St. Moritz-worth the visit?
 

Anyone been to St. Moritz in the September? Does it have any nice hotels and restaurants and a nice town atmosphere worth visiting? Will be traveling from Bellagio, Italy... (no car)... Thanks...

It has some of the finest hotels in Switzerland and lots of restaurants, again many of the best being in the five star hotels. It is probably the most expensive town in Switzerland. There are some nice mountains and trips out from there, and the shopping is as upscale as you can find in all of Europe. But we found it dull and lacking in Swiss character -- it could have been a major resort anywhere.

Gail,
If you type "St Moritz" in the search box, then click on Switzerland in the Topic Search box, then click on "Find", you'll get at least 50 threads about St moritz.

Also, if you indicate the kinds of things you find interesting about a city/area (e.g, hiking, mountain scenery, certain types of food, art/museums), others on the board may be able to give you more specific advice.

Good luck

Note that by public transport, the journey from Bellaggio to St. Moritz might be quite long and complicated. I think the best option is to take a ferry to Menaggio, where there are 2 daily buses to St. Moritz (9.30am and 15.40pm, 3 hours). You have to contact the bus company (Autopostale, Lugano) the day before, otherwise the buses don't stop.

I'd say it depends on what you expect to find. I fully agree with Patrick - for nice town athmosphere go elsewhere.

And I highly recommend to do what JN suggested - there are tons of stuff about St. Moritz on this board.

I can promise one thing though: the scenery with lakes and mountains is gorgeous (sunny weather given).

Gail,

I have been there in September and you should know that it is between seasons so several of the hotels are closed. It is a very expensive Swiss town. Great people watching in the evening, but I wouldn't spend alot of time there without alot of money. Have fun.

Greg

Hi,
Have been to St Moritz twice--once as a stop on a tour and the other time after riding the train from Zermatt there for an overnight. I think both times were in summer. Summer is when some hotels close as St Moritz is a ski area. I loved it there but would not want to stay for a very long time. Good food and great scenery. A stopover of one night and a full day would be enough IMO.

I've been to St. Moritz about half a dozen times, winter, summer and Aug./Sept. The town really shuts down around the first or second week in September. (Even hoteliers need a vacation.) Nothing much doing there then. I understand that Engelburg (sp?) which is closer to Zurich than St. Moritz is supposed to be nice in September. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

StMoritz is convenient by rail to Varenna Italy by the famous Bernina express (after a change in Tirano and border formalities which were very lengthy for certain non-Euro's when I passed in other direction). Bernina line goes the steepest (highest?) w/o cogs or tunnels and was my favorite run in a few samplings of SwissRail.

StMoritz looked kinda dull, but one recomendation is to walk the lake path at night. Opposite the city, the lighted steeples, etc looks like a fairytale (instead of the more banal daylight view), also reflecting in the water.

There's a hotel in the lower town with a mall of good restarants (7)? One of them acts as a takeout broker for all and can pack you a takeout basket with a mix and match, as well as items of their own which fall to half price at night. Make a picnic and walk well out on the lake path (not the nearer benches with poorer view).

That said, why not take the Menagio bus to Lugano. Later maybe go onward to Zermatt by the tiny scenic train (and 2 more lengthy connections).