California’s super-rich have plenty of luxury bunkers to choose from — but this one takes doomsday prepping to a whole new level.
A massive network of underground vaults is being carved into the Swiss Alps, offering the ultra-wealthy a heavily fortified place to stash everything from priceless art and gold to vintage Ferraris and expensive wine.
Swiss businessman Thomas Gasser, chairman of the board of Brünig Mega Safe, is behind the project beneath the Brünig Pass near the village of Lungern.
The complex will house about 20 private vaults buried under more than 100 meters of solid rock — a natural fortress designed to keep criminals out.
Developers say security will be comparable to that of the Swiss National Bank.
But getting in won’t come cheap.
Each underground cave is being sold on a 99-year lease, with prices starting at nearly 1 million Swiss francs — about $1.23 million.
Gasser’s family company, which has 300 employees, has specialized in underground operations, quarrying and the use of explosives for decades.
Construction is already well underway, with the complex expected to open next year.
And forget simply driving up to your private mountain vault.
“You’ll first have to drive through a special checkpoint and get out of your vehicle: there will be several security checks, which obviously won’t be disclosed to the public,” Gasser told RTS.
Even reporters weren’t shown the future entrance to the complex.
“The advantage is that the client becomes the owner: they have their own parcel number in the land register and can even mortgage the property,” the developer said, according to swissinfo.ch.
The underground space once had a much less secretive purpose. It was home to Cantina Caverna, a restaurant and event venue, along with a shooting range and a firefighter training center designed to simulate tunnel fires.
The project has drawn mixed reactions from residents of tiny Lungern.
Some questioned why the village needs a luxury bunker for billionaires, with one resident complaining that “they’re building something for people who already have enough money.”
Others were more receptive, joking that they looked forward to seeing Ferraris belonging to their new bunker “neighbors” racing along the surrounding Alpine roads.
Switzerland is no stranger to storing valuables deep beneath its mountains. Over the years, a number of former military bunkers have been repurposed as fortified storage facilities and highly secure data centers.
In 2024, Swiss banks managed about 9.3 trillion Swiss francs (about $11.5 trillion) in assets, roughly half of which came from abroad, according to Presence Switzerland, an agency of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
But the project in Lungern takes the idea to another level, with a sprawling facility aimed at wealthy clients from around the world looking for a protected place to stash their most valuable possessions amid growing global uncertainty.
Among California’s bunker billionaires Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most notorious. The Meta CEO keeps a home base in Palo Alto while building a fortified Hawaiian escape complete with an underground shelter, private food and water supplies and an escape hatch
