St Moritz - Prepare
There are certain things you need in St Moritz that you don't need in many other ski resorts. For a start, a fur coat and expensive jewellery are de rigeur to blend in, but you may also want to bring your polo stick or even your own horse to join in some of the eccentric activities on the lake. You can hire helmets and lycra suits at the Cresta Run. Gentlemen need jackets and ties for the casino and several of the hotel restaurants.
St Moritz has an action-packed winter events calendar, and most of them take place on the frozen lake. December is quiet until the Boxing Day Continental Cup Ski Jumping Competition, then January kicks off with the Jackson Curling Cup and the Ladies' Downhill. At the end of the month the Cartier Polo World Cup on Snow wows the crowds then passes the baton straight over to the acclaimed Gourmet Festival for the first week of February. The first three weekends in February are all about the White Turf Horse Races, first ran in 1907, while the last weekend of the month swaps horses for greyhounds and the Greyhound Gold Rush. There is even Cricket on Ice in February and the Engadine Cross-Country Skiing Marathon and ten-day Classical Music Festival in March.
New Year's Day, English half-term (Feb), Swiss/French/German half-term (most of Feb), Good Friday (Mar/Apr), Easter Monday (Mar/Apr), Christmas Day (25 Dec), Boxing Day (26 Dec).
Alpine weather is very changeable and typically ranges anywhere from -20°C to +10°C during the ski season (Dec-Apr). You can guarantee that it will be regularly dipping into the minuses before the end of January but the sunny plateau of Wengen warms up nicely towards the end of the season.
220V, two round pin plugs are standard.
+ 41 (national), (0) 81 + seven-figure number.
Swiss Francs (SFr) is the currency.
GMT + 1
St Moritz Tourist Board website
St Moritz has twice hosted the Winter Olympics as well as many other high-profile events over the years. That, combined with a prestigious guest list of regular visitors prompted St Moritz to become the first place in the world to protect itself as a brand-name in 1986. "St Moritz" is now a luxury brand in over 50 different countries.
