St. Moritz
Glamour, sunshine and a lake full of events.
- The villageThe highest village in Switzerland.
- 1,822m
- Top of the skiing360m above the median of 2,697m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 3,057m
- SeasonThe standard Alpine season, shared by 42 of the 55 resorts we cover.
- December to April
Is St. Moritz right for you?
St. Moritz is the original luxury ski resort, a byword for glamour set beside a frozen lake in the sunny Engadin valley. The village sits at 1,822m and the skiing tops out at 3,057m, and the season runs December to April. On the piste it is a real strength for improvers moving from blue into red and confident intermediates.
St. Moritz at a glance
- Area
- Engadin
- Best for
- Non skiers · Fine dining · Snow sure
- Fly to
- Zurich, Innsbruck or Milan Malpensa
- Transfer
- About 2h45 by road from Zurich
- Doorstep skiing
- Limited, use lifts
Who St. Moritz suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Non skiers. The frozen lake hosts snow polo and horse racing on the ice, and there are spas, designer shops, the Cresta Run and Bernina railway trips for days off skis.
- Fine dining. Dorf has Michelin starred rooms and classic hotel dining, and on Corviglia some mountain restaurants turn lunch into a polished two hour event.
- Snow sure. St. Moritz sits at 1,822 metres, we measure 97 percent of its piste above 1,800 metres, and Corvatsch takes the skiing above 3,200 metres.
- Couples. Couples can ski until lunch, then walk the frozen lake, browse the shops or book a treatment, with the high Engadin light all around them.
Less good for
- Value for money. St. Moritz is not a cheap resort, so budget first skiers should base themselves in St. Moritz Bad or a nearby Engadin village such as Celerina.
- Mileage chasers. Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza are separate areas rather than one linked circus, so moving between them takes a bus or train and some planning.
Skiing from 1,720m to 3,057m, village at 1,822m.
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 1,720mCelerina (Marguns valley station), Corviglia.
- Village
- 1,822m
- Top of the skiing
- 3,057mPiz Nair, the top of Corviglia, St. Moritz's own area. The Corvatsch, a separate area on the Engadin pass reached by bus, goes higher, to 3,266m.
- 42km blue27%
- 79km red51%
- 34km black22%
The resort's own figures, covering Corviglia, St. Moritz's own area.
No green: Swiss pistes are graded from blue.
- Black piste
- 16km, 15% of the pisteMore than the median of 11% across the 55 resorts we cover.
- Ski area
- Engadin St. Moritz, 350kmAreas on one pass, not all linked.
- Cross country
- 220km of trailsThe whole Engadin St. Moritz network along the valley floor, Maloja to S-chanf, classic and skating. One trail pass.
Sources
- Village height: en.wikipedia.org
- Lowest skiing: onthesnow.co.uk
- Piste by colour: engadin.ch
- Cross country: pontresina.ch
- Top of the skiing: our research, the top of the area linked on skis from the village
- The steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
106km of graded piste, measured ourselves.
- 30km blue28%
- 60km red57%
- 16km black15%
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength
- Confident intermediatesA real strength
- Strong skiersThin
The spreadSomething for everyone. It scores 0.88 for evenness, where 1 is a perfect three way split between blue, red and black, the 15th most even spread of the 55 resorts we cover. A mixed group should all find their level here.
Longest pisteHahnensee, 3.2km of black with 764m of vertical.
Measured from the run geometry, St. Moritz has 106km of graded piste: 30km blue, 60km red and 16km black. We do not print the resort's published kilometres until we have checked what they count.
The highest village of its Swiss peers
Of these five, St. Moritz has the highest village, 1,822m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 1,350m.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
The slopes spread across several areas, mostly cruising terrain that flatters intermediates, with the Corvatsch and Corviglia the main draws. Snow is reliable and the light in this high, dry valley is famous.
The village and the evenings
The town is smart and international, with grand hotels, designer shops and a busy calendar of polo, horse racing and cricket played on the frozen lake. Non skiers are spoilt for things to do.
Beyond the skiing.
Free, and worth knowing
Eisarena Ludains, free to walk into. A full ice arena down in St. Moritz Bad, and the tourist board gives the entry price in two words, Eintritt frei. Public skating, ice stock, and a rink you can sit and watch from if nobody in the party wants skates on. Skate hire is twelve francs a day for an adult and seven for a child, and a hockey stick is two, which is the entire cost of an afternoon.
The winter walking network. Around a hundred and fifty kilometres of maintained winter trail across the Engadin, free to walk, and roughly half of it starts on the valley floor and needs no lift at all. The set piece from the village is the lakes walk from St. Moritz Bad to Celerina, six and a bit kilometres and just under two hours, starting at the Cafferino kiosk by the Catholic church at the west end of the lake.
oV Inklusive, the transport that comes with the bed. Stay in a participating hotel or apartment and from your second night every bus and train in the Upper Engadin is free: Engadin Bus, the Ortsbus St. Moritz, PostBus and the Rhaetian Railway, over the whole network from Maloja to Cinuos-chel and from Spinas to Alp Grum, with your arrival and departure journeys included as far as the network boundary. Dogs travel free on it as well. The accommodation pays per guest night and the guest pays nothing, and it is what makes Sils, Surlej, Celerina and the whole Bernina line usable without a car.
A few of the rest
The Cresta Run. The St. Moritz Tobogganing Club's natural ice run, built by hand every winter since January 1885 and the only one in the world made of natural ice. It takes nearly nine weeks to build. You ride it yourself, head first, on a steel toboggan, and the part that surprises people is that a complete beginner can turn up and do it. You book a practice session from the club's online calendar and take the Beginners' Course, which covers your first five rides, the tuition and all the equipment. Over CHF 50.
The Olympia Bob Run. The other natural ice run, and the easier sell of the two, because you do not drive it. You sit in seats two and three of a four man bob with an experienced pilot in front and a brakeman behind, on the only natural ice bob run in the world, running from St. Moritz down to Celerina since 1904. One thousand seven hundred and twenty two metres, a hundred and thirty metres of drop, nineteen corners. Over CHF 50.
Watching the bob, the IBSF World Cup. If two hundred and sixty nine francs is more than the day is worth, stand at the side of the same track instead. The IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup returns to St. Moritz on 22, 23 and 24 January 2027. Twenty five francs buys a day, fifty buys the whole weekend, and under sixteens go in for nothing. CHF 20 to 50.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
32 places we would send you to
The top station of the Corvatsch cable car, and the number in the name is the altitude.
A small room on Via Veglia with a short menu and no interest in being anything else.
The wine bar the ski shop and snowboard shop staff walk into after work, which is the signal worth reading.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
Getting there
Zurich is the usual airport, about two and three quarter hours by road, and the Swiss rail journey through the Engadin is a highlight in itself. Innsbruck works too, at about 2 hours 40, if its flights suit you better.
- Zurichabout 2h45 by road
- Innsbruckabout 2h40 by road
- Milan Malpensaabout 2h55 by road
St. Moritz guides
If you like St. Moritz, try…
- Village
- 1,450 mSt. Moritz 1,822 m
- Measured piste
- 75 kmSt. Moritz 106 km