Elite Traveler Winter 2024/25

elite traveler WINTER 2024/25 155

Fondue Gondolaat Carlton Hotel

a bumper schedule of winter sporting events. There’s also plenty of opportunity to shop until you drop on the world’s highest-elevation luxury shopping street, Via Serlas. As one local put it on my recent visit: “St Moritz is an art of living. [You] do a couple of slopes in the morning, go to a good restaurant, then a couple of runs in the afternoon and then ‘ciao.’ People come for a good time.”

trump brash displays of wealth; where generations of the same well-o ff families return year after year to a favored grand hotel or winter home. However, even a visionary like Mr Badrutt was unlikely to have foreseen the sheer glamour of it all. Michelin-star restaurants stand beside quaint Alpine huts serving raclette, champagne pours in abundance at members-only clubs, Chanel sunglasses-wearing skaters glide along natural ice rinks, and well-dressed crowds gather to revel in

Paradiso is Badrutt’s Palace’s slopeside o ff ering

Dining

by Emma Al-Mousawi

In St Moritz, après-ski is just as important as shredding powder. The Suvretta chairlift at the Corviglia slopes will transport you skywards and outside the door of Trutz (suvrettahouse.ch) for hearty mountain fare. A short stroll away, you’ll fi nd Badrutt’s Palace’s slopeside o ff ering, Paradiso (winter.paradiso-stmoritz.com) . Here, DJs spin tunes on the upper deck, while the cozy booths on the lower mountain deck serve an eclectic menu featuring caviar and lobster, as well as the most elevated take on a croque monsieur you might ever taste. You can’t come to Switzerland in winter without indulging in the national dish: fondue. Reserve a Fondue Gondola (tschuggencollection.ch) at the Carlton Hotel, or head to Chesa Veglia (badruttspalace.com) in the center of town. This former farmhouse built in 1658 hosts the intimate three-table Carigiet Fondue Stübli ; you will also fi nd authentic brick-oven Pizzeria Heuboden and Swiss-gourmet o ff eringsat Patrizier Stuben . Head to local institution Hanselmann (hanselmann.ch) for champagne tru ffl es and other sweet treats including Engadiner Nusstorte, the traditional caramelized nut pastry that hails from this mountainous region. The fi ne dining scene is especially strong during the cooler months. Winter-only, two-Michelin-star Da Vittorio (davittorio.com) at the Carlton Hotel — the sister restaurant of the Cerea brothers’ three-Michelin-star Lombardy eatery — serves precision Italian cuisine including the brothers’ famed paccheri alla Vittorio pasta. Two-star Ecco (giardinohotels.ch) helmed by German-born chef, Rolf Fliegauf, focuses on fi ne local ingredients to craft contemporary dishes. For after-dinner drinks, Badrutt’s Palace’s storied Renaissance Bar o ff ers a world-class cigar menu and sophisticated cocktails like the Cointreau and lime St Moritzino. Carry on the night at the hotel’s King’s Social House (Switzerland’s oldest nightclub) or Kulm Hotel’s fabled Dracula Club (kulm.com) .

Photos Badrutt’s Palace