Credit: Badrutt’s Palace

The hilltop town of St Moritz remains one of the world’s most exclusive ski resorts / ©Badrutt’s Palace

Credit: Badrutt’s Palace

Up until then, St Moritz and the Upper Engadin Valley had been a popular summer destination for wealthy Europeans. Yet in winter, despite snowcapped landscapes and mild temperatures (St Moritz averages 322 days of sun a year), the town and Pension Faller lay empty, much to Mr Badrutt’s despair. Unable to refuse, the four Brits returned and are said to have been so captivated, they stayed until Easter. With that, the world’s first winter resort was born, and St Mortiz cemented its place as the cold weather playground of the elite.

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Mr Badrutt’s legacy lives on today and, in some ways, little has changed. The hilltop town remains one of the world’s most exclusive ski resorts – a place where discretion and elegance trump brash displays of wealth; where generations of the same well-off families return year after year to a favored grand hotel or winter home. However, even a visionary like Mr Badrutt was unlikely to have foreseen the sheer glamour of it all.

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Michelin-star restaurants stand beside quaint Alpine huts serving raclette, champagne pours in abundance at members-only clubs, Chanel sunglasses-wearing skaters glide along natural ice rinks, and well-dressed crowds gather to revel in a bumper schedule of winter sporting events. There’s also plenty of opportunity to shop until you drop on the world’s highest-elevation luxury shopping street, Via Serlas.

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As one local put it on my recent visit: “St Moritz is an art of living. [You] do a couple of slopes in the morning, go to a good restaurant, then a couple of runs in the afternoon and then ‘ciao.’ People come for a good time.”

Credit: Badrutt’s Palace

Badrutt’s Palace has soared in neo-Gothic glory over Lake St Moritz since its doors were opened by Johannes Badrutt’s son, Caspar, in 1896. Arriving by train or jet? A black Rolls-Royce will greet you (pre-request the vintage model previously owned by the British royal family). The hotel has kept much of its turn-of-the-century splendor, and the best place to soak it in is in Le Grand Hall, where immense arched windows frame the lake to the tinkling of a grand piano. It is not difficult to see why some of the world’s most famous faces, including Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin, and Alfred Hitchcock, were regulars.

Credit: Badrutt's Palace

The new Serlas Wing will be unveiled this winter — an expansion created by renowned architect Antonio Citterio that includes 25 contemporary rooms and suites. For a stay unlike any other, book The Tower Penthouse Apartment, one of the most prestigious residences in the Swiss Alps. Occupying the top three floors of Badrutt’s iconic tower, with its own private elevator, it acts as a luxury four-bedroom chalet in the sky.

Credit: Gian Giovanoli

Despite celebrating its 111th birthday, the Carlton Hotel still manages to feel very ‘now’ while maintaining an air of Belle Époque style. Every winter, a jet-set crowd checks into its 60 rooms and suites — all with lake views. The spa occupies three floors; its holistic Moving Mountains concept incorporates everything from Swiss mountain herb massages and high-tech facials to sessions with an ‘art butler’ and forest bathing. There’s also the option to follow a specially designed nutritional menu, but it may be challenging to resist the two-Michelin-star restaurant.

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Spanning the entirety of the eighth floor, the 4,155-sq-ft Carlton Penthouse offers 360-degree views of St Moritz and the valley from its five terraces. All three bedrooms feature king-size beds and marble-decked en suites with bathtubs. With over 1,000 sq ft of living space, this is a place to gather with loved ones around the glow of the open fire and share chef-prepared meals straight from your kitchen.

Credit: Rolf Canal

Suvretta House’s location is the stuff of Alpine fairy tales — a turreted palace built in 1912 nestled among the pines in the upper Engadine Valley, gazing over the lake below. Set just outside of town, it is the only ski-in/ski-out hotel in St Moritz and boasts its own signature emerald-hued ski lift. The in-house ski school has an impressive instructor-to-guest ratio and, in winter, the garden is transformed into a skating rink and a curling field. Of the hotel’s 181 rooms and suites, reserve the 1,400-sq-ft Tower Suite, which has an apartment-like feel. The one-bedroom suite features a sprawling terrace, perfect for an indulgent breakfast while you take in the winter magic that unfolds before you.

Credit: Gian Giovanoli

St Moritz’s first hotel and where it all began, the Kulm Hotel started life as the Faller Pension in 1855. It stayed within the Badrutt family until the late 1950s, by which point the hotel and its country club had reached cult status, racking up quite the list of achievements. It’s the home of the Sunny Bar, Switzerland’s first sports bar, which remains a firm favorite; the Winter Olympics were held here twice; and the Cresta Run (a legendary white-knuckle ice skeleton toboggan race) was founded here in 1884. It’s no surprise that the hotel draws winter sports enthusiasts.

Credit: Gian Giovanoli

Fresh from a facelift by French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, the Corvatsch Suite is 1,894 sq ft of pure Alpine chic. Many elements have been sourced directly from the Graubunden and its surrounds, while sheepskin armchairs, pine wood paneling and a log fireplace nod to the golden age of après-ski.

Credit: Badrutt's Palace

In St Moritz, après-ski is just as important as shredding powder. The Suvretta chairlift at the Corviglia slopes will transport you skywards and outside the door of Trutz for hearty mountain fare. A short stroll away, you’ll find Badrutt’s Palace’s slopeside offering, Paradiso. Here, DJs spin tunes on the upper deck, while the cozy booths on the lower mountain deck serve an eclectic menu featuring caviar and lobster, as well as the most elevated take on a croque monsieur you might ever taste.

Credit: Carlton Hotel

You can’t come to Switzerland in winter without indulging in the national dish: fondue. Reserve a Fondue Gondola at the Carlton Hotel, or head to Chesa Veglia in the center of town. This former farmhouse built in 1658 hosts the intimate three-table Carigiet Fondue Stübli; you will also find authentic brick-oven Pizzeria Heuboden and Swiss-gourmet offerings at Patrizier Stuben. Head to local institution Hanselmann for champagne truffles and other sweet treats including Engadiner Nusstorte, the traditional caramelized nut pastry that hails from this mountainous region.

Credit: Reinhardt Sommer

In January, the world's wealthiest fly into St Moritz's private jet airport by the bucketload to attend the Snow Polo World Cup, playing on a frozen Lake Moritz. Although the event is one of the most exclusive in the sporting world, it is free to enter. If you want to experience it in style, though, you'll need a ticket to the VIP tent, which comes with free-flowing champagne and a buffet.