Carlton Hotel St Moritz: Winter Season 2026/27 Opens 11 December

11 December 2026 — 21 March 2027

There is a particular quality of light in the Upper Engadine in December. It arrives at an angle peculiar to altitude — crystalline, almost theatrical — and it falls across the frozen surface of Lake St Moritz in a way that no amount of description fully prepares one for. It is this light, and what it implies about the season ahead, that has drawn guests to St Moritz for more than a century and a half. The Carlton Hotel has been here for most of it.

The Carlton Penthouse Suite terrace, looking out across Lake St Moritz toward peaks dusted in early snow. All sixty rooms and suites face south — the view is not an amenity here, but a condition of the stay.

The Carlton opened its doors for the first time in 1913 — the fifth five-star hotel to establish itself in what was already the most celebrated alpine resort in the world. In the intervening century, it has survived two world wars, numerous changes of ownership, and the particular test of endurance that comes from operating in a place where excellence is not optional. What it has never done is relinquish its position. Today, as part of the Tschuggen Collection, the Carlton remains one of Switzerland’s most quietly accomplished grand hotels. The Collection comprises Carlton Hotel St. Moritz, Tschuggen Grand Hotel (Arosa), Valsana Hotel (Arosa), and Hotel Eden Roc (Ascona).

The 2026/27 winter season opens on 11 December 2026 and closes 21 March 2027. The hotel occupies an elevated position above the town, its sixty rooms and suites — every one south-facing, every one oriented toward Lake St Moritz and the Engadine peaks — arranged to ensure that the view is not an amenity but a condition of the stay. At the apex of the building sits the Carlton Penthouse Suite: three bedrooms across 386 square metres, reached by private elevator, with a 360° panoramic view over Lake St. Moritz and the surrounding peaks — described by the hotel itself as one of the largest suites in St. Moritz, and refreshed in 2025.The interiors, conceived by Swiss designer Carlo Rampazzi, whose vision defines the character of the hotel, speak in the language of materials rather than gesture: warmth without performance, refinement without effort.

The dining room at Da Vittorio St Moritz, the Carlton's two-Michelin-starred restaurant under the stewardship of the Cerea brothers. Securing a table has become part of the ritual of the season itself.

Each winter, a dedicated Da Vittorio team from the Cerea family’s celebrated Bergamo operation relocates to St. Moritz for the Carlton’s season, bringing the family’s culinary philosophy to the Alps. The two-Michelin-starred restaurant, also awarded 18 GaultMillau points, is regarded as one of Switzerland’s foremost Italian dining rooms. Its dining room was fully reimagined for the 2025 season, with a new interior design by Carlo Rampazzi. The Grand Restaurant, awarded 16 GaultMillau points and guided by a philosophy of locally foraged alpine ingredients, offers an alternative of equal seriousness. The sun terrace and the Bel Étage — its fireplace among the most reliably civilised hours the Alps afford — complete a dining landscape that is, without exaggeration, among the finest of any winter resort in Europe.

The Bel Etage: leather, timber, and a fireplace that has been receiving guests for over a century. Afternoon tea is served here each day of the season. It is, in all likelihood, the most civilised room in St Moritz.

The hotel’s spa extends across 1,200 square metres (12,916 sq ft) on three floors, with both an indoor and an outdoor pool, and private spa suites.

Beyond the slopes, the hotel’s personalized butler service and dedicated outdoor butler arrange a range of winter experiences across the Engadin: glacier cave tours, torchlight hikes, skijoring, husky sledding, ice sculpture carving, tobogganing, and horse carriage rides among them.

The season unfolds alongside the defining rituals of an Engadine winter: White Turf on the frozen lake in February; the Engadine Ski Marathon in March; and the long, luminous afternoons of late season that have always made St Moritz, at its close, feel less like a departure than a postponement. The Corviglia ski area, reached by a five-minute shuttle from the hotel, offers roughly 155 kilometres of marked runs from blue to black, served at approximately 1,800 metres altitude.

The Carlton has received the Michelin Guide’s highest three-Key distinction — one of only nine hotels in Switzerland to do so. The hotel is also a member of Leading Hotels of the World. For guests planning the winter of 2026/27, availability remains inherently limited.

SCULPTURED JOURNEYS works with the Carlton Hotel St Moritz as part of a carefully considered portfolio of Swiss winter properties. Planning, reservations, and private chalet alternatives across the Engadine are available through our team.

Explore our Switzerland destination guide to plan your 2026/27 winter journey.

Private by nature. Extraordinary by design.

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