Badrutt's Palace Hotel

Elegant Saint Moritz

Saint Moritz, the elegant resort in the canton of Grisons, has been receiving the crowned heads of Europe for more than a century. This former thermal station, reputed to have 322 days of sunshine a year, is one of the oldest winter sports stations in the world. Saint Moritz began to develop in 1864 when the first ice skaters and curling enthusiasts came here from Scotland to try out its frozen lake. It’s here that skiing, known for centuries in Nordic countries as a means of locomotion, became, thanks to the hotel professional Johannes Badrutt, a sport and a pastime. With its 350 kilometers of slopes, Saint Moritz is the largest skiable resort in the world. On two occasions, in 1928 and 1948, the station hosted the winter Olympics, and in 1935, was the first to create a ski lift. This ultra trendy winter resort is also known as the birthplace of the bobsled, which Prince Albert of Monaco practices here on his visits to Switzerland. As a popular destination for the international jet set, Saint Moritz has five palace hotels, one of which is the famous Badrutt’s. The most renowned names in high fashion and jewelry are also present in the many luxury boutiques, in front of which it’s not uncommon to find a Rolls Royce with snow tires and customers clad in chinchilla fur coats.

A legendary palace

Created in 1896 to receive English alpinists, the mythical Badrutt’s Palace Hotel resembles a chateau with its legendary tower facing the lake of Saint Moritz. In 1892, Johannes Badrutt purchased the Beau Rivage Hotel and transformed it into a palace. This icon of hospitality has, over the past 115 years been enlarged and renovated a great many times, but it has managed to preserve its historic heritage. Some of the world’s greatest celebrities have chosen it as vacation site including actors like Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Roger Moore and Hugh Grant, and well to do businessmen like Aristotle Onassis, as well as other wealthy personalities including Ivana Trump and a long list of press people and financial leaders.

The rooms all possess the luxury and refinement of a prestigious palace. The deluxe furniture and modern technology guarantees guests of an incomparable atmosphere in which all wishes can be fulfilled. The suites overlooking the lake are extremely popular, two of which are truly exceptional and reflect the tradition and the history of the palace: the Helen Badrutt and the Hans Badrutt suites. We enter the latter suite via a spacious Italian marble hall. Both suites have three bedrooms, with a marble bathroom in which guests can take a steam bath to warm up after a long day of skiing, as well as a Jacuzzi. Both suites have a magnificent view of Saint Moritz’s lake and the mountains.

In addition to the incredible luxury and the services provided, the surrounding environment makes Badrutt’s even more exceptional. These include the multitude of boutiques of the Palace Gallery, seven restaurants, one of which, The Restaurant, which serves French cuisine is worth selling one’s soul for, an authentic farm reconverted into a pizzeria and a bistro, and the Nobu which combines traditional Japanese cuisine with Peruvian dishes, an outdoor skating rink, a sports club, and indoor swimming pool and a spa, not to mention the Renaissance Bar where guests can sip delicious cocktails while comfortably ensconced on marine cushions, before going dancing at the mythical King’s Club until the wee hours of the morning.

The Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, built in 1896 in Saint Moritz-Dorf, is an institution that has welcomed celebrities like Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, the Shah of Iran and King Hussein of Jordan. It’ a true palace steeped in history.