St. Moritz, Switzerland
Patrician Life · Alpine grand hotels

The grand hotels of the Alps.

The Swiss invented the winter holiday in a hotel, and the hotels that did it are still open. Their towns, their dates, and the places on the board around them.

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In short

  • Winter tourism began in St. Moritz in 1864, with Johannes Badrutt's bet that his English summer guests would enjoy the winter.
  • Badrutt's Palace opened in 1896, the Gstaad Palace in 1913.
  • In Zurich, the Baur au Lac has been run by the same family since 1844.
St. Moritz

Where the winter holiday began.

In 1864 Johannes Badrutt, owner of the Kulm in St. Moritz, bet his English summer guests that they would enjoy the winter, and offered to pay their way home if they did not. They stayed until Easter. His son Caspar opened Badrutt's Palace in 1896, and the tower over the lake has been the town's landmark since.

Gstaad and Lake Lucerne

The palace above the village.

The Gstaad Palace opened above Gstaad in 1913 and is still owned by the Scherz family. On Lake Lucerne, the first hotel on the Bürgenstock opened in 1873, and the resort reopened in 2017 after a full rebuilding. Lucerne is the town below it, across the water.

Zermatt is car-free, and its hotels are reached by train or electric taxi with the Matterhorn above them. Kitzbühel keeps the Tyrolean version of the same life, with the Hahnenkamm race every January.

The city palaces

Zurich, Geneva, Montreux.

In Zurich, the Baur au Lac has stood in its park on the lake since 1844 and the Dolder Grand opened on the hill above the city in 1899. In Geneva, the Hôtel des Bergues opened in 1834. The Montreux Palace opened in Montreux in 1906, on the shore of Lake Geneva.

WhenWhatWhere
1834Hôtel des BerguesGeneva
1844Baur au LacZurich
1873The first hotel on the BürgenstockLake Lucerne
1896Badrutt's PalaceSt. Moritz
1899The Dolder GrandZurich
1906Montreux PalaceMontreux
1913Gstaad PalaceGstaad

The hotel towns on the board.

St. Moritz, SwitzerlandSt. Moritz🇨🇭 SwitzerlandGstaad, SwitzerlandGstaad🇨🇭 SwitzerlandZermatt, SwitzerlandZermatt🇨🇭 SwitzerlandCourchevel, FranceCourchevel🇫🇷 FranceVerbier, SwitzerlandVerbier🇨🇭 SwitzerlandKitzbühel, AustriaKitzbühel🇦🇹 Austria

Sources. Badrutt's Palace Hotel · Kulm Hotel St. Moritz · Gstaad Palace · Bürgenstock Resort · Baur au Lac · The Dolder Grand. Read October 2026. A record of places, houses and dates, published as research. Patrician.ch has no commercial relationship with any house named here.

Questions

The short answers.

Where did winter tourism begin?

In St. Moritz, in 1864, when hotelier Johannes Badrutt persuaded his English summer guests to stay for the winter.

When did Badrutt's Palace open?

In 1896, on the shore of Lake St. Moritz.

Who owns the Gstaad Palace?

The Scherz family, which has run the hotel for generations.

It opened in 1913.

What is the oldest grand hotel in Zurich?

The Baur au Lac, on the lake since 1844 and run by the same family since then.

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