St. Moritz crowns the Upper Engadin as a sun-drenched Alpine sanctuary of glamour and sport. At about 1,856 m above sea level, this Swiss resort boasts more than 300 days of clear, sunny winter skies and an atmosphere that blends patrician elegance with pure mountain air. From its Belle-Époque palaces to its frozen lakes, St. Moritz is as much a pioneer of winter tourism as it is a playground of the rich. In fact, Switzerland’s official tourism board dubs it “the birthplace of Alpine winter sports,” a legacy secured when pioneering hoteliers first turned it into a winter holiday destination in the 1860s. A century and a half later, the town remains a canvas for elite recreation: the frozen Lake St. Moritz hosts polo and horse races attended by the international upper crust, while its slopes and spas attract discerning guests from around the globe. This is winter travel at its most rarefied – a blend of crisp mountain beauty and haute couture luxury unmatched anywhere.
St. Moritz’s transformation into an “Alpine metropolis” began with one man’s wager. In the winter of 1864, hotelier Johannes Badrutt famously dared his English summer guests to return in winter, promising that if they were unhappy he would refund their stay. The guests not only loved the sunny Engadin winter, but extended their visit into spring, and word of snowy holidays in St. Moritz quickly spread. Badrutt’s gamble founded what is often called the cradle of winter tourism in the Alps. By 1928, the resort was globally famous enough to host the first Winter Olympic Games of that year (with ceremonies and skating in the Kulm Park), and again the Olympics in 1948 – making St. Moritz one of only three cities to welcome the Winter Games twice. In between, the town racked up a string of sporting “firsts”: the continent’s first curling tournaments (1880) and ice-skating championships (1882) were held here, and the nearby Kulm Hotel installed the world’s first natural bobsleigh run in 1904.
St. Moritz thus became a laboratory of winter sport innovation. In 1884 the legendary Cresta Run – a natural ice toboggan track for skeleton racing – was built on the hotel grounds. Soon came ski jumping, skating, curling and toboggan clubs, and even mountain skiing schools. Kulm Hotel’s guests experimented with skibobbing and skeleton bobsled in the 1890s, so much so that “new sports” emerged from the town’s frozen tracks. By the early 20th century, St. Moritz was crisscrossed by winter trails: its lakes became classic cross-country and skating venues, and its pistes were threaded through forests. The town’s very infrastructure reflected its snowy identity – for example, in 1979 a snow golf tournament was held, and in the 1980s even cricket and polo on ice were played here. In short, from that 1864 wager onward, St. Moritz shaped the modern winter holiday. Its Grand Hotels – many of which date to the late 19th or early 20th century – owe their glamour to this heritage of Alpine leisure and invention.
This legacy lives on in St. Moritz’s grand hotels and bespoke services. No visit is complete without mention of Badrutt’s Palace (built 1896 by Caspar Badrutt), which still dominates the frozen Lake St. Moritz from its perch at 1,800 m. A Neo-Gothic landmark with turrets and a famously ornate lobby, Badrutt’s palatial interiors are fitted with soaring carved-wood ceilings and vast arches framing the snowbound vista beyond. It exemplifies the golden age of Alpine travel – serving afternoon tea in leather chairs while pianists play – yet today it offers thoroughly modern comforts and wellness facilities, including an indoor-outdoor infinity pool with mountain views and a saltwater steam bath for muscle-relaxing hydrotherapy.
Nearby, other historic resorts uphold the five-star standard. The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, the very stage of Johannes Badrutt’s bet, is part of Swiss Deluxe Hotels, and like Badrutt’s offers world-class spas and ski-in/ski-out access. The turreted Suvretta House (opened 1912) perches above the town in a pine forest, accessed by vintage green buses or even its own ski lift. A travel writer notes that Suvretta, “a turreted, swirly sensation,” feels like a fairy-tale manor with its own curling rink, chapel and private golf course in summer. Equally lavish is the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains (modern wing, built 1990s) whose 2,800 m² spa plumbs Engadin glacial waters and local granite, detox saunas and fitness classes. The Carlton Hotel, Badrutt’s Palace, Kulm and Kempinski – all built on or near the lake – stand aloof like palaces over the winter lake, while the Crystal, La Margna, Carlton, and Grand Hotel Kronenhof (in nearby Pontresina) offer alternative luxury experiences. All are kept cosmopolitan by private jets, helicopters and the classic red Bernina Express train that brings the privileged right into town.
Spa and wellness are integral to the St. Moritz lifestyle. As the tourism office notes, “St. Moritz has a long bathing tradition, going back over 3,500 years” – its iron-rich springs were sacred in Roman times. Today every major hotel has an alpine spa: Badrutt’s Palace has indoor and outdoor pools (infinity and hot tubs) against a dreamy alpine panorama; the Carlton spreads its spa over three floors with saunas, an infinity-edge lap pool and private treatment suites; Grace La Margna touts an avant-garde spa-lounge of over 700 m²; and the Kempinski’s glacial-resort theme includes six sauna chambers and treatments with Engadin botanicals. In short, guests can alternate black-tie dinners with downhill skiing, then soothe every ache in a heated pool overlooking the fir-clad valley. This fusion of active outdoor sport and cocooning wellness is part of St. Moritz’s undimmed appeal to the jet set.
St. Moritz’s gourmand credentials match its ski pedigree. Over the past two decades it has become an Alpine capital of high cuisine. The Michelin Guide currently lists two 2-star and three 1-star restaurants in St. Moritz. For example, Hatecke (in town) and Dal Mulin are multi-starred (Hatecke has 2 stars for its inventive meats-and-grills menu), and hotel restaurants by chefs like Ignacio Mattos and Yannick Alléno regularly earn plaudits. The food scene ranges from traditional Swiss-Italian cuisine (risottos and pizzoccheri in rustic chalets) to cutting-edge fusion (Peruvian-Italian at Amaru by Claudia Canessa) – reflecting both local Alpine culture and international influence. Many chefs cite the Engadin’s bounty: mountain herbs, local cheeses (for fondue and raclette), air-dried meats and fish smoked over wood.
A highlight is the annual St. Moritz Gourmet Festival each late January, which for 30 years has drawn a constellation of celebrity chefs. In its 30th edition (2024), the festival boasted ten three-Michelin-starred guest chefs from around the world. As the press release trumpeted, this unprecedented lineup promises “a firework of culinary excellence” in the snow. Festival events include chef dinners in grand hotel ballrooms, ice-carving demonstrations, chocolate tastings and multi-course banquets pairing rare wines. Even non-gastronomes feel the atmosphere: the festival turns the quiet resort into a buzzing international hub for food connoisseurs.
Meanwhile, St. Moritz’s homegrown restaurants offer year-round fine dining. Badrutt’s hosts Le Restaurant (French/Swiss haute cuisine), while the Kulm offers Tamarindo (steaks, Latin touches). For Alpine classics, the 500-year-old Hotel Laudinella nearby has a storied fondue cellar, and the Chesa Veglia (an ancient farmhouse restaurant) is famous for its piquant Engadin spätzli and game dishes. Urban chef bars and fusion spots — for example, Beefbar Grace Hotel (modern grill) and Langosteria (seafood Italian) — cater to the well-heeled crowd. In short, dining in St. Moritz is as much about spectacle as it is about taste: table views overlook snowfields, wine lists run dozens of pages, and menus invoke truffles and caviar as readily as alpine herbs.
Beyond slopes and dining rooms, St. Moritz cultivates an active cultural life. Art galleries and museums give the town an intellectual edge. The Segantini Museum is a Swiss heritage site dedicated to Giovanni Segantini, an iconic Alpine painter who spent his final years here. His grand canvases of sunlit snowscapes tie the art scene to the region’s light and landscape. In recent years, international galleries have also arrived: for example, Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz occupies the renovated Palace Galerie and presents a dynamic program of art exhibitions blending local scenery with global contemporary art. The gallery hosts rotating shows by cutting-edge artists, lectures, and even a walk-in bar installation by the descendants of artist Dieter Roth – underscoring the town’s blend of avant-garde with tradition. Classical music and jazz also feature: the St. Moritz Jazz Festival in summer and occasional concerts in mountain venues remind visitors that culture here is year-round.
St. Moritz’s architecture likewise mirrors its dual identity as traditional and cosmopolitan. In the village center one finds Engadin-style houses with sgraffito facades and deep eaves – vestiges of local Walser heritage. The leaning bell tower of St. Mauritius church is a charming landmark. But the skyline is dominated by Gilded-Age hotels and Art Nouveau villas, their chalets painted in Edwardian colors. Intimate wooden chalets and rustic inns tucked among the five-star palaces preserve the Engadin character, yet even these often house haute-cuisine restaurants or luxury boutiques. In fact, shopping in St. Moritz is famously upscale. Via Serlas – the resort’s main shopping street – is home to flagship boutiques of Versace, Cartier, Hermès, Bulgari and dozens of other luxury brands. Shoppers can browse fine Swiss watches and jewelry, or pick up Lamm cashmere knits from the century-old family shop. The effect is of a European Avenue Montaigne transplanted into snow.
Many elegant social events reinforce St. Moritz’s jet-set reputation. On the frozen lake each winter are staged competitions that are part sport, part society ball. Snow polo on Lake St. Moritz, for example, is the world’s only high-goal polo tournament played on snow. Since its debut in 1985, the Snow Polo World Cup has turned late January into a global sporting gala: teams from Azerbaijan to Australia compete amid first-class hospitality. (“St. Moritz and Snow Polo are one and the same,” brags the organizers.) Crowns of spectators watch from heated tribunes on the ice, while the evenings bring gala dinners in tuxedos. Likewise, the annual White Turf in February is a unique social fixture. For three weekends each year thoroughbred horse races (flat, trotting and skijöring races) run on the frozen Lake St. Moritz in broad daylight. As the official website explains, White Turf is “a unique, exclusive, top-class event” with gourmet tents, live music and art displays under the winter sun. It traces its history back to 1907 and remains “not just Champagne on ice for the rich and beautiful” but a global equestrian rendezvous. After each race, guests wager on the next while sipping fine wines in tented pavilions, aware that prominent families from Europe and beyond – from the Agnellis to the Onassises – have made St. Moritz their winter retreat.
In short, St. Moritz’s cultural calendar is a parade of exclusivity: fashion shows, jazz concerts on ice, charity balls, and classic-car rallies (the Patrouille des Glaciers ski race is also a kind of national pageant here). The combination of society and sport is such that in winter you might see “the one-percenter world go by” inside Le Grand Hall of Badrutt’s Palace. Yet beneath the glitter, the town maintains its rustic heart – the lightly skied trails, the engaging friendliness of local Walser customs, the church bells of the valley echoing in the ice-crisp air.
All this high-society drama is set in an exceptionally beautiful natural stage. The Engadin Valley itself is a singular environment. St. Moritz lies in the Upper Engadin of canton Graubünden, surrounded by 3,000–4,000 m peaks of the Albula and Bernina ranges. Towering glaciers (e.g. Morteratsch) and ski mountains (Diavolezza, Piz Nair, Corvatsch) loom over the village. Five large lakes – including St. Moritz, Silvaplana and Sils – dot the valley floor, freezing solid each winter into the world’s most scenic playground. When the famed Maloja wind blows through the pass, it sweeps the ice of Lake Silvaplana with sailwinds even in midwinter; on calmer days the whole frozen surface of Lake St. Moritz hosts polo and racing.
The climate is as crisp as the scenery is wide. Summers are short and cool, but thanks to its favorable location St. Moritz enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year. Winters are bright and cold – daytime highs around 0–5 °C with abundant snow, nights well below freezing. The resort’s altitude (village center ~1,820 m) means thin air that skiers prize for dry snow conditions, but it also helps give St. Moritz that mythic light. The sun shining on fresh snow can dazzle; photographers and painters have long captured the silver-blue glaciers and the ruby-red alpenglow behind pine forests. In fact, the local painters’ school (Segantini especially) built its reputation on the valley’s ethereal light. Even ordinary activities – drinking a local herbal tea, hiking in autumn larch forests, or soaking up rays on a terrace – feel infused with Alpine intensity.
In winter the natural geography adds a final flourish: miles of cross-country ski trails weave through snowy meadows and frozen lakes, and the Engadin Skimarathon (a 42 km mass ski race each March) attracts thousands to streak like a comet across the four lakes. Off-piste mountaineering, ice climbing, and sledging in snow-whitened gullies provide thrills. Then there are quieter pleasures: walking amid the pastel Engadin villages of Bever or Zuoz with their sgraffito houses, or glazing in a carriage through the Bever Gorge. Everywhere the mountains are close, and on clear nights the Milky Way blazes overhead in the high-altitude air. It is this mise-en-scène of sharp light, dry air, snow and scenery that gives every activity – be it skiing, shopping, or spa-going – an added dimension of luxury.
St. Moritz’s very soul is bound up in this harmony of nature and nurture. High society may supply the style, but it is the valley’s panoramic beauty and crisp winter climate that supply the substance. In the words of a Swiss guide, the Engadin’s “many sunny days” and “clear air” make it perfectly suited to winter sports. Here, world-class skiing, high-end cuisine, and cultural glamour all unfold against a sublimely clear and snowy backdrop. The resort’s international prominence – its snow polo, White Turf races, and Olympic history – may draw elite crowds, but even for a novice traveler the effect is spellbinding: you feel cocooned in an Alpine dream that somehow also epitomizes taste and tradition.
In sum, St. Moritz – Winter With Taste is no mere slogan. It is a literal fact: the town serves up winter sports, hospitality and culture on a platter so exquisite that it has long been the envy of the world. From Badrutt’s original vision to today’s gourmet feasts, from Cresta runs to art galleries, every element is curated for connoisseurs of snow and style. Surrounded by the noble Engadin peaks and lakes, St. Moritz remains, as it was in 1864, a place where tradition is honored and every detail – from the way a ski trail is groomed to the soufflé on your plate – is crafted “with taste.”
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