Things to do in St. Moritz: the lake, the ice and the valley
A great deal, and it is the resort's real strength. A free ice arena and a lakeside walk to Celerina cost nothing, a complete beginner over 18 can ride the Cresta Run, night sledging at Celerina is the family evening, and Diavolezza is a whole day out by train. If the weather sets in, Ovaverva is the public pool.
St. Moritz is the resort for a group where not everybody skis every day. The town comes in two halves, Dorf and Bad, a few minutes on foot from the frozen lake, and the villages beyond run down one valley floor joined by bus and train. Plan the week around the valley, not just the town.
Start with what costs nothing. The Eisarena Ludains in Bad is a full ice arena with free entry, and anyone who would rather not skate can sit and watch. The lakes walk from Bad to Celerina follows the water and drops through the Stazerwald in just under two hours, and you come back on the bus or the train. Stay in a participating hotel or apartment and from your second night every bus and train in the Upper Engadin is free, which is what makes the rest of the valley usable without a car.
For somebody not skiing, give the first clear day to Diavolezza, about half an hour away on the Rhaetian Railway, for the view across to Piz Palu, Piz Bernina and the Morteratsch glacier. A snowy morning suits the Segantini Museum, a stone rotunda above Bad that holds the Alpine Triptych. If the weather sets in, Ovaverva in Bad is the public pool and spa, open to everybody, and late enough to end a cold day there.
The Cresta Run is the set piece, and the surprise is that a complete beginner can ride it, head first, if they are over 18 and book the course before they fly. Night sledging at Celerina is the easy evening for a family: the chairlift stays open, and you sledge down and ride back up as often as you like. If your dates catch one of its three February race days, White Turf puts horse racing on the frozen lake, children up to sixteen stand for free, and the dog can come too.
Free, and worth knowing
Three that cost nothing: an ice arena and a lakeside walk from St. Moritz Bad, and the one that makes the rest of the valley usable without a car.
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.
St. Moritz Bad, walkable from the Bad hotels and a few minutes on the Ortsbus from Dorf
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.
It runs along the water, past Lej da Staz where there is a four hundred metre natural skating track on the frozen moor lake, then down through the Stazerwald and past the church of San Gian into Celerina, where the bus and the train bring you home. Marked circular routes also run from the top of the Muottas Muragl funicular for anybody who would rather start high and walk on the level.
St. Moritz Bad by the Catholic church, Celerina, and the Muottas Muragl top station
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.
The whole Upper Engadin
On the mountain
The Cresta, which a complete beginner can ride, and the Celerina chairlift kept open into the evening for sledging, run after run.
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 · Cresta Run, between St. Moritz Dorf and Celerina, walkable from Dorf · Their page
Night sledging at Celerina
The cheapest organised evening in the resort by a distance. The Celerina to Marguns chairlift stays open into the evening, you sledge down, you ride back up, and you do it as many times as you like between seven and nine. Five francs a head, the same for adults, teenagers and children, and free to anybody already holding a multi day or annual pass. Sledge hire is ten francs, or bring your own if it fits on the chairlift.
Under CHF 20 · Celerina, a few minutes from St. Moritz by bus or train · Their page
In the village
A public pool that stays open late, a painter's rotunda for a snowy morning, and horse racing on the frozen lake in February.
Ovaverva, the public pool and spa
The public indoor pool, spa and sports centre down in St. Moritz Bad, and the bad weather answer in this resort. Pool, spa area, a bistro and a gym, and the one facility here that is genuinely for everybody rather than for hotel residents. It stays open until ten at night, which makes it the obvious end to a cold day, and last entry to the pool and spa is an hour before closing, so aim to be through the door by nine.
Price on request · Via Mezdi 17, St. Moritz Bad · Their page
Segantini Museum
The one unmissable cultural thing in St. Moritz. A purpose built stone rotunda above St. Moritz Bad holding the most important collection of Giovanni Segantini, including the Alpine Triptych, La Vita, La Natura and La Morte, painted for a pavilion that was never built. Fifteen francs for an adult and three for a child, so it is an easy hour on a snowy morning. It is wheelchair accessible, and pushchairs stay at reception rather than going into the rooms.
Under CHF 20 · Via Somplaz 30, St. Moritz Bad, on the Ortsbus · Their page
White Turf, horse racing on the frozen lake
The 120th edition, and the best value of the three lake events by a distance. Thoroughbred flat racing, trotting and skijoring out on the frozen St. Moritzersee, with a temporary town of grandstands, tents and betting rings built on the ice. Three Sundays: 7, 14 and 21 February 2027.
CHF 20 to 50 · The frozen lake, a few minutes on foot from St. Moritz Bad and from Dorf · Their page
Nearby
A whole day out for the view, about half an hour down the Bernina line on the Rhaetian Railway.
Diavolezza and Lagalb, down the Bernina line
The biggest view in the region and the one excursion worth giving a whole day to. Diavolezza sits at 2,978 m looking straight across at Piz Palu, Piz Bernina and the Morteratsch glacier, with a proper mountain inn at the top that takes overnight guests, a bistro, and the start of the Morteratsch glacier run, which the tourist board calls the longest glacier descent in Switzerland and which is for guided skiers only. Lagalb sits across the valley with its own restaurant.
CHF 20 to 50 · Bernina Diavolezza station on the Rhaetian Railway's Bernina line · Their page
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.