St Moritz

A snowHead

Ticking St Moritz off the bucket list this year. We have high expectations for the skiing but I'm a bit apprehensive about sky high prices when trying to eat on the mountain having had the Matterhorn experience a few years ago; lovely food but...
Can anybody recommend if not cheap, affordable food on the mountains?
We're not a family of oligarchs so we are there to ski. The kids are usually happy with chips and a half an hour sit down. Is this possible (financially!) or should we plan to take a sandwich in our pocket and eat as we go?
That wouldn't be the worst option since I've read there are some pizza and beer places in the town where we can top up at the end of the day if starving.
Any suggestions most welcome.
(BTW we have a "cheap" apartment in Bever so travel home on the bus afterwards means that a cheeky après beer is also possible...) Very Happy

A snowHead

It's been some years since I last went. I don't typically pay much attention to lunch prices since I don't eat a big meal for lunch. But if you want to cut down the cost of eating on mountain mid-day, packing a sandwich seems like a good idea. You can still order a soup or a drink and sit down for a bit.

I was there Easter time. So all my lunch was sitting outside.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

It’s also been a while too but I’m pretty sure that there is seating indoors at Corviglia and Corvatch to have a picnic. The Swiss are quite good at providing facilities like that. There are mountain cafeterias with the same prices as anywhere else in Switzerland. If the restaurants have fur seats best check the prices before you sit down!

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The best resorts always charge the highest prices.

Make sandwiches and picnic it, if a few extra CHF is a pain.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Each to their own I suppose but why anyone would subject themselves to that irritating feeling of being fleeced is beyond me. Especially when you know it’s going to happen.
There’s nothing worse than being a ‘captive audience’.
Slightly related to the topic - are there any resorts in Switzerland that are renowned for their good value (compared to others in Switzerland)?

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Appreciate that Switzerland is not a budget destination and St Moritz even less so. I was just wondering if there was any collective inside knowledge on mountain huts/cafes at the less expensive end of the scale?
In the past I've sat down and spent £26 for a plate of albeit tasty pasta for a hungry kid in Zermatt and £8+ for a small plate of very average chips in Chamonix. I'm not looking for gourmet catering just something hot for lunch, particularly if the weather is cold. The previous posts suggest mountain food in St Moritz is going to be pricey and a DIY sandwich is the best lunchtime option. Fair enough. If this is the case does anybody have a recommendations for somewhere near the bottom stations for a coffee or a beer?
I've been hunting down the back of the sofa and will be taking some money with me!

After all it is free

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Hence the original post.
We're going to St Mortiz because of the skiing. I have no desire to spend more than is absolutely necessary regardless of whether the restaurant has great views, comfortable seats, gourmet chips or a topless waitress. Something hot, fast, 30 minutes sit down then back on the slopes without feeling like I have just paid the owner's mortgage is all that's required. Nothing wrong with being thrifty. Without thrift I wouldn't be able to ski in the first place.
Appreciate there will be those in Mortiz drinking £200+ bottles of booze for lunch and skiing about 45 minutes in total. Each to their own (and I'm very grateful these customers are so willingly covering the owners overheads too). I'm just investigating whether there is anywhere on the 3 mountain ski areas offering relatively cheap eats?
Yes I would prefer the convenience of buying something to eat on the mountain instead of carrying a sandwich around in my pocket but not at any price...

Cheapest place is the Coop "Bistro" (inside the supermarket)

Restaurants

Min price €20 to €30pp basic 1 Course and drink

Medium €30 to €50pp 2 course (no drink)

Expect to pay anywhere between €75 to €100pp for a good lunch/dinner

You know it makes sense.

Is it actually a good place to ski?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

@FrediKanoute, yes, it is! Something for everyone there. It's split up into separate non linked areas, but each area on it's own is a great playing field. Maybe not if just racking up the ski miles is your thing, but I am someone who is happy to pick a slope and ski it 10 times if it has decent terrain in it.
I highly recommend spending a couple of days up on the Bernina Pass and skiing the Diavolezza and Lagalb areas. Lagalb has just a single gondola to the top and endless off piste possibilities from there. Diavolezza gives you access to the Morteratsch glacier which you can ski down to the valley on and then take the train back up. Different kind of skiing!
It's just unfortunate that St.Moritz is the playground of the ludicrously rich, but If you ignore that then it's definitely worth a visit.

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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I had forgotten that I had a meal in St Moritz last year in the Restaurant Waldhaus am See, I think I had the Ravioli plus a dessert and tea or coffee, I didn't think it was expensive or a rip off as even at today's exchange rate the ravioli would be about £15. If you like whisky you would like this hotel as they had a huge selection.

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After all it is free

@hudds7, try Davos instead.

@sbooker, Aspen and Vail are VERY different in terms of skiing experience.

If you refuse to ski in Vail, you miss a unique mountain. And when the condition is right, it’s like having died and gone to skiing heaven!!!

Moreover, Aspen makes Vail feels down right reasonable in price!

(I’m not a big fan of Aspen due to the high cost. That said, I do ski there a couple days almost every year, because I have free lodging nearby that I don’t have to pay a dime if I don’t want to! Yes, the terrain is great. But if I have to pay lodging and/or lift ticket, I don’t feel it’s good value)

Still, it’s my opinion both Vail and Aspen are unique and worth checking out. Then, you can decide whether it’s worth returning FOR YOU.

There’s a long list of such unique mountains in North America that though expensive, it’s worth hunting HARD to find a way to ski them!!!

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Where we have our place in the 4 Vallées, I'd say that Swiss pic-nique facilities are very good. The bigger mountain stations all have large rooms with tables and chairs. Yes, the décor is utilitarian and they're usually in the station basement, but they're still warm and spacious. In the peak holiday periods, as a family, we actually preferred to bring our own lunch, as it was much easier to just get a table and sit down, as opposed to table-hunting and queuing in the restaurant upstairs. And cheaper, obviously. It might be worth doing some research on the resort website, to see which stations in St.Moritz have a pic-nique rooms.

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@abc,

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The best bargain at Vail is the on mountain grills. You can spend $40 on not much and elbow your way to a seat at one of the on mountain lodges or you can sling a steak and a couple of beers in a backpack and grill for free at a great picnic spot or yurt.

Re Switzerland - picnic room, flask of soup and some sandwichs. Most "expensive" places can be skied more affordably if you set your mind to it and and are prepared to bear a little inconvenience

Last year there were 2 free-to-use weber BBQ at the top of La Chapelle park.
We got some steak haché, gruyère and baguette from the supermarket in the middle of Avoriaz.
We sat in the sunshine on the benches at the top of the park, cooked and ate.
Cost of the meal for 4 of us was 8 EUR.

You know it makes sense.

Years ago we frequently skied with our children in Zermatt. Every morning, I would dispatch them to the local market with Swiss Francs in hand to buy our lunch for the day. This was a good exercise in understanding a foreign currency, making selections, finding their way around in an unfamiliar store etc. Lots of fun on the hill picnics featuring the smelliest cheeses they could find, weird looking salamis, oranges, apples, breads and crackers, and an inordinate amount of Swiss chocolate. I’d throw it all in my rucksack and break it out at lunch time in a protected, scenic spot of which there are no shortage in Zermatt.

From my experience, there are plenty of places on the hill in St. Moritz to have picnics. Just have to be a bit creative. Supplement as needed from self serve cafeterias on the mountain. Dial your spending up or down to a level that feels fleeceless.

By being thrifty then, I now am more inclined to opt for a more comfortable on-mountain dining option. There are a few over the top places at St. Moritz, but there are many slightly more reasonably priced places that are well worth enjoying at lunchtime. My only complaint is how difficult it often is to pay for your meal and get back out on the hill. The wait staff ignores you once you’ve been served and seem surprised that you don’t want to linger. Totally opposite of the the US where they want you fed and gone so they can turn the table for the next customer.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Oh, enjoy St. Moritz. I think it’s the best skiing in Switzerland. I’m headed there in March. Staying in Pontresina which I really like as a base to get around the valley.

A snowHead

Love Snowheads. Reading this has made me seriously consider St Moritz for a March trip next year. Have always wanted to go, but assumed it would be out of reach financially. Found a reasonably priced 3* hotel near to the Signal Cable Car and lift passes seem to be cheaper than Serre Chevalier, where we went this year. Just need to keep food costs down...

For those who've been, what's the intermediate piste skiing like? I think quietness of pistes is one of the key determinants of how much we enjoy the holiday. There seems to be plenty of long red and easier black descents, which is perfect for us and the scenery looks almost unparalleled, so those boxes are ticked.

Other places I was looking at were Davos, but found it harder to find reasonably priced and convenient accommodation and the plethora of draglifts was also off-putting and La Thuile as pistes meant to be super quiet, but really drawn to St Moritz now.

A snowHead

@suggul, Don't be put off Davos by the drag lifts. There are fewer now and you don't need to use them on the main mountain (Parsenn) if you don't want to. Doesn't restrict your options too much.
Both resorts are great, but Davos is ahead in my opinion on many counts

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I've looked at St Moritz, the Club med seems a good option - the price of a hotel plus a lift pass seems to be not much less than the price of Club med, but they include instruction and full board. Still a fair chunk more than skiing in for instance France though

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Same here. Rather quiet pistes.

But it was late March to early April. So not typical mid-season crowd level.

On the plus side, snow condition was very good even that “late” in the season! Smile

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@mr. mike, @abc, good to hear. I'll be going in mid-March, so out of peak season.

@DCG, I do plan to visit both eventually. I'm intrigued to know what are the many ways in which Davos is ahead of St Moritz?

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@suggul, I should start by saying that I’ve only been to St Moritz once. I enjoyed it and would happily return. However, it is not that well connected. Diavolezza is almost a separate resort - a 20 minute bus journey away AFAIR. I think they both have roughly similar quoted Kms of piste but in my recollection Davos terrain is much more varied. It also has some long runs down the valley with return by train or bus. These are great for last of the day and fairly unique in my experience. Davos also has some great marked off piste itineraries. You can ski “off the back” of several of the mountains into adjacent valleys and return home via bus after long OP runs. Finally, I think the runs on the Parsenn are some of the best I have skied. Some wonderful meadows and tree skiing down to Klosters, a fantastic black down to the hamlet of Wolfgang where the hotel Kulm does outstanding lunches and some great pistes for fast skiing on either side.

After all it is free

St Moritz is basically 3 separate resorts. But each is large enough to keep me entertained for a few days. So I just broke my week long stay into chunks of 2-3 days and concentrate on one resort for those days. Then move on to sample the other resorts.

But if you're the kind that likes to clock in a large km in a day, going across multiple valleys, St Moritz isn't the right resort for you.

Wot @abc says. I'm absolutely happy to spend a whole day just skiing Lagalb, but if racking up the Km is your thing then this is not the right resort for you.

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All good information on this thread. Thanks for all the posts.
St Moritz is not a cheap destination but since everything seems of a good standard it’s not bad value either. We didn’t find anything cheap to eat on the mountain and most days we ended up sitting down with a plate of chips and a drink because it was cold outside. Similar prices to France in that respect. Our apartment (sourced via the Engadin tourist office) was slightly out of town; 4 bed 1100CHF. Straight out of the 70’s; tiles, kitchen, furniture, the lot. However everything was clean, it all worked and included an underground car park. Cheap food was an Aldi by Samedan airport, Waitrose type food was in the Co-op.
Yes, three separate ski areas. Lagalb has 2 cable cars, 1 chair and 2 magic carpets to connect pistes to cable cars rather than for beginners. Good descents, from c1000m verticals back to the cable cars. All Reds and mostly North facing. Car park is free so it suggests it’s never too busy here. Lagalb would keep somebody who likes skiing busy for a day.
Celerina/Corviglia – a woman I spoke to on a chair said that Corviglia was for tourists and Corvatsch was for skiers. Some truth in that. Corviglia lifts start in the town and are readily accessible to people in fur coats carrying small dogs in jackets. The rich and beautiful take the cable cars up to eat and admire the views. When skiing you will see some people in Armani ski suits, Prada and Gucci ski wear and the type of kit that normally doesn’t get discounted at TKMaxx. Fear not, there are also some excellent skiers on the mountain too. On the plus side Corviglia does get more sunshine than Corvatsch, there are numerous long descents and the local ski area offers variety and size to keep you busy for a few days. Downside is the choke points at some of the chair lifts and the relative volume of skiers for the ski acreage (at NY, probably ok off peak). I’ve experienced much much worse in France but here in this sector it still felt irritating for some reason. Home run to the bottom at Celerina is narrow, steep, and icy. Unless you actually like dodging snowplowing skiers on a narrow piste it’s probably best to let the crowds clear at 4pm then stop for some après at the noisy little bar at the bottom. It’s a good long run from the top for the final run of the day.
Across the lake Corvatsch was our favourite. Corvatsch is on a hill with an underground car park (5CHF) or free on the ski bus. (We parked further along the valley at Sils which had an underused flat carpark that we would ski piste to car at 4pm.) Again the area is served by cable cars that run to a timetable rather than continually. Not a problem since there always seemed enough space in the cars for any skiers wanting to get up the mountain. The skiing felt more extensive than Corviglia and certainly had fewer skiers on it. There were trails, wide pistes, trees, side piste and a long run (Black) back to St Mortiz itself. (Ends on the free bus route that would take you back to cable car if required.) It’s mostly north facing so off piste snow stays in good condition if it’s cold. There are not the crowds at this resort so there is a lot of clean snow to find many days after a snow fall.
In summary there is a range of good skiing although it’s predominantly steepish; other resorts are more suitable for beginners or the timid; the only Green is the trees. If you want to ski kms of piste then you will end up skiing the same pistes over again. If that’s not for you then best go elsewhere. Scenery is picture postcard (trees, glaciers, mountains), the height means it’s pretty snow-sure and there is a tremendous range of other things to do if not alpine skiing; skating on lake, X-country, sightseeing on train, watching out for Jason Statham type bodyguards (I kid you not!). We had 4 pizzas and beers at a really nice restaurant in town for £70. (Yes, Pizza Hut is cheaper but it’s not St Moritz either.) Shopping – at night they leave the £10-20k items in the window and put the expensive stuff in the safe. Enough said. Downside of St Moritz is the traffic; Zermatt it ain’t. Top end luxury cars to ogle but air quality can be very poor in town. Queues on the through road at peak times are dire. Finally some of the new build is disappointing concrete lumps; efficient but without much charm. But coming from England we have little right to criticise ugly buildings!
Anyway, if it’s on your bucket list or were ever curious, just do it. St Mortiz will not disappoint.
Note: we flew Ryanair to Bergamo and picked up a hire car. Given bottle of diesel additive by Car Hire company to prevent fuel freezing. Sadly it didn’t work when car was parked outside the first night. Recovery and fuel filter clean 340CHF. Advised by garage never trust inferior Italian diesel and fill up with local Alpine diesel instead. We did and had no further problems. Yes, some of you will be laughing but there is a lesson in this too. My wife thinks it’s to travel by train next year. We shall see...

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St Moritz

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