St. Moritz and its grand hotels
Luxury hotels in St. Moritz & the Engadin
3 hotels
St. Moritz keeps its grand hotels in the Dorf, the village on its terrace above the lake at 1,800 meters in the Upper Engadin. There the funicular to Corviglia leaves from the top of the village, the Cresta Run drops beside the Kulm toward Celerina, and the lake below freezes for the polo and the horse races of the winter. St. Moritz Bad, on the flat ground at the far end of the lake, and the valley beyond – Pontresina under the Bernina, Silvaplana and Sils along the chain of lakes toward the Maloja – stay on the map for the day a house there meets the bar. Every house here opens by the season and closes in between. We looked at every serious address in the Engadin and kept only those whose service holds up to the palace. Two hold five-star standing; the one beside them is a four-star address, listed at exactly the tier it holds. Three made the cut.
St. Moritz Dorf
The village on its terrace above the lake, at 1,800 meters, with all three hotels. Via Serlas and its shops, the leaning tower of the old church of St. Mauritius and the Segantini Museum stand here; the funicular to Chantarella and Corviglia leaves from the top of the village, the Cresta Run drops beside the Kulm toward Celerina, and the lake below freezes in winter for the polo and the White Turf.
The neighborhoods
Carlton Hotel St. Moritz · St. Moritz Dorf — Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) · CC BY-SA 4.0St. Moritz Dorf
The village on its terrace above the lake, at 1,800 meters, with all three hotels. Via Serlas and its shops, the leaning tower of the old church of St. Mauritius and the Segantini Museum stand here; the funicular to Chantarella and Corviglia leaves from the top of the village, the Cresta Run drops beside the Kulm toward Celerina, and the lake below freezes in winter for the polo and the White Turf.
St. Moritz Bad & Suvretta
The lower village on the flat ground at the western end of the lake, around the mineral springs known since the Bronze Age. Those springs gave St. Moritz its first visitors; the spa and the Forum Paracelsus stand over the old spring, a path runs along the lake to the Dorf, and the Suvretta slope above Champfèr, west of the town, has its own lifts up into the Corviglia area. Described for the geography, without a hotel of ours today: none there has met the bar.
Pontresina & the Engadin Valley
The valley beyond the town in both directions, ten to thirty minutes from the Dorf, with its glaciers and lakes. Up the Val Bernina lies Pontresina, facing the Roseg and Morteratsch glaciers and the Piz Bernina, the only four-thousand-meter peak of the eastern Alps, with the Diavolezza and the Bernina line to Tirano beyond; down the Inn, Celerina and Samedan, with the Engadin airport; and up the chain of lakes, Silvaplana, Sils and the Maloja, where Segantini painted and Nietzsche spent his summers. Described for the geography, without a hotel of ours today.
Good to know
Which are the five-star hotels in St. Moritz & the Engadin?
Two. The five-star hotels we list in St. Moritz & the Engadin are Badrutt's Palace Hotel and Carlton Hotel St. Moritz. Alongside them we keep one four-star address, listed at exactly the tier it holds: Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, at the top of the Dorf by the Cresta Run. Each has its own page, reached from the list above, with a concierge behind every stay.
Which part of St. Moritz should I stay in?
All three stand in the Dorf, minutes apart on foot on the slope above the lake – Badrutt's Palace Hotel on Via Serlas at the center of the village, its tower over the water; Carlton Hotel St. Moritz on the hillside above the lake at the eastern edge of the village; Kulm Hotel St. Moritz at the top of the Dorf, by the Cresta Run and its rink. St. Moritz Bad, on the flat ground at the western end of the lake with the spa and the springs, and the Suvretta slope toward Champfèr are lower and quieter; Pontresina, Celerina, Silvaplana and Sils are the villages of the valley, ten to twenty minutes away by car or train. Choose the Dorf for the shops of Via Serlas, the funicular to Corviglia and the lake at your feet – today it is the only choice we make.
When are the seasons in St. Moritz?
Two seasons, with a closure between them. Winter runs from early December to late March – the 2026/27 season opens on 4 December at Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, as the house announces it – with Christmas and New Year, the Snow Polo World Cup on the frozen lake in late January and the White Turf races on three Sundays in February the weeks that are taken months ahead, and the Engadin Skimarathon in March to close it. Summer is shorter, roughly mid-June to the end of August, for the lakes, the passes and the walking. Kulm Hotel St. Moritz opens for winter and summer; Badrutt's Palace Hotel by the season, winter and summer, and closed in between. From April to June and from September to November the houses are closed; the concierge confirms the dates of the house you want before you book.
How do I get to St. Moritz, and do I need a car?
Zurich is the gateway – about three hours by road over the Julier Pass, which is kept open in winter, or a little over three hours by train through Chur and the Albula line, the UNESCO railway that climbs through the Landwasser viaduct and the spiral tunnels of Bergün to the Engadin; the hotel arranges a driver from the airport or meets the train at St. Moritz station below the Dorf. Milan is a little over three hours by road through Chiavenna and the Maloja, or by the Bernina Express from Tirano, the highest rail crossing of the Alps. Engadin Airport at Samedan, ten minutes down the valley, takes private aircraft and helicopters. Once there, no car is needed: the three hotels are minutes apart on foot, the funicular to Corviglia leaves from the top of the Dorf, the buses and the Rhaetian Railway link the villages, and in winter the hotels run their own shuttles to the Corvatsch at Surlej and the Diavolezza on the Bernina road, twenty to thirty minutes away.
What is the skiing like, and what does summer bring?
Corviglia is the home mountain, reached by funicular from the top of the Dorf – wide, sunny pistes above the tree line with the lakes below and the Piz Nair at the top; Corvatsch, across the valley above Surlej, is higher and lasts later into the season, with the glacier at its summit; Diavolezza and Lagalb, on the Bernina road beyond Pontresina, keep the steepest skiing and the view of the Morteratsch glacier and the Bernina. One pass covers them all. Off the pistes the Engadin has the Cresta Run, the bobsleigh run from St. Moritz to Celerina – the oldest in the world – the skating and the polo on the lake, and the cross-country tracks along the frozen lakes to Sils and the Maloja. Summer turns it into a valley of lakes: sailing on Silvaplana and Sils, kitesurfing on the afternoon wind at Silvaplana, walking to the Morteratsch glacier or up to Muottas Muragl for the view over the chain of lakes, and the Segantini Museum in the Dorf and the Nietzsche house at Sils-Maria for the afternoons.
How do I reserve a stay?
Search your dates on the hotel's page to see reference rates, then send the concierge a request. The concierge confirms exact rates and availability with you before anything is booked, and any payment and its timing are set out before you confirm.
