St.Moritz

St. Moritz is one of the world's most famous holiday resorts. Chic, elegant and exclusive with a cosmopolitan ambiance, it is located at 1,856 metres above sea level in the middle of the Upper Engadin lake landscape. The dry, sparkling "champagne climate" is legendary and the celebrated St. Moritz sun shines for an average of 322 days a year.

Village

St. Moritz is the oldest winter holiday resort of the world (since 1864). Its hotel pioneers have gone down in the history of winter tourism on numerous occasions. It is owing to their committment and innovative spirit that St. Moritz was brought to the top.

Facts & Figures

Today, St. Moritz has 5,400 inhabitants, added to by approximately 3,000 employees during the season. It has 5,300 beds in around 40 traditional hotels as well as some 7,500 beds in holiday apartments, 3,500 of which are to rent. Half of the hotel beds are in the four and five-star category. The ratio of overnight stays for summer and winter is approximately 2 to 3, whereby the guest structure is markedly better in winter than summer. In a good year, St. Moritz records up to 1.1 million overnight stays by approximately 250,000 guests - around 140,000 in summer and 110,000 in winter. The hotel guest's average length of stay is just under three days in summer and over five days in winter.
St. Moritz guests are fascinating, their mix unique: up to 70 per cent of foreign visitors from all over the world, sporty, active, dynamic. Sport and fashion ensure that despite traditions and spa, St. Moritz remains refreshingly young.

Sport

St. Moritz has been the host city for the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. It also hosted the 1934, 1974 and 2003 Alpine Skiing World Championships. St. Moritz is extremely popular in the summer months as an altitude training base for distance athletes, particularly cyclists, runners, and race walkers. Its popularity extends to the altitude, weather, world class athletics track, and availability of paths and trails in the area.
In 1904 the oldest and worlds last remaining natural bob run was opened. The 1722 meter long ice chanel - also known as the world biggest "ice sculpture" - is built every winter from ground up with only snow and water. The bob run hosted numerous world championships and was used in both olympic wintergames. In the early 30s some members of the bob club, started taking guests for taxi rides along, today with slightly modified racing bobs.
For the 1928 games, the cross-country skiing and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined events took place around the hills of St. Moritz. Twenty years later, the city again the cross-country skiing, the cross-country skinng part of the Nordic combined, and the ice hockey events took place in St. Moritz.
In addition to the above sports, St. Moritz is also well known as a destination for sailing. It is the host venue for the annual St. Moritz Match Race held on lake St. Moritz. The St. Moritz Match Race event is part of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour which covers 3 continents. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to St. Moritz in a gladiatorial battle of nerve and skill on the water. The identical supplied (BLU-26) boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities. Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in St. Moritz. Racing in such close proximity (approx. 15m) to the Lake St. Moritz shoreline provides excellent heart of the action viewing for the audience.

Ski & Snowboard

Feel the sun on your face and the powder under your feet the whole day long! For the region can lay claim to 350 km (217 miles) of ski pistes. Not to mention fantastic weather – the Upper Engadin is truly blessed with an abundance of sunshine. Thanks to its altitude of between 1,800 and 3,303 metres(5,906−10,837 ft) above sea level, snow is guaranteed. Moreover, the highly modern ski lifts ensure a minimum of waiting time and a maximum of efficiency in a region that is renowned for its variety – after all, it was here that winter tourism was born almost 150 years ago. Carving paradises, freeride slopes, spacious nursery slopes and a glacier downhill run lure snow sport aficionados in every direction. When it comes to snow, Engadin St. Moritz has it all.

 

Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza are synonymous for awe-inspiring experiences on skis. You'll find almost everything in Switzerland's largest snowsport region, from extensive, well-known areas with a wide range of offers to smaller, family-friendly, village skilifts. Not forgetting the numerous panorama restaurants, ski huts and snowbars, all bursting with ambiance and promising lively après-ski fun.

Champagne Climate

We know that the world-famous "champagne climate" has less to do with the champagne-drinking winter guests than with the sparkling, invigorating and bracing climate of the Upper Engadin. The average temperature in St. Moritz is higher than its location would suggest. The forests reach several hundred metres further up than in other high-altitude valleys with the same latitude and the lower level of eternal snow is far higher. No wonder then that the slogan "Top of the World" was added to the sun and name of the St. Moritz brand logo in 1987.

Shopping

St. Moritz is a cocktail of profound natural experiences and urban elegance. The latter includes a unique concentration of fashion boutiques. Via Serlas is to St. Moritz as the Bahnhofstrasse is to Zurich. Or Rodeo Drive to Los Angeles. Merely on a smaller, more intimate scale. 
From Chanel and Gucci to Louis Vuitton. All the prestigious names on the international fashion scene are lined up together. The latest brands to be admitted to the Via Serlas Club vanish like butter on the tongue of every fashion freak: Roberto Cavalli, Ermenegildo Zegna and Polo Ralph Lauren.
The list of big names in the heart of the village are further complemented by Bernie's, Escada, Prada and Jet Set. In addition to the many fashion stores, St. Moritz shoppers will also find sparkling gemstones, stylish designer furniture, fine wine and a superb choice of delicatessens.

Gastronomy

The Gault Millau Guide shows that guests in the Engadin don't only enjoy fine dining during the St.Moritz Gourmet Festival. The valley's concentration of Gault Millau points quite literally means "Haute Cuisine" on the Top of the World: several of the Engadin's leading restaurants are located at over 1,800 m altitude. 

Nightlife

St. Moritz has never had a shortage of those who enjoy a good night out. And with good reason: well-known classic bars, new lounge bars and clubs with an international appeal make high-season nights as bright as day in the Engadin. And best of all: you can enjoy a club-hopping evening without aching feet: many of the "in" spots in the heart of St. Moritz are within walking distance of each other.

Art & Culture

Friedrich Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ferdinand Hodler, Richard Wagner, Giovanni Segantini. What reads like a "Who's Who" of leading writers, philosophers and artists of times past is also a list of travellers who came to love the Engadin. Where all sought and found recuperation and recovery, diversion and artistic inspiration as well as sporting and Alpine challenges.

Spa Traditions

A sparkling champagne climate, over 320 days of sun every year and a splendidly tranquil landscape. Ideal ingredients for relaxing days on the "Top of the World". Sheer balm for body and soul is ensured by spacious spa worlds from both western and eastern hemispheres, top-class hairdressers and oases of wellbeing. The place for it could not be more fitting: St. Moritz owes its original fame to its therapeutic spas, known for almost 3,500 years.