Get lost in the golden snows of St. Moritz, Switzerland
went to St. Moritz in winter to see my first snow. St. Moritz is a luxury alpine resort high up (1,856m) in Switzerland’s Engadin valley. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains and overlooking a beautiful lake. St. Moritz is known mainly for winter sports; skiing, tobogganing and snow activities – it was the first Swiss town to become internationally famous for the jet set in the 1920s.
It’s a part-time winter home to some fabulously wealthy individuals and stars, but you won’t see them as it’s also a notoriously private town.
1. Things to see
We came mainly for the tobogganing runs, one of which (Preda to Bergun) is over 6km long. While we wanted to learn to ski, St. Moritz may not be the best place for that, Zermatt or other towns might offer more affordable lessons for total beginners.
Ice skating at Kulm Hotel was another surprise, an old-world, old-school, old-money hotel boasts a beautiful rink where you can rent skates and instructors and skate all day for a fair price. Kulm hotel is one of the nicest places to stay in town however you have to plan as many of the rooms are booked 6-9 months in advance. However, you can still have afternoon drinks in their bar, eat extravagant but expensive dinners at the attached Kings Club and enjoy a small chunk of that lifestyle.
If you don’t feel like skating you can simply hang out on their extensive wooden porch, huddle under provided wool blankets, order snacks and drinks and enjoy watching everyone else skate across the ice.
If this is your first-time ice skating you can hire an instructor for 50 euro an hour. I got lucky and a nice instructor spent 15 min with me showing my the basics for free. I’m not going to say I didn’t fall – but I did pretty well for the first time. They also provide cute little penguins and chairs you can hold onto as you learn to hold your own on the slick ice.
By far, my favorite part of St. Moritz was the toboggan runs. Some are far steeper than others, but we chose Preda because it was the longest. Also, you have access to the start of the run via the train so no walking up mountains dragging a sled.
You buy an all-day train pass and you can make the run as many times as you like. When you first arrive at the start of the run (Preda) you can rent your sled from one of two shops. We tried the one closest to the train station because it’s the first one we saw – they offer red sleds for just a few euro per day. The second rental offers black ones and they appear to be sleeker and maybe go faster.
The day we went there weren’t many people sledding, however it was REALLY shocking how fast, crazy fast you go down the slopes – when the snow turns to ice no amount of putting your feet down will slow you – if you can’t make the hairpin turns you will just crash into an ice wall and so be it. I’d go so far as to say it’s dangerous for the first time novice, but most of those tobogganing had probably grown up with this and were used to it. Regardless, it as great fun – even crashing repeatedly. The runs are NOT for the faint of heart.
As you descend into Bergun through the snow-covered forest and under stone bridges you have to navigate dozens of sharp curves, once you make the bottom (breathless) you can stop for some hot mulled wine or lunch at some quaint cafes. Bergun itself is like a fairytale village full of people dragging their sleds back up to the train station to make another run.
Hint: Stay long enough to at least try one night run, when the pista is lit up. We did three runs in one day, the last in the dark, by that time the snow was pure ice and it was by far the fastest decent. In the end, we were wet and exhausted, but it was so much fun.
If you’re looking for more activities you can also rent a horse carriage to take you from Pontresina up into the mountains at Val Roseg. You can rent your carriage at 3x the cost but these must be booked in advance. Or you can share a big carriage with 8 – 12 other passengers. I wanted a private one because it seemed more romantic, but in the end, I’m glad I saved the money on the shared one.
The ride up to Val Roseg is pretty boring, it’s slow going, and if you took a train to get into St. Moritz – the scenery along the way was 100x better than this. It was a long 60 or 90 min In the bitter cold that no amount of blankets could shield you from – only to reach Val Roseg, get funneled into a restaurant, eat lunch and then funneled back into the carriage for a much quicker ride down.
Everything considered, I wouldn’t repeat this experience, it sounds romantic as hell, but just sucks up most of a day to get trapped in a tourist loop. It might have been somewhat better if it wasn’t so cold the day we went – but still, my advice would be to avoid this route and go for some skiing or snow sports.
This next paragraph has absolutely nothing to do with St. Moritz I just came across it when researching Switzerland and thought it was too cool:
“Switzerland’s main access points are wired to blow in case of an attack – one of the country’s defense strategies is to demolish every main road, bridge and railway access into Switzerland in case of a foreign invasion, with at least 3,000 locations around the country prepared to blow at a moment’s notice.”
There could be many worse things than being trapped inside Switzerland with no way to get out!
Sun over black river
The roundabout at night
Around town
Beautiful scenery outside of the Glacier Express, but I took a nap;)
Carriage ride
Ice skating at Kulm
Everything is beautiful in St. Moritz
Winter trees
2. Nightlife
St. Moritz has plenty of nightlife, most of it upscale. Right under our hotel was an open-air bar where dozens of people enjoyed standing around in sub-freezing temperatures sipping cocktails. This wasn’t for us as our teeth and bones were chattering non-stop. Luckily we found a series of basement bars across the roundabout with kindly bartenders that introduced me to my new favorite drink – the Moscow Mule. Vodka, spicy ginger beer, lime juice – and served in a copper mug.
We also managed to make it into the Kings Club, where I think they took pity on our underdressed selves and let us drink and eat one night. The people around us were dressed for the occasion.
Moscow Mules
3. Spend
Everything in St. Moritz is aimed at people with a lot of disposable money. Bentleys and Rolls Royce are parked in front of the hotels, Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton stores line the streets. However, you can still pick up some affordable souvenirs from the shops close to the round-about in town. I bought some t-shirts, magnets, patches and swiss candies to bring home.
4. Food
If you want to splurge hit Badrutt Palace or Kulm. For lighter fare, you can find numerous eateries on the street.
Baked Alaska, ice cream and soup
5. Getting Around
Feet. To get up the mountain from the train station your hotel should send a driver. To get back down you should be able to make your way via the underground escalator.
6. Costs
St. Moritz isn’t cheap, but it doesn’t have to be prohibitive either. The first class Glacier Express tickets to get us there from Zermatt were around 500 euro, our hotel 2,000 euro, and we spent another 1,500 euro around town, but we certainly didn’t go extravagant.
7. Tips
Stay as close as you can to the main area of town unless you’re there solely for skiing – in which case you’ll probably want a cabin close to the slopes.
