Love St Moritz? Where to go next for the glamour, the style or the height
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20267 min read
St Moritz invented the winter holiday, or so the story goes: a hotelier's bet in 1864 that his English summer guests would love the Engadin under snow. What people love about it now is harder to pin down, because it is several things at once. The light. A frozen lake that fills with polo, racing and festivals. Grand hotels, serious lunches and a week that works as well for the people who would rather not ski every day as for the ones who would.
And under all of that, the height, which the glamour tends to hide. So when St Moritz regulars want somewhere new, the first question is which of those they are really going for, because the answers point to very different places.
St Moritz, measured
Start with the height, because it is the part of St Moritz people forget to mention. No Swiss resort we cover has a higher village, and 97 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 3,266. On our measure that is snow sure, with room to spare.
Then the size, which is smaller than it looks. The 350 kilometres you will see is a pass figure across separate mountains, Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza among them, and you change mountains by road or rail rather than on skis. Around St Moritz itself we measure 106 kilometres, a little under the 116 of the median resort we cover.
And then the shape of the skiing. St Moritz is a red mountain. Fifty seven percent of what we measure is graded red, there are only 30 kilometres of blue and easier, 45th of the 55 resorts we cover, and its blues average 16.4 percent, the second steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against 15.0 for a typical Swiss blue. Little of it is very steep, with 24 percent steeper than one in four, but little of it is very gentle either: 28 percent is gentler than 15 percent, joint 44th of the 55 resorts we cover. Those are average gradients per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch. The picture is still clear: steady, middling reds, lovely for a confident intermediate, and more of a stretch for a nervous skier than the sunny image suggests.
So the alternatives split cleanly. Two keep the glamour and change the skiing. One keeps the altitude and changes the mood.
Zermatt: if it is the glamour and the height, with the skiing joined up
- VillageVillage
- 1,620 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,899 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 322 km
Zermatt: 151 km of piste we measure. 33 km blue and easier 22%107 km red 71%11 km black 8%
Plus 23 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Zermatt is the other Swiss name that needs no introduction, and it keeps three of the things St Moritz is loved for: the money, the polish and the altitude. We class both as upmarket. Zermatt's village sits at 1,620 metres, 202 below yours, but its skiing goes as high as any resort we cover, to 3,869 metres by our measurement (joint highest, with Cervinia across the border), and 99 percent of its piste is at or above 1,800, the biggest share of any Swiss resort we cover.
What it adds is a mountain that joins up. Where St Moritz's skiing is spread across separate hills, Zermatt's links over the border with Cervinia, measured at 322 kilometres together, though the Italian side needs the International pass. Around Zermatt itself we measure 150 kilometres, against your 106. There are 23 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, where around St Moritz we measure none, and the glacier skiing runs all year.
It is also kinder underfoot. Only 12 percent of Zermatt's piste is steeper than one in four, the lowest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against 24 at St Moritz, and its reds average 17.2 percent against your 21.0. The piste map looks much the same, mostly red with little blue, but the reds here are gentler, which is good news for the less confident skier in a St Moritz party.
The trade is the lake and everything that happens on it. Zermatt is elegant and car free, a village rather than a glamorous lakeside town, and the draw is the Matterhorn rather than the social calendar. You fly to Zurich or Geneva.
Cortina d'Ampezzo: if it is the style and the sense of occasion, in Italy
- VillageVillage
- 1,224 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,939 m
Cortina d'Ampezzo: 86 km of piste we measure. 38 km blue and easier 45%38 km red 45%9 km black 11%
Plus 9 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Cortina is the closest thing Italy has to St Moritz's mix of style and sense of occasion. We class both as upmarket. Cortina is stylish and scenic, known for its Dolomite views and its long lunches, and it hosted the 2026 Winter Games, so it shares St Moritz's Olympic pedigree; St Moritz was host twice, in 1928 and 1948.
On the snow it does better than its village suggests. Cortina sits at 1,224 metres, 598 below St Moritz, but its lifts reach 3,028 metres by our measurement, the second highest top of the ten Italian resorts we cover, and the highest piste we measure is at 2,724. Sixty seven percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, and the piste top alone clears our 2,500 metre line, which makes it snow sure on our measure. The feel underfoot carries over too: 25 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against your 24.
The trade is size, and the black. We measure 86 kilometres of piste around Cortina, against 106 around St Moritz, and there are 9 kilometres of black against your 16. You fly to Venice or Innsbruck.
The question is the top. Madonna's skiing reaches 2,496 metres by our measurement, 770 below St Moritz's, and 61 percent of its piste is at or above 1,800, against your 97. That puts it close to the line we use for snow sure, and we have not called it either way. If the height is a large part of why you go to St Moritz, this is where you will feel the difference. Fly to Verona or Milan.
Val d'Isère: if it is the altitude, with more skiing and a later night
- VillageVillage
- 1,850 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,456 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 300 km
Val d'Isère: 158 km of piste we measure. 90 km green and blue 57%46 km red 29%22 km black 14%
Plus 29 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If the honest answer is that you go to St Moritz for the snow and the glamour came along with it, Val d'Isère keeps the height and gives you a great deal more skiing. Its village is at 1,850 metres, 28 above yours, and 100 percent of the piste we measure there is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint highest share of the 55 resorts we cover. It is upmarket, as St Moritz is, and lively, with evenings that run late.
There is more of it, and it joins up. We measure 158 kilometres around Val d'Isère against your 106, and Espace Killy, which it shares with Tignes, is 300 kilometres of linked skiing. It has 29 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and the season runs from late November to early May, longer at both ends than your December to April.
The trade is the polish and the gradient. Val d'Isère is built around big skiing rather than lake events and grand hotels, and its pistes are steeper: 29 percent steeper than one in four against your 24, with reds averaging 23.9 percent against 21.0. Its top, 3,205 metres by our measurement, is 61 below St Moritz's. You fly to Geneva.
So, which one
you want St Moritz's polish and altitude on a mountain that joins up, and you can live without the lake.
it is the style and the occasion you love, and a lower village and less skiing do not worry you.
Madonna di Campiglio if you want everything linked by lift and will give up some height for it.
the snow and the skiing were always the point, and you would swap the glamour for more of both.
It keeps the three things that make St Moritz hard to replace, the money, the height and the Swiss setting, then joins the skiing up and makes it gentler. What you leave behind is the lake and the town that comes with it.