St. Moritz sits at 1,822 metres above sea level at the eastern end of Lake St. Moritz, the most famous ski resort in Switzerland and the oldest in the world. It has hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 and a string of Alpine World Ski Championships, most recently in 2017. The name has become a byword for Alpine luxury — private jets at the airport, Ferraris parked outside hotels in a metre of snow, couture shops alongside ski rental outlets.
But St. Moritz is also genuinely beautiful: the lake, the peaks, the quality of winter light. The town divides between St. Moritz Dorf (village) on the hillside, which is expensive, and St. Moritz Bad (spa) on the lake, which is marginally less so. The ski area on Corviglia above the town is large, well-maintained, and connected via the Marguns gondola to Celerina. Out of season, the town deflates quickly but the mountains remain.