Where is St. Moritz? The Engadin, answered question by question

St. Moritz is in south-eastern Switzerland, in the Engadin valley of the canton of Graubünden (Grisons), at 1,856 metres above sea level. The town rises above its own lake in the Upper Engadin, about three hours by train from Zurich main station, on the same railway that continues over the Bernina Pass to Tirano in Italy. So if you are asking where St. Moritz is on a map: the far east of Switzerland, high in the Alps, on the Italian side of the main ridge.

That position explains most of what people love, and occasionally curse, about the place. It is high, so winters are long and cold and the light is sharp. It is remote, so the journey is part of the trip rather than an afterthought. And it sits in a wide, open valley strung with lakes, which is why it feels so different from the narrow, steep-sided resorts further west.

This guide takes the questions in the order travellers usually ask them: where exactly it is, how to get there, where to ski, what to do in winter and summer, whether it is worth the effort, and which part of town to stay in. If you already know the place and want to choose a house, our luxury chalets in St. Moritz are presented on their own page.

St. Moritz is the main town of the Upper Engadin, the high, southern end of a long valley that runs from the Maloja Pass towards Austria. Around it lie a chain of lakes and a handful of villages that function as one destination: Celerina and Samedan down the valley, Pontresina in the side valley towards the Bernina glaciers, Champfèr and Sils towards Maloja. Locals and visitors move between them constantly, by bus, train and car.

The town itself has two halves. St. Moritz Dorf is the upper village on the slope, with the shops, the church and the funicular to Corviglia. St. Moritz Bad sits lower down at the lake’s edge, around the old spa quarter and the Signal cable car. The difference matters when you choose where to stay, and we come back to it below.

Graubünden is Switzerland’s trilingual canton, and in St. Moritz you will mostly hear German, with plenty of Italian and some Romansh, the valley’s historic language. Road signs and many place names carry the Romansh form, which is why St. Moritz itself also appears as San Murezzan.

Altitude: 1,856 m, according to the municipality of St. Moritz.

Corviglia is St. Moritz’s own mountain, described by its lift company as one of Switzerland’s most renowned sports mountains. From St. Moritz Dorf the funicular climbs via Chantarella to Corviglia; from St. Moritz Bad the Signal cable car takes you up the other flank. On the opposite side of the valley, Corvatsch rises above Silvaplana and Surlej, and further along the Bernina road lie Diavolezza and Lagalb, with the glaciers in full view.

That spread is the honest answer to ‘is St. Moritz good for skiing?’. It is, but the areas are separate mountains linked by road, bus and train rather than one interconnected circuit. A week here suits people who enjoy choosing a mountain each morning; it suits less well those who want to ski from the door to a different village without ever taking off their skis.

For beginners and children the local ski school groups lessons by level, and Corviglia is the natural starting point because it is reached directly from town. Opening and closing dates change each season, so check the lift company’s live status before travelling in early December or April. For how a full week on the snow is organised from a chalet, see our St. Moritz ski holidays.

Yes, if you value scenery, variety and a sense of occasion over convenience. Few resorts combine big skiing, frozen-lake events, two UNESCO-listed railway lines and a summer season that stands on its own. It is also one of the places where Alpine winter holidays began, and that history is still visible in the town’s architecture and calendar.

It is less suited to a short break if your time is tight: the journey from the UK takes most of a day, the altitude can leave some guests tired for the first night, and the mid-February weeks are busy. The ski areas are excellent but separate, which some skiers find a drawback. And St. Moritz is expensive in every sense, so it rewards people who know what they want from it.

• How long to stay in St. Moritz: a week in winter, so the journey is worth it and you can try more than one mountain; four or five nights in summer.
• Is St. Moritz walkable? Within Dorf, and from Dorf down to the lake, yes. Between villages and mountains you will use buses, trains, taxis or a chauffeur.