St. Moritz — Summer in a Swiss winter resort

by Don and Betty Martin, Columbia, CA

We had our faces pressed against the cool window like kids outside a candy store. However, we were enjoying scenic candy as our train climbed through a steep, wooded valley toward the noted Swiss Alps resort of St. Moritz.

Each twist in the tracks brought a new alpine vision: verdant pasturelands glowing greenly in the sunlight; cascading streams milky with glacial silt; villages with slender church steeples standing like architectural exclamation points, and the distant promise of the Alps with their glossy white glaciers.

On the way to St. Moritz

St. Moritz is one of the world’s oldest winter resorts, established in 1864. However, we had come for “summer” play, and we soon discovered that the area offers an abundance of warm-weather lures.

In fact, St. Moritz and the surrounding Engadine Valley attract more visitors in summer than in winter. They come for hiking, fishing, golfing, horseback riding, scenic train trips, boating on the valley’s many lakes and loafing at luxury resorts.

There’s culture as well, with the Engadin Opera Festival, the International Festival of Chamber Music and concerts by the St. Moritz Spa Orchestra.

We flew into Zürich in early September ’04 and explored that fine old city for a couple of days before boarding a train for St. Moritz. The first leg of our journey took us along the shoreline of 25-mile-long Lake Zürich. Pretty parklands decorated the lakefront and quaint villages hugged the opposite shore. Above them, vineyards and pasturelands climbed steeply toward low granite bluffs. Occasional castle ruins clung precariously to rocky upthrusts.

A charming impression

In the mid-size city of Chur, we changed trains and scenery, starting a steep and winding climb through a forested valley toward mountain-rimmed St. Moritz. We were surprised by the look of this famous retreat. With more than 5,000 residents, it’s no quaint, Heidi-themed village. It’s a modern resort busy with grand hotels, condos and shops with names like Gucci, Armani and Louis Vuitton. It could be described as Monaco in the mountains — it even has a couple of casinos.

Despite its urban look, it retains a measure of old European charm. Many streets are cobblestone, and ancient church bells chime the hours. Condos and holiday apartments are dressed in alpine façades with brilliant flowers cascading from window boxes.

The town is built into a slope above Lake St. Moritz, one of several oval gems extending through the Engadine Valley, and its tilt is so steep that some streets are switchbacks, with little plazas and outdoor cafés occupying occasional flat spots.

Affordable luxury

St. Moritz has long been a playground for the wealthy, with prices to match. However, visitors can find ways to afford this luxury retreat.

Although we stayed at the elegant Kulm Hotel (Via Veglia, 18; phone +41 [0] 81 836 80 00 or visit www.kulmhotel-stmoritz. ch), the town’s most historic resort, one can find inexpensive hotels and pensions with rooms starting around $100 a night. We ate at smaller and less expensive cafés, and we bought prepared foods and cheeses from grocers.

We also had purchased a Swiss Pass before leaving home. It’s one of the country’s best bargains, good for unlimited travel on nearly all trains, buses and passenger boats.

So, where do we begin to play in this playground for the wealthy? We began by exploring St. Moritz itself, walking its cobblestone streets (hiking might be a more appropriate word), window-shopping and strolling a lakefront path that extends for several miles through the Engadine Valley.

Local history

To discover something of the area’s history, we visited the Engadine Museum (Via dal Bagn 39; phone +41 [0] 81 833 43 33). We learned that this once was one of Switzerland’s most remote regions, home to just a few farmers and herders. Descended from Bronze Age Celts and isolated for 2,000 years, they spoke Romansch, a language evolved from Latin. With the coming of the ski resort, old traditions were swept away; a mere handful of locals now speak Switzerland’s native tongue.

The museum is open June through October (9:30-noon and 2-5 on weekdays, 10-noon on Sundays and closed on Saturdays). Admission was five francs (about $4).

Trams and trains

For a grand overview of the Engadine Valley, we hopped aboard the Corviglia funicular (phone +41 [0] 81 836 50 50 or visit www. corviglia.com) that rises 8,155 feet to a lookout at Piz Nair. The tram lifted us above the tree line to a chilly, rocky tundra populated mostly by dairy cows, who seemed oblivious to this high-tech gadget cutting through their tilted pastureland. We were so high that the jagged Alps — resembling waves of a petrified sea — appeared to be at eye level.

During the summer, the funicular operates from 8:20 a.m. to 5:10 p.m. (the last tram down), running every 20 minutes. Tickets cost CHF18 ($14) round trip or CHF12 ($9) one way.

The next day, we used our Swiss Pass to take a scenically twisting journey past glaciers and waterfalls and over the 7,600-foot Bernina Pass to Tirano, just across the Italian border. We roamed old Romanesque streets and lunched at a sidewalk café before starting back.

We interrupted our return trip to explore the handsome medieval Swiss town of Poschiavo, then we caught a later train for St. Moritz.

There are several Tirano departures daily, including the Bernina Express with its curved glass dome cars. We preferred the regular trains, since we could open the windows to feel the mountain breezes. (Note: Take your passports for entry into Italy or you may not get beyond the Tirano train station.)

Other outdoor activities

The Swiss love to hike and they love to eat. A firm called Die Alpenarena (phone +41 [0] 81 920 92 02 or visit www.alpenarena.ch) combines the two, offering “culinary hikes” linking three to five alpine restaurants. Hikers are given dining vouchers and a trail map and they can enjoy a different course at each stop. Three-course, 8-mile hikes cost CHF39 ($30), and 5-course, 10-mile outings are CHF59 ($45).

For our 3-course movable feast, we hopped a train to Reichenau, took a bus to a trailhead above the town of Flims and set forth, appetites at the ready. The weather was gorgeous, and all three cafés offered outdoor dining with a view.

Finally, how about combining horses and hiking? We caught a local bus from St. Moritz to nearby Sils, where we boarded a horse-drawn omnibus. It trundled high into the valley of Fex, a lush, green basin that could have been the setting for “The Sound of Music.” We expected Julie Andrews to pop over a ridge at any moment.

After letting the nags do the uphill work, we hiked back down on a path that, thankfully, was beyond sniffing distance of the horses’ route.

Reservations aren’t needed for the omnibus, although they’re recommended on weekends. Call Pferde-Omnibus +41 [0] 81 826 52 86.

For more information

After all that hiking, plus frequent walks in tilted St. Moritz, we should have left Switzerland a few pounds lighter. However, we’d encountered too many fine cheeses, too much Swiss chocolate. . . .

For more information, contact the St. Moritz Tourist Board (phone +41 [0] 81 837 33 33 or visit www. stmoritz.ch) or Switzerland Tourism (608 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10020; phone 877/794-8037 or visit www.myswitzerland.com).

For a Swiss Pass, contact Rail Europe (phone 800/438-RAIL or visit www.raileurope.com). Four-day Swiss Pass prices range from $170 second class to $260 first class; a month-long pass ranges from $375 second class to $560 first class. ITN

The Martins’ trip was partially sponsored by Switzerland Tourism and the St. Moritz Tourist Board.