Kulm Hotel St. Moritz

Winter tourism in the Alps was effectively invented at the Kulm: in a famous wager of 1864, hotelier Johannes Badrutt persuaded sceptical English summer guests to return in winter, and the season that followed changed mountain travel forever. The hotel, founded in 1856, also switched on Switzerland's first electric light in 1878, and its position above the frozen lake gives it the widest Engadin panorama in St. Moritz.

Despite the history, the Kulm feels quietly patrician rather than showy—a counterpoint to the town's flashier addresses. Rooms range from classic Alpine-elegant to contemporary, most facing the lake and the peaks beyond, and the hotel's grounds include its own park, the Olympic ice pavilion restored by Norman Foster, and deep connections to the Cresta Run tobogganing tradition that begins virtually at its door.

Dining moves from the grand restaurant's formal evenings to Alpine specialities and the celebrated seasonal pop-ups of the town's social calendar, while the Kulm Spa is among the Alps' best: panoramic indoor pool, saunas and treatments with the Engadin light pouring in. Summer brings golf, hiking and lake sports, making this rare among St. Moritz grandes dames—a true two-season house.