Few hotels are as closely connected to their destination as Badrutt’s Palace is to St. Moritz. With its instantly recognizable tower rising above Lake St. Moritz, the hotel has become one of the defining images of the town.
The location is exceptional. Badrutt’s Palace sits in the center of St. Moritz on Via Serlas, surrounded by the town’s luxury boutiques and within walking distance of restaurants, cafés, and the lake. At the same time, the hotel overlooks the mountains and the beautiful Engadin Valley, so the experience never feels overly urban.
The views are absolutely breathtaking. From the lake-facing side of the hotel, you can see across Lake St. Moritz toward the forests, mountains, and small villages scattered throughout the valley. The scenery changes constantly depending on the weather and time of day, from bright blue water and clear mountain views to clouds hanging low over the lake.
But it is the hotel itself that makes the greatest first impression.
Badrutt’s Palace is an immediate wow from the moment you walk through the doors. The entrance is grand and dramatic, with soaring ceilings, dark wood, chandeliers, antique furniture, enormous flower arrangements, and beautiful historic details everywhere you look.
Many hotels take time to reveal what makes them special. At Badrutt’s Palace, you understand immediately.
Location & Setting
Originally opened in 1896, the hotel has welcomed generations of royalty, actors, artists, and some of the world’s most prominent families. Alfred Hitchcock was a regular guest, and former guests have also included Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and Coco Chanel.
What I loved most, however, is that Badrutt’s has retained its original personality. It feels wonderfully old-school in a way that has become extremely rare. So many historic hotels have been renovated until almost everything distinctive about them has disappeared. Badrutt’s Palace has evolved over the years, but it has not sacrificed its identity.
The hotel is filled with carved ceilings, tapestries, antique furnishings, archival photographs, fireplaces, chandeliers, and rich wood paneling. There is no attempt to make every space feel neutral, minimalist, or fashionable. You could never mistake it for another hotel.
The heart of the property is Le Grand Hall, often described as the living room of St. Moritz. The enormous room overlooks the lake and mountains and is filled with comfortable seating, beautiful flowers, and live music.
Despite its grandeur, Le Grand Hall is not simply a formal lobby guests walk through. It is somewhere people genuinely spend time. Guests gather for coffee, lunch, afternoon tea, cocktails, and light meals throughout the day, often remaining for hours.
That balance between grandeur and comfort is one of the things Badrutt’s does exceptionally well. The hotel feels glamorous and full of occasion, but it never made us feel uncomfortable arriving with a five-year-old and a 14-month-old.
The hotel also begins taking care of you before you arrive. Ahead of our stay, the team called me to discuss restaurant reservations and help arrange activities for the children. I did not have to chase the concierge, research every option myself, or arrive only to discover that the restaurants or Kids Club were already fully booked.
That level of pre-arrival attention set the tone for our entire stay. Badrutt’s Palace understands that true luxury is not only about how beautiful a hotel looks. It is also about anticipating what guests might need and making the entire trip feel effortless.
Accommodations
Badrutt’s Palace offers two different styles of accommodations: the classically designed rooms and suites inside the original palace and the much newer accommodations in the Serlas Wing.
The rooms in the historic palace are more traditional, with elegant paneling, soft colors, beautiful fabrics, and decorative details that feel connected to the age and character of the hotel. They are grand without feeling excessively formal and have the kind of personality you expect from a hotel with this much history.
The newer Serlas Wing was designed by Italian architect Antonio Citterio and offers a much more contemporary interpretation of Alpine luxury. Its rooms and suites feel more residential and understated, with natural materials, clean architectural lines, and Loro Piana fabrics used throughout the interiors.
The Serlas Wing is located across the road but is connected to the original palace by an underground passage. The passage also provides easy access to Chesa Veglia and the luxury boutiques along Via Serlas, which is particularly useful during the cold and snow of winter.
The contrast between the two buildings allows guests to choose between two very different experiences. I would recommend the original palace for travelers who want to feel completely immersed in the history and old-world atmosphere of Badrutt’s. Those who prefer more modern and understated accommodations may be happier in the Serlas Wing.
Regardless of which building you choose, I would prioritize a lake-facing room whenever possible. The views over Lake St. Moritz and the mountains are such an important part of the experience that I think they are worth choosing over additional interior space.
Room categories range from double rooms to enormous multi-bedroom suites. Many suites can be connected to additional rooms, making the hotel particularly practical for families and multi-generational trips. Suites also include butler service.
For a hotel this historic, the accommodations are exceptionally comfortable and functional. The rooms provide generous storage, beautiful bathrooms, extremely comfortable beds, and twice-daily housekeeping.
But while the rooms are suitably luxurious, Badrutt’s Palace is much more than a hotel where you spend most of the trip inside your accommodation. The public spaces, restaurants, spa, pool, and children’s facilities are such a major part of the experience that you will probably spend very little time in your room.
Dining
I have sometimes found the food at luxury hotels in Switzerland disappointing, particularly in relation to the prices. The hotels themselves may be beautiful, but the food has not always been especially memorable.
That was absolutely not the case at Badrutt’s Palace.
The food throughout our stay was amazing, and one of the restaurants worked so perfectly for our family that we ended up eating there every day.
La Diala is located in the Palace Wellness area, close to the pool and directly beside the Palazzino Kids Club. In summer, guests can eat outside on the restaurant’s beautiful terrace overlooking the gardens, lake, and mountains.
We had both lunch and dinner there every day.
The menu focuses on fresh Mediterranean food, including salads, soups, pasta dishes, and a selection of fresh juices and drinks. The food feels light and healthy enough to enjoy after the pool but is still satisfying and genuinely delicious.
The outdoor setting is absolutely beautiful, but with two young children, the location was equally important. We could move easily between the restaurant, pool, playground, and Kids Club without having to bring everyone through the entire hotel each time.
La Diala is open from late morning until the early evening during the summer season, which also makes it particularly convenient for families who prefer to eat dinner early. Its name means “mountain fairy” in Romansh, and the restaurant is specifically designed to be family-friendly, with its own outdoor playground.
Normally, when a hotel has numerous restaurants, I want to try as many as possible. At Badrutt’s, La Diala was so convenient, the terrace was so enjoyable, and the food was so consistently good that we were genuinely happy to return every day.
The hotel also has an impressive collection of other restaurants and bars.
Breakfast is served at Le Restaurant, a grand dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake St. Moritz and the mountains. The breakfast experience feels wonderfully old-school, complete with live harp music.
The buffet includes an extensive selection of pastries, breads, fruit, cheeses, smoked fish, yogurts, cereals, and options for children, while eggs and other hot dishes can be ordered from the kitchen. The room itself makes breakfast feel like an occasion, and it is worth leaving enough time to enjoy it properly rather than rushing out for the day.
Le Grand Hall serves lunch, afternoon tea, drinks, and light meals throughout the day. Even if you do not have a full meal there, it is worth stopping for coffee or a glass of wine simply to experience the atmosphere.
Across the road from the main hotel is Chesa Veglia, a historic Engadin farmhouse containing several dining spaces. Pizzeria Heuboden is located in the former hayloft and serves wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and Italian classics in a cozy, rustic setting.
For a more formal dinner, Le Relais serves contemporary French cuisine in a romantic Belle Époque dining room overlooking the lake. The restaurant is also known for its traditional tableside service.
La Coupole–Matsuhisa is located beneath the glass dome of the hotel’s former indoor tennis hall and serves Nobuyuki Matsuhisa’s signature Japanese-Peruvian cuisine. The menu includes sushi, sashimi, tiraditos, black cod, and a selection of hot dishes.
The hotel also operates Paradiso Mountain Club & Restaurant, located high above St. Moritz and reached by chairlift, hiking, or e-bike. It is known for its expansive mountain views and lively atmosphere.
There are enough restaurants at Badrutt’s Palace that guests could easily dine somewhere different every day. I would, however, make reservations in advance, particularly during the busiest periods.
Again, this is something the hotel handled beautifully. The team contacted me before our arrival and helped organize the restaurant reservations most suitable for our family. Instead of spending the first day of the trip figuring out where we could eat with the children, everything had already been arranged.
Facilities & Experiences
The facilities at Badrutt’s Palace are exceptional, but the pool is easily one of the greatest highlights of the entire hotel.
Palace Wellness has a 25-meter indoor pool connected to an outdoor infinity pool overlooking the surrounding trees and mountains. The indoor section is built around a dramatic natural granite rock, but it is the heated outdoor section that makes the pool so special.
The outdoor pool is heated to approximately 35 degrees Celsius, meaning that you can enjoy it even when the weather outside is freezing.
St. Moritz can be very cold even during the summer, and the weather in the mountains can change quickly. But because the water is kept so warm, the pool is not dependent on having a beautiful, sunny day.
Swimming outside in perfectly warm water with the cold Alpine air around you and views of the mountains is unforgettable. The pool is truly to die for and one of the best hotel pools I have ever experienced.
Beyond the pools, Palace Wellness includes a Jacuzzi, saunas, steam facilities, relaxation areas, treatment rooms, and private spa suites. Treatments range from massages and facials to Ayurvedic therapies and beauty services.
There is also a Technogym fitness center, yoga, personal trainers, tennis courts, and a padel court. The Palace Coiffeur, the hotel’s longstanding hair salon, is another example of the old-school resort experience Badrutt’s has managed to preserve.
The most impressive family facility is the Palazzino Kids Club, which is probably the best hotel Kids Club I have ever come across.
I have stayed at many luxury hotels with children, and some Kids Clubs amount to little more than a small room with a few toys. Palazzino is completely different.
The space is large, bright, beautifully designed, and filled with activities children genuinely want to do. There are rooms for imaginative play, crafts and games, as well as areas for physical activity and a ball pit. During the summer, there is also an outdoor playground.
The supervised program is complimentary for hotel guests ages three to twelve and operates from morning until the evening, although advance reservations are required. Children younger than three can also use the facilities when accompanied by an adult.
The hours are incredibly generous and allow parents to use the spa, spend time at the pool, go shopping, or have lunch alone without having to arrange a separate babysitter each time.
The location of the Kids Club is also extremely well considered. It sits beside La Diala and close to the pool, meaning that families can spend much of the day within the same area of the hotel.
Our older child could enjoy the Kids Club while we remained nearby with the baby or had lunch outside at La Diala. That made the experience infinitely easier and more relaxing.
More than anything, the quality of Palazzino shows that the hotel takes families seriously. Children are not an afterthought at Badrutt’s Palace. The hotel has created facilities for them that are every bit as thoughtful and beautifully executed as those designed for adults.
The hotel’s attention to children also began before our arrival. When the team called me to help organize our restaurant reservations, they also discussed activities and arrangements for the children.
Traveling with young children involves so much planning that having the hotel proactively handle these details made a meaningful difference. By the time we arrived, the important reservations had already been arranged and we could simply begin enjoying the hotel.
That proactive, highly personal hospitality is part of what makes Badrutt’s Palace feel so wonderfully old-school. It is not only about the historic interiors, polished service, or grandeur of Le Grand Hall. It is about anticipating what guests need before they have to ask.
There is also an enormous amount to do beyond the hotel itself. Hiking and cycling routes begin nearby, and the concierge can arrange mountain bikes, road bikes, e-bikes, guides, and picnics. Guests can also go sailing, play golf, ride horses, try rafting or climbing, walk around Lake St. Moritz, explore the surrounding villages, or take the mountain railways and cable cars into the Engadin landscape.
During our stay, I met guests who were spending anywhere from two to five weeks at Badrutt’s Palace.
Initially, that sounded like a very long time to spend at one hotel. But after experiencing Badrutt’s, I completely understood it.
There is so much to do that it would be surprisingly easy to spend several weeks here without becoming bored. Between the pool, spa, Kids Club, restaurants, tennis and padel courts, and countless activities throughout the Engadin Valley, every day can feel completely different.
You can hike or bike through the mountains, spend an afternoon at the pool, have lunch outside at La Diala, walk around Lake St. Moritz, explore one of the neighboring villages, or simply remain at the hotel and enjoy Le Grand Hall.
I think this is extremely rare, even among the world’s best hotels. Many luxury properties are wonderful for two or three nights, but after that, you begin to feel ready to move on. Badrutt’s Palace is different. It has enough restaurants, facilities, activities, and atmosphere to sustain a much longer stay.
Meeting guests who were staying for two, three, and even five weeks may be the greatest testament to what the hotel has created. This is not simply a beautiful property that you experience for a few nights and then feel ready to leave. It is somewhere you can settle into, establish a routine, and continue discovering new things to do.
Badrutt’s Palace is one of the rare hotels that wows you the moment you enter and continues to impress throughout the stay. The pool is unforgettable, the Kids Club is one of the best I have ever encountered, the food is excellent, and the service begins before you even arrive.
But what makes the hotel truly special is its identity.
It feels like one of the last great old-school European palace hotels—a type of property that has become almost impossible to find. It has history, glamour, personality, and a real sense of occasion, yet it is also warm, fun, and incredibly welcoming to families.
Hotels like this are incredibly rare today. Badrutt’s Palace is not merely somewhere to stay while visiting St. Moritz. It is a destination in its own right and worth building an entire trip around.
