St. Moritz
The Engadin valley's luxury mountain -- two Winter Olympic hosts, 350km of pistes, and prices that match.
Our Take
St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics twice (1928 and 1948) and has been operating as the Alps' premier luxury resort for the better part of 150 years -- the Kulm Hotel ran its first winter season in 1864. The skiing spans 350km across the Engadin valley resorts of St. Moritz, Celerina, Silvaplana, Sils Maria, and Pontresina, connected by ski buses and lifts at the valley's various stations. The Corviglia and Corvatsch ski areas above St. Moritz proper offer intermediate terrain with the altitude certainty of 3,303 meters summit. The resort's skiing identity is intermediate to advanced, with the Corviglia black runs and the Corvatsch off-piste providing expert options. But St. Moritz exists within a specific luxury context that makes the skiing somewhat secondary to the complete experience: the Badrutt's Palace, the Corviglia Club (membership-only restaurant on the mountain), the polo on the frozen lake, and the Cresta Run bobsled track. For World Cup skiing, Celerina hosts the legendary Cresta tobogganing competitions and the ski racing calendar regularly returns to the valley. St. Moritz is where people who don't need to justify their skiing go to ski.
Nerd Stats
Engadin Piste Km
350km
Summit Elevation
10,827'
Olympic Editions
2 (1928, 1948)
Cresta Run Since
1884
Fun Facts
- St. Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics in both 1928 and 1948 -- the only Alpine resort to host twice (along with Innsbruck).
- The Cresta Run is a natural ice toboggan track in Celerina that has operated since 1884 -- riders go headfirst at speeds above 80mph.
- The Polo World Cup on Snow is held on the frozen St. Moritz lake every January -- polo ponies on ice is exactly as unusual as it sounds.
- The Badrutt's Palace hotel opened in 1896 and has a wall of client photographs that functions as an unintentional history of European wealth.