St. Moritz: the back story

About St. Moritz: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

St. Moritz was a quiet Engadine village long before it was a resort. Its hoteliers persuaded summer guests to stay for the winter, and from the Kulm, Switzerland’s first electric light to the oldest bob run in the world, the town has been inventing winter ever since.

The cradle of winter tourism

St. Moritz calls itself the place where winter tourism began, and its oldest hotel, the Kulm, is known as the cradle of it all: the tourist office notes that Switzerland’s first electric light was lit there, and that the first sports bar opened there too. Engadin St. Moritz Mountains, which runs the lifts on Corviglia, says the mountain has shaped the region’s tourism for more than 150 years.

The grand hotels

The Grand Hotel des Bains, now a Kempinski, occupies a building of 1864 at the foot of the Signal cable car. Badrutt’s Palace, with its landmark tower, opened in 1896. The Steffani has welcomed guests in the centre since 1869, and its Lapin Bleu is described as the town’s first and oldest restaurant. Up on the sunny slope, Fritz Hanselmann’s bakery, opened more than 125 years ago, became probably the first tea room in St. Moritz, because its English guests asked to be entertained in the family’s apartment.

Winter tourism began right here.

Ice and speed

The Olympia Bob Run from St. Moritz to Celerina opened in 1904, and it is the oldest bobsleigh run still in use and the last natural ice track in the world, rebuilt each winter from 15,000 m³ of snow and 10,000 m³ of water. The Cresta Run, starting below the Kulm, sends riders head-first down an ice channel at up to 140 km/h from just before Christmas to early March. Two Olympic bobsleigh competitions have been decided on the bob run; Henri Oreiller of Val d’Isère won France’s first Olympic skiing golds here in 1948.

The mountains

Above the town, Corviglia, the ‘sports mountain’, rises to Piz Nair at 3,057 metres, while across the valley Corvatsch, Diavolezza and Lagalb complete the Upper Engadine’s ski areas. On the lake below, the Snow Polo World Cup and the White Turf horse races on snow return every winter.

Our advice: book a Sleep & Ski package if your hotel offers it, take the first gondola up to Piz Nair on a clear morning, and keep a Sunday in February free for White Turf.

St. Moritz through the years

Dates from St. Moritz Tourism’s directory and Engadin St. Moritz Mountains, read October 2026.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with St. Moritz: the back story before you go.