Badrutt's Palace Hotel

St. Moritz sells a season rather than a view, and the season has two houses. The Kulm came first and holds the founding fact: in the autumn of 1864 Johannes Badrutt wagered four English summer guests that they would find the Engadine sunny in December, and when they stayed until Easter the alpine winter was invented. Badrutt's Palace is the house his son built thirty-two years later, in 1896, on the strength of what the bet had started. Caspar Badrutt put a neo-Gothic château on Via Serlas above the lake, and the register records the sequence in that order rather than collapsing the two houses into one story.

What the Palace holds is the social centre of the season, and it holds it by a run of dated firsts rather than by its own account of itself. Europe's first indoor tennis hall opened here in 1913 and is now the dining room called La Coupole. The first flight between Switzerland and London lifted off the frozen lake in 1920. The tower burned in 1967 and was rebuilt the following year; third-party sources call it the landmark of the town, while the hotel claims it only as a symbol of itself. King's Club opened in 1963 and reopened in December 2018 as King's Social House. 163 rooms stand behind the façade, 47 of them suites, and the hotel's own count is not the only one in circulation.

The address has no ground of its own. Via Serlas 27 is a town street, the house keeps no lake frontage, and a public footpath circles the water without interruption. What the hotel draws from the lake is heat for its pumps.

Two seasons, two different hotels. Winter runs 3 December to 30 March with eleven restaurants and 680 staff; summer runs 5 June to 7 September with eight and 400. The same building answers to two calendars.

Sources

• Badrutt's Palace Hotel press kit 2026 — opened 1896 by Caspar Badrutt; 163 guestrooms of which 47 suites; winter 3 December to 30 March and summer 5 June to 7 September; eleven restaurants and 680 staff in winter against eight and 400 in summer; tower burned 1967 and rebuilt; King's Club opened 1963, reopened December 2018 as King's Social House; lake water drawn for heating since 2006; majority shareholder Anikó Badrutt, privately managed since April 2003
• Kulm Hotel St. Moritz — the 1864 wager was made by Johannes Badrutt at the Kulm, not at the Palace; the guests stayed until Easter; the Kulm is the first hotel in St. Moritz
• Badrutt's Palace Hotel history — Europe's first indoor tennis hall opened 1913 and is now La Coupole; the first Switzerland to London flight left the frozen lake in 1920
• Graubünden Ferien — a public route runs the whole way round Lake St. Moritz and connects to Via Serlas, so the hotel holds no lake frontage

Verification

Official source

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Sources disagree

the room count is unsettled in public sources: the hotel's own press kit and Switzerland Tourism give 163 of which 47 suites, Wikipedia gives 112 rooms and 43 suites, and Switzerland Tourism's own data table on the same page gives 155 rooms. The Serlas Wing opened in 2025 and is the likely cause. The register carries the hotel's figure and records the disagreement. Chesa Veglia's acquisition is dated 1928 by Graubünden Ferien and 1935 to 1936 by both the hotel and Wikipedia; its build year is given as 1658, as 364 years old and as over 450 years old by three sources. No date is used in this entry.

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Booking

Legendary Addresses arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the property and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.

Classified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-D-139
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