St Moritz came into its glamorous prime in the1970s, but there’s change afoot. Georgia Boscawen discovers how fresh new openings complement its enduring retro cool…
On a crisp February afternoon, thoroughbreds thunder across the frozen lake in St Moritz. For any other ski resort, this would be anunusual sight, but for St Moritz, the effervescent Swiss ski resort set in the Upper Engadin Valley, it’s normal. Throughout the winter season the frozen lake of St Moritz, which sprawls out for almost two kilometres before me, becomes a stage for ice-based flat horse racing, car races, polo and even cricket. Today’s event is White Turf, the ice-based flat racing event that takes place annually (7 to 22 February in 2026). Each event draws fur-clad spectators clutching flutes of Ruinart, and there is a distinctively old-world feel to it.
The only way to truly ‘arrive’ into St Moritz in style is by landing at Samedan airport in the nearby Engadin valley. Samedan is strictly for private aviation, though, so your best bet is to go private, and if you don’t own your own set of wings at the moment, the next best thing would be a flight with Flexjet, which routinely visits this sky-high strip of tarmac. A key date for this is the St Moritz Snow Polo World Cup, which takes place between 23 and 25 January 2026.
For decades, this small town has been the home of Alpine excess. It was put on the map by local hotelier Johannes Badrutt, who in 1864 invited some English friends to enjoy winter sun in the Alps. Those visitors returned home with tales of pristine slopes and a charming town, and the destination’s popularity soared. Two decades later the infamous Cresta Run – a 1.2-kilometre-long bobsleigh track – was carved into the mountainside. It is still known for its danger and exclusivity, with its (all-male) membership, which has been handed down through the generations. The resort’s reputation continued to rise, and in 1928 (and again in 1948) St Moritz hosted the Winter Olympics. By then, the resort had secured a firm place in the calendars of high society socialites with dukes, princes and monarchs appearing on its slopes each season.
By the late 1960s, St Moritz had become synonymous with the international jet-set. Black and white photos show the uniform: round, mirrored sunglasses, narrow skis and shoulder-padded one pieces. The parties rivalled New York’s Studio 54 and attracted the glitterati. But when the industrial heir and art collector Gunter Sachs arrived in St Moritz in the early 1970s, the town entered its real heyday. Sachs brought with him a coterie of artists, actors and aristocrats and in 1974 he founded the Dracula Club, a velvet-roped boîte hidden behind Badrutt’s Palace. The club was (and still is) decorated with Sachs’s own photography and quickly became the place where Warhol, Bardot and Jagger would go to let their hair down.
Now, after more than a century of holding this reputation, change is afoot. The aristocrats remain, but St Moritz is opening its doors to a younger, more eclectic crowd. They come not only for the skiing, but for the art fairs, natural wine bars, design-led hotels and a wellness culture that has slotted in beside the champagne-soaked excess of the 1980s. Courchevel saw asimilar transition and has had its own renaissance in the past decade, but in doing so it lost some of its old-world glamour. St Moritz has managed to welcome an influx of new energy without turning its back on the past.
Grace La Margna, a 1906 hotel in the centre of St Moritz, marked this change when it reopened in 2023 with sharp contemporary interiors and a new age feel. In some places, it clings to its old-world charm with chandeliers and marble fireplaces in the historic La Margna wing. But there is now a sculptural granitereception and contemporary rooms with huge floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the frozen lake. The hotel is opening the first Swiss outpost of Beefbar this December too, the cult favourite steak restaurant that has outposts in Mykonos, Monaco and St Barths. Grace La Margna has become a hub for a new après scene too at The Bar, where tables are crammed with bottles of cloudy Jura wines and plates of pizzoccheri after a day on the slopes.
Après has gone from strength to strength in St Moritz. While other resorts have La Folie Douce, St Moritz has Paradiso by the Bradrutt’s Palace hotel, which sits a short ski from the Signal gondola overlooking the town below. Here, multigenerational guests are handed fur coats to keep them cosy, and you can choose your cigars directly from the menu. Other brilliant après spots include the minimalist Quattro Bar and Sternbar Marguns, known for its lively atmosphere and Latin music. At Trutz, a more traditional spot perched above the valley, skiers sit on sheepskin-draped chairs, tearing into veal bratwurst with mustard, while the afternoon sun sinks behind the peaks.
I discover real old-world charm at Suvretta House, which has been perched on the eastern slope of Piz Nair Pitschen since 1912. As I spin through the wooden revolving doors, the first things I notice are the enormous windows thatfront the hotel lobby and offer views of the non-skiable alpine forest and mountains of Graubünden. Honey oak panels cover almost all the walls in the sprawling hotel, with its vaulted ceilings, great Murano glass chandeliers and carved pillars. Sitting in Anton’s Bar is like stepping back in time, helped by the cigar smoke that wafts around the room (you can still smoke inside here). My dirty martini is accompanied by soft-rolling songs from the pianist in the corner. Polished nickel lamps and deep red walls make it feel dramatic and elegant but not tired or dated. And there is still space for the new here; this season Suvretta House unveiled a new three-storey spa designed by Ritter Schumacher. It opens with all the modern wellness facilities one would expect, including post-ski recovery treatments, facials and massages. There is an exclusive women’s spa on the first level too, which allows female guests to indulge in traditional Swiss treatments in privacy.
Looking around, I see a blend of generations sitting in the grand lobby and it feels like it fits both parties. Older couples with Persol sunglasses and polo necks look at home, as do more youthful guests clad in Perfect Moment. Some old-world charms do not age, I muse, as a glass of Pol Roger is thrust into my hand to accompany the crêpes Suzette that’s being set alight on the trolley that was wheeled up a few moments ago. The hotel feels effortless, exciting and elegant, which is why both the old and new generation of St Moritz continue to visit.
It’s not all blended however – some is just plain new. There is a younger crowd at St Moritz’s growing number of wellness facilities. The Ovaverva spa is a vast complex in town, with glassy pools steaming in the cold air that can be seen from the slopes. Inside, saunas, salt grottos and massage rooms can be found too. A short drive away, Engadin retreats lean into nature, offering digital detoxes, snowshoe hikes at dusk and mindfulness sessions by frozen waterfalls. It’s a far cry from old St Moritz but they are proving popular.
Cultural attractions are also evolving here. Each winter, Hauser & Wirth stages exhibitions in unlikely Alpine settings. Vito Schnabel has brought Jean-Michel Basquiat and Urs Fischer to town, embedding St Moritz firmly in the contemporary art circuit. The Nomad design fair, meanwhile, transforms old ballrooms into temporary galleries, where collectors drift past lacquered chairs and sculptural lighting before stepping back out into the snow. St Moritz in March can look less like a ski resort and more like an art summit.
On the mountain, skiing is still every bit as serious as image. Corviglia (St Moritz’s main ski area) has broad pistes that are a playground for long, fast carving runs. Across the valley, Corvatsch has steeper slopes. For exclusivity though guests staying at Suvretta House have their own slopes to ski, thanks to the hotel’s lift network just metres from its door.
The fur coats remain, but the Moncler puffers are here too, and it’s the balance that matters. The young are attracted by the legacy of ’70s and ’80s St Moritz, and they’ve nurtured it rather than force the town into the new age. After more than a century of being men-only, women are finally beginning to race the Cresta Run, bringing a different kind of energy to one of St Moritz’s oldest traditions. The combination of retro and modern, indulgent and inventive, is why St Moritz remains one of the chicest towns in the Alps.