St. Moritz Town Hall

St. Moritz is the resort that put winter tourism on the map, and its town hall, the Gemeindehaus, is the place where the municipality is run and where visitors can get practical help. The building is a municipal administration office in the middle of the town and has a visitor information desk on the ground floor, which makes it a useful first stop for anyone arriving without a plan. It is not a sightseeing attraction in the usual sense, with no collection or tower to visit, and it should be seen as a working building with a role for visitors. The staff can provide maps, event programmes, advice on transport and information on the many activities in the Upper Engadin.

The reason it is worth knowing about is the town around it. St. Moritz has a claim to being the birthplace of winter tourism in the Alps. According to the well-known story, in 1864 the hotelier Johannes Badrutt made a bet with a group of English summer guests that if they came back in winter they would enjoy sunshine and clear skies, and that if they did not, he would pay for their trip. They came, they were convinced, and a new season was born. Over the following decades St. Moritz developed ice skating, tobogganing, bobsleigh and skiing, and it became a fashionable meeting place for European aristocracy and later for the wealthy of the world. It hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and again in 1948, and the resort uses a trademark, Champagne climate, to describe its dry, bright winters, with over three hundred days of sunshine a year according to its promotion.

The town is divided into two parts. St. Moritz Dorf, the old village on the hillside, has the main shopping street, the luxury hotels and the town hall, while St. Moritz Bad, at the lakeside below, is the older spa area, where mineral springs were used long before the winter boom. Between them, steep streets and stairs link the levels, and the lake lies in a broad, sunny valley ringed by mountains. The Leaning Tower, the remains of a church, is the best-known landmark of the old village, and the Segantini Museum, devoted to the painter Giovanni Segantini, houses works that show the mountain light of the Engadin.

The area offers a wide range of things to do. In winter, skiing at Corvatsch, Corviglia and Diavolezza, skating, curling, and the famous Cresta Run, a skeleton track cut from ice, are on offer, and the frozen lake hosts events such as horse racing and polo. In summer, walking, cycling and sailing on the lakes attract visitors. The resort is well connected, with a railway station on the Rhaetian line, and the Glacier Express and Bernina Express run here.

The town hall is easy to find in the centre. Opening times of the offices and information desk vary with the season, so check before you go. The building suits anyone who needs advice, and it is useful for families and walkers who want tips on trails. Allow a short stop of ten to twenty minutes. Prices in St. Moritz are among the highest in Switzerland, so ask the staff about free and low-cost options such as walks and viewpoints.