St Moritz is the oldest name in Alpine winter and the least apologetic about it. The skiing is broad and sunny rather than steep, and the week is as much about the town as the mountain — which is either the point or the problem, depending on the guest.
Which weeks
The season runs roughly December to early April, and the town is at its loudest between Christmas and mid-February. The White Turf race weekends in February fill the place entirely; if you want the mountain rather than the scene, late March gives you the sun and the space.
Where to stay
Badrutt’s Palace on Via Serlas is the address, on a guide of CHF 1,800, and its King’s Social House is where a good part of the town ends up at a CHF 2,500 guide. For a group, a staffed chalet is the quieter and often better-value answer — see how we place them.
The night
The Dracula Club in Kulm Park is the members’ room and the most particular door in the Alps, on a CHF 2,000 guide. It is an introduction rather than a booking, and worth asking about early.
Getting there
St Moritz is the awkward one to reach — Zürich is the usual arrival, then road or rail up. The Engadin has its own airport for smaller aircraft; we match the aircraft to the runway and the forecast rather than the other way round. Wider notes: the Saint-Moritz guide.
The ski area, in plain terms
St Moritz is three separate mountains on one Engadin lift pass, around 350 km of pistes between them. Corviglia is the one above the town, reached by funicular from the Dorf: sunny, broad, mostly red, and where the lunches and the people are. Corvatsch, across the lakes above Silvaplana, is higher — the top station is over 3,300 m — with better snow, longer runs and the Hahnensee descent back towards town that is the best single run of the week. Diavolezza and Lagalb, further up the Bernina pass, are steep, glacial and for strong skiers; the glacier run down to Morteratsch is a proper day out with a guide. A good week skis Corviglia for the lunch, Corvatsch for the skiing and Diavolezza once.
Which weeks, in detail
Corvatsch opens in late November on its high snow and the town wakes up in early December. Christmas to New Year is the first peak. Mid-January is cold — the Engadin sits at 1,800 m and the nights go well below zero — and quiet, until the Snow Polo World Cup in the last week of the month fills every hotel. The White Turf race Sundays run across three weekends in February and are the loudest the town gets; half-term sits inside them. March is the reward: sun, long days, the Engadin Skimarathon on the second Sunday, and the same house at a noticeably better rate. The season closes in early April.
Getting there, in full
St Moritz is the awkward one to reach, and that is part of the point. Samedan, five minutes from town, is the highest airport in Europe at over 1,700 m and takes private aircraft directly; it is daylight-only and weather can close it, so we build a road contingency into every winter booking — see private jets to Zürich for the alternative. Zürich is about three hours by road over the Julier pass, or three and a half by rail through Chur on the Rhaetian line, which is one of the great train journeys and worth doing once. Milan Malpensa is roughly three hours the other way, over the Maloja, and often the better airport for a group coming from the south.
Where to stay, by party
Badrutt's Palace for a couple who want the town at the end of the corridor, on a CHF 1,800 guide. The Kulm for history and the ice rink; the Carlton for a smaller, quieter winter-only house; Suvretta House for the wooded side and a ski lift of its own. For a family or a group of six and up, a staffed chalet in Suvretta or Champfèr beats a hotel floor on privacy and cost per head and puts the chef in your own kitchen, with the Palace ten minutes away for the evening — see St Moritz chalets.