 2 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Serenitas | CHF 380,000 | CHF 760,000 |
| Equilibria | CHF 380,000 | CHF 760,000 |
| Harmonia | CHF 380,000 | CHF 760,000 |
Seven Day Comprehensive Check-Up
7 nights
From
CHF 120,000
Seven Day Comprehensive Check-Up
7 nights
From
CHF 120,000
3 room categories · CHF 120,000 – CHF 120,000 for 7 nights (1 guest)
| Room | 1 guest | 2 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Serenitas | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
| Equilibria | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
| Harmonia | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
Seven Day Executive Detox
7 nights
From
CHF 120,000
Seven Day Executive Detox
7 nights
From
CHF 120,000
3 room categories · CHF 120,000 – CHF 120,000 for 7 nights (1 guest)
| Room | 1 guest | 2 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Serenitas | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
| Equilibria | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
| Harmonia | CHF 120,000 | CHF 240,000 |
Three Day Comprehensive Health Assessment
3 nights
From
CHF 25,000
Three Day Comprehensive Health Assessment
3 nights
From
CHF 25,000
3 room categories · CHF 25,000 – CHF 25,000 for 3 nights (1 guest)
| Room | 1 guest | 2 guests |
|---|---|---|
| Serenitas | CHF 25,000 | CHF 50,000 |
| Equilibria | CHF 25,000 | CHF 50,000 |
| Harmonia | CHF 25,000 | CHF 50,000 |
Programs
Residential Rehabilitation Programme
Popular28–56 nights · CHF 95,000
Residential Rehabilitation Programme
Popular28–56 nights · CHF 95,000
The full programme, four weeks or more, and the reason the clinic exists. It opens with assessment rather than treatment: medical history, blood work, gut biology, stress hormones, mitochondrial function, genetic testing and a psychiatric evaluation, all read before anyone writes a plan.
What follows is built from those results. Daily one-to-one psychotherapy, a personal psychiatrist, medically supervised withdrawal where it is needed, biochemical restoration by infusion and diet, and complementary therapy running alongside rather than instead. A live-in therapist is in the residence 24 hours a day.
Their own literature declines to publish a sample four week schedule, on the grounds that no two plans are the same. Four to six weeks is the usual length, and six is what the clinical team push for in complex or dual diagnosis cases.
CHF 95,000 a week, with the residence, the fifteen-person team, the chef, the driver and housekeeping inside the figure. Four weeks is CHF 380,000.
Seven Day Comprehensive Check-Up
7 nights · CHF 120,000
Seven Day Comprehensive Check-Up
7 nights · CHF 120,000
A week of diagnostics with no psychiatric premise, run out of the same residences and in conjunction with Zurich hospitals. Paracelsus call it the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, which is their claim rather than ours, but the list is unusually long.
It covers blood work, gut biology, stress hormones and mitochondrial function, a full body MRI, whole genome sequencing, a cardiac work-up with 24 hour ECG, heart rate variability and ultrasound, neurological and cognitive testing including Alzheimer's risk with MRI and EEG, lung function, cancer screening with imaging and optional endoscopy, a sleep study, and dermatological, gynaecological and dental examinations. A psychiatrist assesses mental health alongside it.
The output arrives four to six weeks later: a report running to about 100 pages, delivered in person or by video, with a plan for acting on what it found.
CHF 120,000, penthouse, chef, driver and team included.
Seven Day Executive Detox
7 nights · CHF 120,000
Seven Day Executive Detox
7 nights · CHF 120,000
A week, for the person who cannot give a month. It is built for heavy alcohol, drug or medication use and for burnout that has stopped responding to a holiday, and the schedule is arranged around whatever the client still has to do that week.
Withdrawal is medically supervised for the full seven days, with 24 hour cover and a live-in therapist in the residence. Laboratory work, vitamin and NAD+ infusions, functional medicine and biochemical restoration run alongside psychotherapeutic support, with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy available.
It is not a substitute for treatment and Paracelsus do not sell it as one. It is a safe, supervised reset that can be extended into the residential programme if the week shows that is what is needed.
CHF 120,000, with the penthouse, the chef, the driver and the team inside the figure. Their own page titles it a 7 to 10 day programme, so the length is worth confirming when you enquire.
Three Day Comprehensive Health Assessment
3 nights · CHF 25,000
Three Day Comprehensive Health Assessment
3 nights · CHF 25,000
The short version, and the only thing here that does not include a bed. Over 100 diagnostic assessments across inflammatory, biochemical and neurochemical markers, plus a functional, medical and mental health evaluation, over three days with the same fifteen-person team.
It ends in a written report setting out what was found and what to do about it. It suits someone chasing an unexplained symptom, someone who wants a second opinion on a diagnosis already made, and someone deciding whether treatment is warranted at all.
CHF 25,000. Accommodation and wellness treatments are charged separately: one of the residences can be taken, or a hotel arranged. It converts into a full programme if the findings point that way.
Need help choosing?
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Rooms & suites
Serenitas
250 sqm · Double occupancy
Serenitas
250 sqm · Double occupancy
The third residence, 250 square metres on the same plan, with a master bedroom and en-suite, a kitchen, a living and dining room and rooms for therapy and treatment. It sits away from the street noise and looks out across the roofs towards the lake.
Equilibria
250 sqm · Double occupancy
Equilibria
250 sqm · Double occupancy
The second residence, the same 250 square metres and the same layout: master bedroom with en-suite, kitchen, open living and dining space, and rooms set aside for therapy and treatment. It carries the fullest technical fit-out of the three and looks down the lake.
Harmonia
250 sqm · Double occupancy
Harmonia
250 sqm · Double occupancy
The first of the three residences, on the top floor of a nineteenth century building on Utoquai. About 250 square metres under white painted roof beams, with a master bedroom and en-suite bathroom, a full kitchen, an open living and dining space, and separate rooms kept for therapy and treatment. The windows face the water and the far shore.
Know before you arrive
Languages spoken
Languages spoken
English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic
Minimum stay
Minimum stay
3 nights
Booking policy
Booking policy
Admission follows a consultation and a clinical assessment; there is no online booking and no fixed arrival day. Only one client is treated at a time, so dates are held against a single occupancy of a residence and are agreed case by case. Fees for accompanying family or staff, leisure, travel, medical emergencies unrelated to the treated conditions and any additional resource such as a 24 hour resident doctor or a hospital admission are quoted separately. Paracelsus state that any non-inclusive fee is agreed in advance.
Cancellation policy
Cancellation policy
Provided upon request
Kids policy
Kids policy
Treatment is for adults. Family members can be accommodated separately at additional cost, and family and couples therapy is part of the offer. Children are welcome from twelve at the Dolder Grand spa.
Pets policy
Pets policy
Provided upon request
Frequently asked questions
What is the atmosphere like and who goes?
Domestic rather than clinical, and completely private. The client lives in a 250 square metre penthouse on Lake Zurich with their own chef, housekeeper and driver, and the medical team comes to them for ten to twelve hours a day. There is no reception, no signage, no uniform and nobody else being treated. The clientele are people whose names make ordinary treatment impossible: founders, executives, public figures and their families, often arriving after something has already gone badly wrong in private. The tone is medical seriousness delivered in a living room.
What does it do better than anywhere else?
Three things. The ratio: a minimum of fifteen specialists to one client, treated one at a time, which no residential clinic with a guest list can offer. The combination: psychiatry, medically supervised detox, functional medicine and biochemical restoration run by one team rather than referred between three, with over 100 diagnostic markers, whole genome sequencing and a full body MRI read before a plan is written. And the discretion: a normal apartment building on a normal Zurich street, no plaque, no other patients, and a driver who takes the client to hospital appointments by a side entrance.
How much does Paracelsus Recovery cost?
Residential treatment is CHF 95,000 a week with a four week minimum, so a full programme starts at CHF 380,000 and commonly runs six weeks. The seven day executive detox is CHF 120,000 and the seven day comprehensive check-up is CHF 120,000. The three day comprehensive assessment is CHF 25,000 and excludes accommodation. Aftercare is quoted individually from CHF 2,500 a day. The fee covers the penthouse, the fifteen-person team, the chef, the driver, housekeeping and the Dolder Grand spa; travel, anyone accompanying the client, leisure and hospital admissions are not included. Read from their published price list on 11 August 2026.
What else should I look at?
The Kusnacht Practice, twenty minutes around the lake, is the true peer and shares a founder: private villas rather than apartments, grounds, and a longevity programme alongside the psychiatric work, from CHF 117,300 a week. For a health check-up rather than treatment, Clinique La Prairie in Montreux and Grand Resort Bad Ragaz do diagnostics and revitalisation in a resort setting for a fraction of the price. For burnout without a psychiatric diagnosis, a Lanserhof or a Chenot Palace Weggis will do more for the money. Nothing in the wider market matches the one client, fifteen staff arrangement.
What does Paracelsus Recovery actually treat?
Mental health conditions and addiction, not general wellness. Depression including treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, PTSD and trauma, bipolar disorder, OCD, ADHD, personality disorders, burnout and stress. Alcohol, drug and prescription medication dependency, and behavioural addictions from gambling to gaming. Eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. They also run health check-ups and assessments for people with no psychiatric diagnosis at all.
How much does it cost, and what is the smallest commitment?
The residential programme is CHF 95,000 a week and runs four weeks or more, so the smallest realistic figure is CHF 380,000. The seven day executive detox is CHF 120,000, as is the seven day comprehensive check-up. The three day assessment is CHF 25,000 and excludes accommodation. Aftercare starts at CHF 2,500 a day. Prices read from their own list on 11 August 2026.
What is included in the weekly fee?
The private penthouse, the team of fifteen or more, daily one-to-one therapy, a personal psychiatrist, a 24 hour live-in therapist, the medical and psychological assessment, genetic testing, medically supervised detoxification where needed, biochemical restoration, complementary therapies, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy where wanted, a private chef, a personal trainer, housekeeping, a car with a driver and access to the Dolder Grand spa. Travel, accommodation for anyone accompanying the client, leisure and any hospital admission are extra.
Is it really one client at a time?
That is their claim and the whole architecture of the place rests on it: no group therapy, no shared spaces, no other patients to pass in a corridor. There are three residences on the same street, so a client should read it as never encountering anyone else rather than as the building standing empty. Discretion is the product here as much as the medicine is.
Who runs it?
Jan Gerber, who founded it in 2012 with his parents: his father Werner, a psychiatrist, and his mother Christine, a clinical nurse. Kjell Brolund-Spaether is group medical director and Werner Gerber is medical director. Thilo Beck leads a team of six psychiatrists. Professor Thomas Südhof, who shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine, heads the medical advisory board.
How does it compare with the Kusnacht Practice?
They are the two closest addresses in the world to each other, and they share a founder: Jan Gerber co-founded Kusnacht Practice in 2011 before starting Paracelsus in 2012. Kusnacht runs private villas in Zollikon with grounds and a lakeside setting, from CHF 117,300 a week, and leans harder into longevity alongside the psychiatric work. Paracelsus is in the city, in apartments, from CHF 95,000 a week, and is more single-mindedly a mental health and addiction service. Grounds and longevity go to Kusnacht; discretion in the middle of Zurich and the ability to keep working goes to Paracelsus.
Can I keep working during treatment?
Yes, and it is one of the reasons people choose it. The executive detox exists specifically for people who cannot disappear for a month, days are built around a client's obligations, and there is no house timetable to break. It is a genuine clinical compromise rather than a free one, and the medical team will say when a schedule is getting in the way of the treatment.
Is any of it covered by insurance?
Assume not. Paracelsus does not publish an insurance arrangement, and services at this end of the Swiss market are usually settled privately. Clients domiciled in Switzerland occasionally recover part of the medical component under Swiss health insurance law. Anyone counting on reimbursement should get it in writing before admission.
What is the shortest way to try it?
The three day comprehensive health assessment at CHF 25,000. It runs over 100 diagnostic assessments and ends in a written report, and it does not include accommodation, so a hotel or one of the residences is arranged and charged on top. It is also the natural entry point for someone who is not sure treatment is what they need, and it converts into a full programme if it is.
Payment & terms
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