Among the Alpine resorts, St Moritz has always been pre-eminent, especially in its own eyes. Having hosted the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics, for more than a century it has been the winter choice of the jet set. Pretenders to the throne come and go, but when you’ve more money than you know what to do with, tradition has it that you build something for yourself in St Moritz, then visit for only a couple of weeks each year.
The latest in a long line of wealthy newcomers is steel magnate Lakshi Mittal. His purpose- built villa in the exclusive Chantarella district cost CHF60 million (£24 million), though it was joked that he would have paid half as much if he hadn’t used local labourers. Next is the Shah of Iran’s former villa, recently on the market for CHF30 million (£12 million). It was one of the Shah’s favourite haunts – he was a keen skier – and a stopping place after he was deposed (well described in William Shawcross’s book, The Shah’s Last Ride), but has been empty for many years and will need millions spending on it. Some say the villa has already been sold, others say it is still on the market, few know for sure. The only certainty is that there is no shortage of people who could afford the place. The ultra-rich like St Moritz. It does have its drawbacks, however.
Jet-setters move around the world and rarely stop anywhere for long. St Moritz is a winter destination for them, and typically they arrive for Christmas and New Year, then move on. The ski season runs from December to April, and for much of that time the 5,700 beds in St Moritz could be sold twice over. So the rest of us either pay sky-high to rub shoulders, or make do with the shoulder season, when prices drop about 50 per cent. Luckily, with its location at 1,850 metres, St Moritz is less affected by global warming than many resorts.
Nevertheless, that leaves six months of the year, and possibly more in future, where there is very little snow at all. Traditionally, the hotels and many of the shops shut in May, which is still cold, but wet, and with a countryside that turns several unappealing shades of brown as the snow melts. Then June comes around, the slopes are carpeted with wild flowers, and yet still the visitors do not return. The result is that prices during the summer are on average 50 per cent lower than in winter, including in the five-star hotels.
In St Moritz, there are five of these: Badrutt’s Palace; the Carlton (currently closed for renovation, but reopening next year as an all-suite hotel); the Kulm; the Suvretta; and the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains. The challenge for these hotels, and the four- and three-stars, as well as those who live in St Moritz, is to attract us, to entertain us, and convince us that there is more to their town than the extremely wealthy who come for a fortnight each year. It’s a challenge faced by many seasonal resorts, but the situation is particularly acute in St Moritz.
The wealthy who own houses and apartments have no need to rent their places out for the 11 months they are not using them, so the town has a considerable amount of vacant but unusable accommodation, known locally as “cold beds”. The effect is increased because the town’s marketing operation – the tourist board, relies for its budget on revenue from hotels. Yet developers are always looking to turn these hotels into apartments. Inevitably, a high proportion of these apartments are then sold to clients who are largely absentee.
St Moritz is not a chocolate box sort of place, and it welcomes new design. The best example of this is the Sir Norman Foster-designed apartments housed in Chesa Futura. Shaped like an unshelled peanut, the development is a striking reminder of what is possible in the Alps. Three storeys stand on nine pilotis to keep the larch-shingle cladding from rotting and the colour of the whole gradually fading. There are nine apartments, one owned by Sir Norman himself, who is a fan of the local area (his children went to school at the nearby Lyceum Alpinum in the village of Zuoz). Another is the property of Tyler Brulee, founder of Wallpaper magazine. All have stunning views of the valley.
Foster and Partners’s next project is Murezzan, a combined restaurant, café and coffee lounge (collectively called Post Haus) in the centre of St Moritz, with a shopping arcade boasting high-end boutiques such as Asprey, and some 60 luxury apartments.
The Post Haus is a great place to relax, with comfortable leather chairs, a giant log-fire, cow-skin throws for decoration and views over the lake (a glass of Mercier Brut costs CHF13 [£5]). The name of the restaurant comes from the old Post Haus hotel which was previously on the site (there was also a second four-star hotel, the Albana). Taking these 200-odd rooms out of St Moritz’s room inventory affects not only the number of people who can visit the resort, but also the income for the tourist authority. It estimates that losing these two, and two others that shut around that time meant it lost CHF250,000 (£100,000) from its annual budget. The taxes raised per person per night from hotels range from CHF2.55 (£1) for a one-star hotel (there are few of these in St Moritz) to CHF5 (£2) for a five-star. Fewer hotels means less money for the marketing of the resort, and so even fewer guests in summer. To combat the cold-bed problem, there is a tax on empty rooms, or second homes, ranging from CHF400 (£158) per year for a one-bedroom apartment to CHF1200 (£475) for a house. It’s unlikely to discourage the rich, and may help keep the marketing operation on the road for a little while yet.
St Moritz has a lot to shout about. The resort calls itself “Top of the World”, a phrase coined by director of tourism Dr Hanspeter Danuser. Whichever way you arrive, you can see his point. You can land by private jet at Samedan airport (1,707 metres above sea level); travel by road through the Inn Valley from Austria or over one of three passes – the Bernina, the Maloja, which connects the Italian-speaking part of Ticino, Switzerland, and the Julier – or you can take the Glacier Express (from Zurich Airport it takes just short of three-and-a-half hours by train, changing at Zurich’s central station and then Chur).
Although it’s 1,800 metres above sea level and has 322 days of sunshine a year, St Moritz is not the most attractive of towns, but at least it is a real place with a year-round population, a good shopping centre (with, as you’d expect, a large choice of top-end boutiques), and a long history of offering every sort of activity, from climbing and Nordic walking to sailing, kite surfing and trotinette (a cross between a bike and a scooter).
What’s impressive about it is the level of infrastructure in place for all of this.You could spend a week in the valley and have all the activity you could wish for simply by using the miles of bike paths around the lakes or by taking walks through the surrounding woods.
St Moritz is also well-placed for the current resurgence in spa tourism. Its waters were first discovered more than 3,000 years ago (a spring tap from the Bronze Age is in the Engadine Museum), and feature in writings by the Swiss doctor/alchemist Paracelsus. The first spa was built in 1864 and the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains is continuing this tradition with its own spa, as well as a forthcoming diagnostic centre. This is an interesting extension of the spa idea – the diagnostic and preventative centre does not target the sick, but the healthy. The aim is that high-flying guests will come for a full-body check-up while enjoying the luxury environment of a five-star resort hotel. The results are then saved onto a computer chip and later checked at a top university in Zurich, Munich or Milan.
The Kempinski cleverly markets itself as an integral part of St Moritz, rather than a luxury brand parachuted into the resort. The spa makes use of local products, including marmot oil, alpine stone pine and hay flower.
There are three restaurants at the hotel, including Enoteca, for “high alpine tapas” and Les Saisons, where chef Oliver Barda serves up some delicious meals using local produce, such as salad of asparagus and chanterelles with Swiss chicken and a raspberry vinaigrette, or duet of alp pork on a wood garlic risotto with Sassoalloro sauce (this is, admittedly, a Tuscan wine, but Italian is one of the three cultures of the valley, along with German and Romansh). There’s also a wine list of daunting length, and a separate Swiss wine list with provincial specialities that sommelier Stefan Zich is happy to talk you through. He’s wonderfully opinionated, claiming to have an example of the best Gruner Veltliner in the world on his list – from Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Ried Lamm CHF160 (£63) and disapproving of customers with more money than sense who order the La Tache 2003 CHF 1,850 (£730) at least five years before it reaches its peak.
Meanwhile, the bar serves Veuve Clicquot and Moet & Chandon as the house champagne during the summer, but Krug CHF36 (£14) per glass during the winter – although the barman assured me that they check that’s fine with the guest before pouring.
Whether it’s possible for a resort to have two completely distinct audiences depending on the season is an interesting point, and this is the challenge that St Moritz is facing. Others have succeeded. Chamonix in the French Alps is just as busy with climbers and walkers during the summer as it is with skiers in the winter.
For a resort whose appeal is based so strongly on being fashionable, there will always be a percentage who think it’s just not the done thing to go to St Moritz in the summer. But since they are just the sort of people the rest of us would rather avoid anyway, their absence – coupled with a fabulous locale and reasonable prices – is argument enough. Whether for a relaxing meeting, a full-body MOT or an invigorating week of activity, St Moritz has much more to offer than rubbing shoulders with the “in” crowd.
Getting there
London-St Moritz.
There are no direct flights. The best route is to fly to Zurich and proceed by train. Flights from Heathrow are operated by BA and Swiss; from Gatwick by BA; and from City by Swiss. Return fares with BA from Gatwick or Heathrow to Zurich cost from £91pp. Return fares with Swiss from Heathrow cost from £84.
Trains (visit rail.ch) take 3 hours, 45 minutes from Zurich airport to St Moritz, with changes at Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich Central) and Chur. Return fares start at £61 for standard class. For train transfers from Zurich to St Moritz visit swisstravelsystem.ch and for tourist information on Switzerland, visit myswitzerland.com.
British Airways Holidays (ba.com; +44 [0]870 243 3406; a £15pp supplement is applicable for all telephone reservations) has three nights at the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains from £397pp. For more information on the hotel, visit kempinski.com.
