In September 1864 a St Moritz hotelier named Johannes Badrutt made a bet with four English summer guests. Come back in winter, he said, and if you do not enjoy it I will pay your travel costs. They came at Christmas, found sunshine and dry cold rather than the fog they expected, and stayed until Easter. Winter tourism in the Alps starts with that wager.
What Badrutt understood was the inversion. Cold air pools in the low Swiss valleys through the winter and holds fog over them for days or weeks at a time. The Engadine valley floor sits at around 1,800 metres, above where that fog forms, and the result is a high, dry, brilliantly clear winter that the lowland cities do not get.
The valley, not just the town
The Upper Engadine is a chain of lakes along a broad, flat, high valley, and St Moritz is one town on it rather than the whole thing.
St Moritz has the hotels, the shopping, the frozen-lake events and the reputation. It is expensive and it knows it.
Pontresina, ten minutes east under the Bernina peaks, is quieter, cheaper, more oriented to walking and skiing than to being seen.
Silvaplana and Sils Maria, southwest along the lakes, are smaller again. Silvaplana's lake is one of the best flat-water kite and windsurf spots in Europe because of the Maloja wind, which blows almost every afternoon in summer.
Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza are the ski areas, spread around the valley on one pass.
The Engadine is also a summer destination in a way most Alpine resorts are not: the lakes, the walking and the light bring a separate clientele from June to September.
The nine below are grouped by village.
St Moritz
The town, the lake and the hotels.
Badrutt's Palace Hotel St Moritz occupies the building Johannes Badrutt's son put up in 1896 above the lake, with a tower, a ski room, a nightclub in the cellar and a level of ceremony that has not changed much. It is the most famous hotel in the Alps.
Badrutt's Palace Hotel St Moritz
St Moritz · 5★ · $$$$
The 1896 tower above the lake, and the Alps' most famous hotel
Check availabilityKulm Hotel St. Moritz sits on the site of the original 1856 hotel where the bet was made, with a large spa, its own natural ice rink and the Cresta Run below it.
Kulm Hotel St. Moritz
St Moritz · 5★ · $$$$
On the site of the 1864 bet, with its own natural ice rink
Check availabilityCarlton Hotel St Moritz - The Leading Hotels of the World occupies a hillside above the lake with only suites, most facing south over the water, and a spa. It is the quietest of the grand hotels here.
Carlton Hotel St Moritz - The Leading Hotels of the World
Above St Moritz lake · 5★ · $$$$
All suites, most facing south over the water
Check availabilityGrand Hotel des Bains Kempinski sits above St Moritz Bad with a very large spa fed from the local mineral springs, several restaurants and a golf course beside it.
Grand Hotel des Bains Kempinski
St Moritz Bad · 5★ · $$$$
A very large spa fed from the local mineral springs
Check availabilitySuvretta House occupies a position at Suvretta, ten minutes from the centre, with its own ski lift, a large family programme and a tone that is deliberately private rather than social.
Suvretta House
Suvretta, St Moritz · 5★ · $$$$
Its own ski lift and a deliberately private tone
Check availabilityPontresina
Ten minutes east, quieter and cheaper.
Grand Hotel Kronenhof occupies an 1848 building with a neo-baroque dining room, a large spa and views to the Roseg glacier. It is the best hotel in the valley outside St Moritz and it is considerably less expensive.
Grand Hotel Kronenhof
Pontresina · 5★ · $$$$
An 1848 hotel with a neo-baroque hall and the Roseg glacier
Check availabilityHotel Saratz Pontresina Mountain Resort & Spa sits above the village with a garden, a pool and a family operation, at a fraction of the St Moritz rates.
Hotel Saratz Pontresina Mountain Resort & Spa
Pontresina · 4★ · $$$
Garden and pool at a fraction of the St Moritz rates
Check availabilitySilvaplana and Sils Maria
Southwest along the lakes.
Nira Alpina occupies a position at Silvaplana beside the Corvatsch cable car, with a rooftop bar and the kitesurfing lake below.
Nira Alpina
Silvaplana · 4★ · $$$
Beside the Corvatsch cable car above the kitesurfing lake
Check availabilityHotel Waldhaus Sils sits above Sils Maria in a family-run hotel operating since 1908, with the same families returning across generations and a formality that is entirely unselfconscious. Nietzsche summered in the village below.
Hotel Waldhaus Sils
Sils Maria · 5★ · $$$$
Family-run since 1908 with generations of returning guests
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The apartment rentals across the valley are excluded, and in the Engadine they are a substantial share of the winter beds. They are apartments rather than hotels.
What to do
Ski Corvatsch and Corviglia, and take the Diavolezza glacier run if conditions allow, which is a long descent with a guide.
Walk in summer. The Engadine's high paths are gentle by Alpine standards because the valley floor is already at 1,800 metres, and the lake circuit from Sils to Silvaplana is flat and beautiful.
Watch something on the frozen lake. St Moritz stages polo, cricket and horse racing on the ice in February, which is exactly as strange as it sounds.
Take the Bernina Express, a UNESCO-listed railway that climbs to 2,253 metres and drops to Tirano in Italy through 55 tunnels and 196 bridges without a rack.
Eat capuns, pizzoccheri and Engadine nut tart, which is the valley's own.
Practical notes
Zurich is about three hours by road or three and a half by train, changing at Chur onto the Rhaetian Railway, which is worth doing for its own sake. Samedan has a small airport for private aircraft.
The winter season runs December to early April, with Christmas, New Year and February the peaks. The summer season runs June to September and is a different and quieter clientele. May and November are shoulder months when much of the valley closes.
At 1,800 metres the air is thin and dry. Take the first day gently.
Explore 4 & 5 Star St Moritz and the Engadine Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Why is it always sunny?
The valley floor sits above the level where winter fog forms in the lower Swiss valleys. That inversion is what Badrutt bet on in 1864.
St Moritz or Pontresina?
St Moritz for the hotels, the shops and the scene. Pontresina for the same mountains at considerably lower rates.
Is it good in summer?
Very, and it is a separate season here with lakes, walking and the Maloja wind for surfing.
How many nights?
Seven in winter, four or five in summer.
If you only book one
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