For more than a century, St. Moritz has been the last word in glamour, very possibly the most fashionable and certainly one of the most expensive resorts in the world. Located at an altitude of 2800 meters in the Swiss alpine region known as the Engadine, this is a city in which one can easily spend SFr. 1500 ($1,250) per night for a hotel room, and where it is not at all difficult to spend SFr. 200 for dinner for one. In addition to having attracted the aristocracy of France, England and Germany and the rich and famous of the New World, the city also has a reputation for attracting, as author Peter Viertel wrote in 1986, "the hangers-on of the rich ... the jewel thieves, the professional backgammon players and general layabouts, as well as the most exquisitely beautiful and highest paid ladies of the night that Europe knows".

I can attest to Viertel's observations, for during my most recent visit, as an invitee of Swiss Air and the St. Moritz tourist board, I learned that this is a resort at which great wealth is taken so for granted that sable and mink coats for both men and women are considered a normal way to keep warm during the day-time hours of the winter, where it is not unusual to see women wearing $600,000 diamond tiaras to lunch, and where the ladies of the night charge up to $1000 for an evening of whatever services it is that such ladies provide. To tell the truth, however, I had not come to St. Moritz either to cheat at backgammon or to sample the services of the ladies of the night, but to stay at what may be the world's most famous hotel and to dine at several of the city's restaurants.

Ever since it was built, 102 years ago, Badrutt's Palace Hotel has been a monument to luxury and grandeur. Set in the center of town, behind a chiseled stone facade and a series of fortified towers, the Palace was built by Caspar Badrutt, reportedly the first hotellier in Europe to install private bathrooms in the more expensive suites. The hotel is still owned by the Badrutt family and over the years the chic and the famous who have come through the doors of the Palace have included Greta Garbo, the Shah of Iran, Noel Coward, and Aristotle Onassis.

The first hint one receives about the grandeur of this superb hotel is when they alight from the train at the St. Moritz station, there to be met by a uniformed chauffeur who will escort them to the hotel in either a 1928 Rolls Royce or one of the other luxurious antique cars that the hotel uses for shuttle service. On arrival at the hotel one is immediately impressed by the fact that everything about this "grand hotel" is truly grand. After passing through the reception area, for example, one enters the grand hall that serves as a sitting and meeting area. The hall soars in Gothic dimensions above black marble fireplaces, the marble and dark teak wood walls are decorated tastefully with the works of 16th and 17th century Dutch and Flemish masters, and the meter tall vases that are filled with enormous clusters of fresh flowers daily are from the Ming and Tang dynasties of China.

The rooms, which boast an average of fifty square meters, are equally luxurious. Whether one has a view of the lake and the Alps or of the town and the ski slopes, every room is decorated with clusters of antique furniture. The beds and the television sets may be thoroughly modern, but every room also contains at least a few antique French and Swiss country-style furnishings, some of which are five hundred years old.

Whether in one's room or anywhere else in the hotel, the service is impeccable, every staff member wearing formal day or evening clothes and white gloves; room service operates 24 hours daily; and the wine cellar has more than 75,000 bottles of wine and another 20,000 of Champagne. In addition to a luxurious grill room, the hotel has a less formal trattoria and several cocktail bars. The hotel also owns the nearby "Chesa Veglia", a restored 17th century farmhouse that houses three separate restaurants. All offer excellent cuisine.

It is not only the physical beauty of the hotel and the quality of its restaurants that attract visitors. During the winter the concierge can arrange whatever is necessary for skiing, tobagganing (called cresta here), ice skating and paragliding. At any time of the year, the hotel can also help in arranging picnics (guests can use one of the Rolls Royces if they like) or hiking tours and one can use the hotels indoor or outdoor tennis or squash courts. Fishing in either the lake (which is reported to hold more than a million trout and bass) or the crystal clear streams of the area is popular at any time of the year (a hotel employee will help guests to make a hole in the frozen lake for ice fishing), and it goes without saying that there are indoor and outdoor swimming pools, the outdoor pool being closed only if the air temperature drops below -10 degrees Celsius.

No one should expect all of this luxury to come cheap. Winter rates for a double room facing the lake and mountains, and including half pension, start at SFr 1500 ($1250), and summer rates are about half of that. This is probably the only hotel in the world where the difference between rooms overlooking the lake and mountains and those overlooking the town are about $200.

Other Highly Recommended Hotels in St. Moritz

Kulm Hotel: One of Switzerland's most respected and traditional hotels, and the first actually built in St. Moritz, this is a luxury hotel in the 19th century style. The bars, lounges and pubs in this luxurious and beautiful establishment are considered the center of night life in the region. Prices are surprisingly reasonable. Tel (082) 2 11 51.

Suvretta House: Located 2 km. outside of town in an Alpine meadow and with a sweeping view of the mountains and lakes of the Engadine, this superbly luxurious hotel is the favorite of visiting Englishmen and Americans. Its setting make it as ideal for winter skiing or summer hiking, fishing or lazing in the heart of luxury. Huge rooms, excellent restaurants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and high prices (about SFr 1000 per night) make this a place worth visiting if you can afford it. Telephone (082) 2 11 21.

Hotel Waldhauspost: In addition to very moderate prices, this attractive, comfortable and modern hotel boasts an extraordinarily good wine cellar and, because the owner wants to share his love of wine with others, he sells some of the best wines of the best vintage years of Bordeaux and Burgundy at remarkably reasonable prices. The hotel restaurant is not special but the wine list is so good that it is worth putting up with the not exciting food. Telephone (082) 2 32 33.

For Recommendations on Dining in Saint Moritz, Click Here

© Daniel Rogov