St. Moritz
St. Moritz is the Engadin valley's glamour capital — birthplace of Alpine winter tourism, two-time Winter Olympics host, and home to polo and horse racing on a frozen lake. It's also where the Glacier Express and Bernina Express both begin or end, two of the most scenic rail journeys on Earth. Reach it from Zurich in about 3.5 hours via Chur, and budget for one of Switzerland's priciest towns even by its own standard.
St. Moritz has been selling the same pitch — sun, snow, and see-and-be-seen glamour — since the 1860s, when a local hotelier bet a group of skeptical English guests he could get them to enjoy a Swiss winter, and won. It's still working: over 300 days of sunshine a year, four connected ski areas, and a level of polish that makes even Zurich look understated.
What makes St. Moritz different
This is the town that essentially invented Alpine winter tourism as a concept, and it's hosted the Winter Olympics twice (1928 and 1948) — a genuinely rare pedigree. Sitting at 1,856m in the Upper Engadine, it also claims over 300 days of sunshine a year, making it one of the sunniest resort towns in the entire Alps, not just Switzerland.
Skiing and the glamour side
Four linked ski areas — Corvatsch, Corviglia, Diavolezza/Lagalb, and the Zuoz lifts — combine for well over 200 miles of terrain, consistently ranked among the priciest ski destinations in the Alps. Beyond the slopes, St. Moritz leans hard into its old-money reputation: the Cresta Run (a members' bobsled toboggan track, with limited guest 'taster' runs available by arrangement), White Turf horse racing on the frozen lake every February, snow polo, and high-end shopping along Via Serlas.
| Activity | Approx. cost |
|---|---|
| 6-day adult ski lift pass | Roughly CHF 400–420 ($495–520) |
| Ski + boot rental, per day | CHF 60–90 ($75–110) |
| White Turf or polo spectator entry (February) | Free to CHF 20 depending on the stand |
| Cresta Run guest 'taster' run (limited availability) | Several hundred CHF, by arrangement |
White Turf (horse racing on the frozen lake) and snow polo both run on specific February weekends, not the whole winter — check the current year's exact dates before building a trip around either, since they're genuinely one-of-a-kind spectacles worth timing a visit to.
The Glacier Express and Bernina Express
St. Moritz is one end of the Glacier Express, the famous 7.5-hour panoramic run to Zermatt, and also the starting point for the Bernina Express, which crosses into Italy at Tirano on the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Rhaetian Railway line — arguably even more dramatic than the Glacier Express, and shorter. Riding one of these is, for a lot of visitors, the actual reason to come to St. Moritz in the first place.
| Route | Approx. time | Seat reservation cost |
|---|---|---|
| Bernina Express (St. Moritz–Tirano) | ~2.5 hours | CHF 32 ($40) |
| Bernina Express (full Chur–Tirano) | ~4 hours | CHF 40–44 ($50–55) |
| Glacier Express (St. Moritz–Zermatt) | ~7.5 hours | Reservation plus rail fare, budget CHF 150–170 ($185–210) total |
Seat reservations for both panoramic trains are mandatory and separate from your underlying rail ticket or Swiss Travel Pass, and panoramic carriages sell out weeks ahead in summer — book as early as you can if a specific date matters.
Getting to St. Moritz
There's no fast direct route — from Zurich, the standard path is a train to Chur (about 1.5 hours) followed by a scenic narrow-gauge connection onward (another 2 hours or so), for roughly 3.5 hours total. Many visitors instead treat the journey itself as the point, arriving via a full Glacier Express or Bernina Express run rather than the fastest available connection.
What it costs
St. Moritz is genuinely one of the most expensive towns in an already expensive country — hotel rooms during ski season routinely start well above what a comparable Zurich or Lucerne room would cost, and the shopping along Via Serlas is priced for a very different budget than most travelers carry. It's worth treating as a deliberate splurge stop rather than a default base.
Mistakes to avoid
- Assuming the Cresta Run or White Turf are open, walk-up spectator experiences on any given day — both run on specific, limited windows (a winter season for the Cresta Run, a handful of February weekends for White Turf) and need checking or booking ahead.
- Treating St. Moritz as a quick add-on to a Zurich-Lucerne-Interlaken trip — there's no fast rail connection, and the town rewards being a deliberate, standalone stop rather than a rushed detour.
- Booking panoramic-train seats for the Glacier Express or Bernina Express at the last minute in peak summer — reservations sell out weeks ahead.
Best time to visit
December through March for skiing, White Turf, and the full glamour-season experience; June through September for hiking in the Engadin valley's lakes-and-larch-forest scenery, at a noticeably calmer pace and lower price than winter. Shoulder seasons (April–May, November) see many hotels and lifts closed for maintenance.
Where to stay in St. Moritz — hotels
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