Brushing Shoulders with the Rich and Famous: 4 days in St. Moritz, Switzerland

FOUR DAYS IN THE CANTON OF GRAUBÜNDEN

St. Moritz lies at the heart of the Engadin Valley in Switzerland’s southeastern Canton of Graubünden. Sharing mountainous borders with Italy to the south, Austria to the east, and otherwise surrounded by the Swiss Alps, Graubünden is arguably one of Switzerland's most remote Cantons. Without the convenience of a private jet, getting into the Engadin can take upwards of 3 hours on the train from Zurich and over 5 hours from where we live in the Berner Oberland.

Despite that inconvenience, the allure of this remote corner of the Alps has continually grown over the last 170 years and the Engadin has been forced to evolve from its humble farming roots to a mecca of tourism. From a region that fostered one of the world’s least spoken official languages (Romansch, a close contemporary to Latin) to a veritable melting pot of languages and cultures.

We hope you enjoy spending a few winter days with us as we explore St. Moritz and the lovely Engadin Valley in this latest installment in the One Year: 26 Cantons series.

Looking up at the Morteratsch Glacier in the mountains above the Engadin

Into the Engadin

View from the Rhaetian Railway just outside of the Albula

I should warn, if you are susceptible to motion sickness like we are, you may have a challenging time on this route. The mixture of narrow gauge rail and high speed on the Rhaetian Railway results in a sway that could turn the heartiest sailor a bit green. Add in some cork screws and hair-pin turns and I will let your imagination run wild... The Vereina rail tunnel which opened in 1999 makes for a slightly more palatable but far less scenic journey between Landquart and the lower Engadin if need be.

By public transit, the quickest way to get from the Berner Oberland, where we live, into the Engadin is to travel to Zurich in the north of Switzerland, take a train to Chur, the capital of the Canton of Graubünden, and switch to one of the Rhaetian Railway’s two narrow-gauge lines into the Engadin (about 5 hours in total).

If you have the chance, I would highly recommend taking the train during the day as the views are a real treat. The portion of the trip between Zurich and Chur is unquestionably gorgeous but the Rhaetian Railway’s Albula-Bernina line, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, puts it all to shame. As it strikes its way into the Engadin, this engineering marvel cork-screws through tunnels to gain elevation, crosses back and forth across stunning valleys and even shoots straight out of a tunnel onto the famous Landwasser Viaduct which clings to the cliff face above a deep gorge.

St. Moritz: Vacation Destination of Choice for the Rich and Famous

When we first arrived in the Engadin, we took a short walk around St. Mortiz to get a lay of the land. Well-appointed hotels, restaurants, and stores abound and clearly cater to an exceptionally wealthy clientele from around the globe. By Swiss standards, most of the buildings are quite recent additions to St. Mortiz and the typically Medieval vibe that permeates most Swiss towns is more or less absent. While towns like Zurich or Geneva have played host to extreme wealth for centuries, the town of St. Moritz is largely built on (relatively) new money.

A typically modern view in the town of St. Moritz

As early as the Bronze age, Celts had already found their way to the mineral springs around St. Moritz, but it took many more centuries for the modern Engadin to develop. Fast forward to the early 16th Century and the same healing waters, were lauded by the Pope as a gateway to heaven. This drew a steady, but still relatively small, stream of summer pilgrims to St. Moritz through to the mid-19th century.

Kirche St. Karl Borromäus built on the site of St. Moritz's historic mineral springs in the late 1800s

Nearly everything changed for St. Moritz and, by virtue the entire Engadin, in 1864. In this era before cars and electricity, the journey over the Alps was no small feat, particularly in winter. With the railways still a ways off, the St. Moritz hotelier Caspar Badrutt wagered four of his British summer guests that they would surely enjoy a winter holiday in St. Moritz as much, dare I say more, than their summer trip. Should they come and disagree, Badrutt would pay for the entire (quite extravagant) cost of their visit.

Needless to say, Badrutt was proven right, and modern winter tourism in St. Moritz was born. Over the pursuing decades, winter visitation flourished and most of today’s famous hotels were founded. The completion of the Rhaetian Railway’s Albula line to Celerina in 1903, its extension to St. Moritz in 1904, and the establishment of the Bernina line from Italy in the same year can be credited with opening the floodgates to the masses.

In the wake of the First World War, the 1928 Winter Olympic Games were held in St. Moritz and, twenty years later, at the end of the Second World War, the town shined again on the Olympic stage. In both cases, St. Moritz served as a beacon for Switzerland at the untouched heart of war-torn Europe. Since then, business in St. Moritz and its surroundings has flourished under global attention and heavy branding as a haven for sport.

The narrow gauge Rhaetian Railway line crossing the Alps at Bernina Pass

Picture Perfect Skiing in the Engadin

On the Skiing Tracks from Spinas to Bever, one of the side valleys off of the Upper Engadin

On our way into the Engadin by train, we smashed our Skis in alongside dozens of others. We, like so many, find it difficult to go to the Engadin without sweating it out on the snow for at least a couple of days. While we have both done our fair share of downhill, these days we tend to prefer the relative freedom of Nordic or Cross-Country skiing.

The Engadin is well suited to both sports, but I feel like skipping the lifts and getting out into some of the narrow side valleys on cross-country skis has the potential to give you a better sense of what life may have been like for those first tourists many years ago.

Early on our first full day in the Engadin, we took the train to the tiny hamlet of Spinas and skied back to where we were staying in Samedan. This slightly downhill section, mostly through lovely forest and past mountain streams, was a winter wonderland. The fine dusting of snow from the night before made everything quiet and the only tracks other than ours were made by rabbits and deer. This may have been the closest thing to perfection that I have ever known.

Searching for an Engadin Before Tourists

While I would like to say that you can easily get a feel for an Engadin before tourism, things have changed an incredible amount. I find it quite easy to imagine a place like Geneva or Lake Brienz during the 16th century but I think it would take a lot more than a short visit to St. Moritz to acquire a similar level of appreciation in the Engadin.

Nonetheless, on our third day, we headed out on skis from Samedan to Kirche San Gian. This late 15th-century church stands guard over the middle of the Upper Engadin just down the valley from St. Moritz between the villages of Samedan, Celerina, and Pontresina. The church tower, hit by lightning and damaged in 1682, is a late Gothic masterpiece. At first, repairs to the tower were a financial burden and went undone, but the damage was ultimately left as an emblem of the difficulties faced by Engadin residents during the Bündner Wirren from 1618 to 1639.

The Bündner Wirren, translating to something approximating the Graubünden Troubles, was an armed conflict that played out as a part of the larger 30 Year's War between the coalitions of France-Venice and Spain-Austria during the mid-17th Century. Continual invasions of Graubünden largely centered on the Protestant Reformation and, perhaps more importantly, securing Superpower's access to trade through Graubünden's Alpine passes.

Still, it is still hard for me to imagine anyone wanting to invade this remote part of the world but so goes the challenge of imagining historic life in the Engadin...

We didn’t get out the gate as early and, predictably, there were a lot of other skiers out enjoying the blue-bird day. Regardless, San Gian and a nearby ski-up café made for a lovely and relaxing third day and we were quite content.

Looking up at San Gian from the cross-country ski tracks outside Celerina

Off to the Races!

While skiing and the outdoors are our preferred holiday in the Engadin, we would be amiss if we didn’t take part in some of the glitz and glamour of St. Moritz. Needless to say, St. Moritz’s jet-set clientele tends to drive up rates in town and most of the nicer hotels and restaurants are a bit out of our price range. One of the most iconic winter activities for the rich and famous, however, is surprisingly affordable: horse racing.

The White Turf Horse Races take place over several weekends every February on the frozen lake at the foot of St. Moritz where Pilgrims used to gather to bathe in the mineral springs. Spectators gather on the ice to witness an exciting display of fast horses and, of course, to place their bets.

The horses lining up for their race on frozen Lake St. Moritz

When we were in the Engadin, temperatures had been unseasonably warm for weeks and, to be honest, we were a bit surprised to hear that the races were still happening. Arriving on-site was a bit dismaying. To get to the ticket booths we had to cross about 100 meters (or about 300 ft) of boardwalks over pools of water covering the ice only to find that the ‘ice’ on the other side was more of a slush beneath our feet.

The weight of dozens of food and beverage vendors, ticket booths, champagne rooms, bleachers, cars, horses, and a massive betting tent over this precariously frozen ice weighed heavy on my mind for most of our visit, but it did not seem to deter many. In fact, the races were pretty much slam-packed.

I should mention up front, we are complete novices when it comes to horse racing and it is quite likely that the intricacies of the sport are largely lost on us. We were enthralled by the Skijöring races where horses pull brave skiers around the track at insane speeds, but the reality is, that the races, go about once an hour and are complete in a matter of seconds. The rest of the day is spent waiting for the next race, sipping mulled wine, and, perhaps the main reason to come to the races, people-watching.

Colin and Corinne from Hidden Switzerland Travel in St. Moritz at the White Turf Horse Races

Some of the Best People-Watching in the World

I need to preface this section by saying that people-watching is a guilty pleasure of ours. I am sure that what you read below will come off as judgmental to some, but the reality is, we don’t really care how others choose to live their lives so long as they are not negatively affecting others. That being said, like reality TV, sometimes it’s just plain fun to watch...

I have never been known for my understanding of modern fashion, but I would say that people at the White Turf Races could be grossly generalized into four categories.

First, there are the outdoorsy people. These winter warriors are clad head to toe in Patagonia and North Face and probably came to St. Moritz for the skiing rather than the horses. This group jumped at the opportunity to gawk at insane wealth and, chances are, the only money they will put on the line is the 2 Franc betting credit they give you when you pay the entrance fee.

The second group is the professional gamblers. If you have ever been to a horse race or the sports book at a casino, you probably already know this type. They are dressed like any old person on the street, but they just bet 5000 Francs on a horse called Blazing Comet and might have a minor aneurysm when he comes in dead last.

The third group is the super-rich, for which the races were built. Most of the super-rich crowd are clad from head to toe in real furs and sport a tea-cup poodle in their designer handbag. They don’t seem to wait in line for the betting, but I get the feeling they are still tossing around some real cash. Possibly on that perfectly chilled bottle of 1000 Franc Champagne in the premium lounge…

Finally, the fourth, and largest, contingent is everyone else pretending to be the super-rich. Their faux fur just doesn’t have the same luster as the real thing, and their Moonboots are a dead giveaway.

All jokes aside though, while I am sure there are some people who are genuinely trying to act the part, for most people, I think it is just fun to dress up and spend a bit of money. Something like the Las Vegas of Switzerland.

When we went to Geneva the other day, we dressed up in the fanciest clothes we owned and probably looked like total goobers, but we had a real blast! Sometimes its even more fun to pretend than it is to judge.

Place Your Bets!

Of course, we were not going to leave the races without a little bit of excitement so we joined the masses funneling into the (now crowd controlled and sinking) betting tent to placed our bets.

Our race of choice was Skijöring, so that’s where we put it all on the line! Actually, it was just the 2 Franc credit they gave us when we walked in but nevertheless, we put it all on the line!

My horse named Los Angeles failed spectacularly. Corinne placed her bet on a horse named Ulster who’s skier was standing in front of her in line to the porta-potty. In Corinne’s words ‘she looked confident’. But, apparently, Corinne is a quite a good judge of character because Ulster absolutely destroyed the competition.

Unfortunately, based on Ulster’s prior success, he was also the favorite by far and Corinne’s winnings covered about half of a mulled wine. But hey, better than nothing!

We stayed at the races for most of the day but, eventually, the cold crept in, and we gave up a couple of races before the end of our final day in the Engadin. Back at the house, we celebrated our success with some local wine and a fondue. In my opinion, the best, and possibly most Swiss, way to end any good trip to the Engadin!

If you enjoyed hearing about this trip, check out the other articles in our series One Year: 26 Cantons and, until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave your comments on our social media!