The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
When snow settles across the Engadin and the village lights up for Christmas, the grand hotels of St. Moritz become even more magical. The fortnight between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day is the busiest of the winter, when long dinners give way to gala nights.
A memorable festive season comes down to two things: choosing the hotel that suits your preferences, and planning further ahead than feels strictly necessary.
These are seasonal hotels, so the first step is knowing when they open. Badrutt’s Palace welcomes winter guests from 3 December 2026, while the Carlton Hotel opens on 11 December.
The weeks that follow are the hardest of the season to secure, so it pays to settle both the suite and the restaurant tables you want well in advance. The Kulm Hotel, for example, advises guests to book restaurant reservations early and to contact its concierge before arrival to hold their favourite spots. Many travellers arrange private jet hire at the same time as the suite, so that arrival day feels as unhurried as the rest of the stay.
It also pays to decide early which nights matter most. Christmas Eve dinners, New Year’s Eve galas and spa treatments all book up quickly, and a concierge can only work with what is still available once you are in the village. Some guests also split the fortnight between two hotels, spending Christmas somewhere family-focused and moving for New Year to a hotel known for its gala, which doubles the festive programme without leaving St. Moritz.
Badrutt’s Palace is the social heart of St. Moritz at Christmas. With 163 rooms and suites in winter, a collection of restaurants and bars, and views across Lake St. Moritz to the peaks beyond, it is a place where guests can spend the entire holiday without needing to leave the building, and a dedicated kids and teens programme means families can do exactly that.
Christmas here includes afternoon tea in Le Grand Hall, festive dinners at Le Restaurant on the 24th and 25th, and an annual Egg Nog Party on Christmas Day accompanied by live classical music. New Year’s Eve is the Palace’s grandest night of the year, with gala dinners served across its restaurants and a themed party that changes every year and has become a legend of the St. Moritz social calendar.
The Kulm has a fair claim to having invented the winter holiday itself. In 1864, founder Johannes Badrutt persuaded a group of departing summer guests to return and try the Engadin in the cold season instead, and the resort has followed that wager ever since. At Christmas, the pastry kitchen fills the corridors with the smell of baking, and the Kulm Spa, spread over more than 2,000 square metres, offers a warm counterpoint to crisp days outside. Treatments can be booked online before arrival.
The days between Christmas and New Year are when the hotel’s sporting side comes into its own. The famous Cresta Run, a natural ice track whose story began with the Kulm’s British guests, typically opens at the end of December. Watching riders head head-first towards Celerina, then retreating to the Kulm’s Sunny Bar, which is lined with Cresta memorabilia, is about as St. Moritz as a winter afternoon gets.
For those who want to spend Christmas morning on skis, Suvretta House is the natural choice. Set in its own parkland a short distance from the village, it is the only ski-in, ski-out hotel in the resort, opening directly onto the sunny Suvretta-Corviglia ski area, so guests can take the first run of the day straight after breakfast and be back for a leisurely lunch.
After a day on the pistes, dinner might mean modern French cooking in the Grand Restaurant or fondue and raclette in the Suvretta Stube, while younger guests can take to the hotel’s own outdoor ice rink. New Year’s Eve is celebrated with a themed gala; a recent edition, “Cirque du Suvretta”, began with cocktails and live music in the lobby, continued with a five-course dinner and carried on with dancing well past midnight.
The Carlton suits those who prefer their festivities on a more intimate scale. All 60 of its rooms and suites face south over Lake St. Moritz, and the 386-square-metre Penthouse Suite, one of the largest in the resort, has room for an entire family to celebrate together while taking in the view of the Engadin mountains.
Its festive programme centres on 24 and 25 December, with further celebrations on New Year’s Eve, and the hotel’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Da Vittorio, means the season’s dinners are bound to be memorable. Between meals, a shuttle to the Corviglia cable car keeps the slopes within easy reach.
Each of these hotels interprets Christmas and New Year in its own way. Families tend to prefer the Palace or Suvretta House, sporting guests enjoy the Kulm, and couples often choose the Carlton’s suites. All four tend to fill their winter calendar early, so be sure to book your stay as soon as possible.
