Sixty south-facing suites at the top of Via Johannes Badrutt, every key with the Lake St Moritz view, every winter season only, the Tschuggen Collection's most intimate property and the proper alternative to the bigger lakeside houses.
"The all-suites Carlton is what guests choose when they want the lake view but not the lobby, sixty rooms, every key facing south, the smallest five-star in St Moritz."
The Carlton Hotel was originally built in 1913 by Tsar Nicholas II's court hotelier Anton Bon as a private retreat for the Russian aristocracy travelling to the Engadine; the original building was a turreted Beaux-Arts structure on the wooded south slope of St Moritz, deliberately set above the lakeshore village so the high-floor balconies could look out over the entire frozen lake. The Russian connection ended with the Revolution; the hotel passed through several owners before being acquired in 2007 by the Tschuggen Collection (the Swiss family hotel group that also operates the Tschuggen Grand Hotel in Arosa and the Eden Roc in Ascona). Tschuggen rebuilt the property as an all-suites five-star superior, keeping only the historic shell and converting every former double room into a sixty- to ninety-square-metre suite.
All sixty suites face south. The Junior Suites run roughly 60, 75 square metres with a king bed, a sitting room with a working fireplace, and a south-facing balcony or terrace. The Carlton Suites, the property's signature category, are 95 square metres with handcrafted Berluti leather headboards, Venetian-stucco ceilings, Murano-glass lamps, and the largest of the lake-view terraces. The Grand Family Suites pair two bedrooms with a separate living room and a guest powder room. The Penthouse Suite occupies the entire eighth floor with its own private lift access, a 24-hour butler, and an outdoor butler on request, the largest hotel suite in St Moritz.
The restaurant proposition is shaped around the small inventory rather than against it. Da Vittorio St Moritz, a winter-season outpost of the three-Michelin-star Cerea family restaurant from Brusaporto, operates from the Carlton through the season and is the most decorated Italian dining room in the Engadine. The Romanoff Restaurant handles the all-day brief in the original Belle Époque dining room; the Carlton Bar runs the early-evening lake-view aperitivo. The Carlton Spa across two floors includes a 25-metre indoor pool, a hammam, and the Engadine's only dedicated Sisley treatment cabin.
The Carlton operates only in winter, the season runs from mid-December to late March each year, with the property closed and staff dispersed for the remaining nine months. The model concentrates the team and the experience in the months when St Moritz is at its most demanding, and it permits a guest-to-staff ratio that no year-round operator can match. The Carlton is now Tschuggen's flagship and the structurally most attractive answer in St Moritz for guests who want a suite-only, smaller-scale, south-facing alternative to the Badrutt's-Kulm-Suvretta trio of bigger properties.
A Carlton honeymoon is the small-property version of the St Moritz brief, a Junior Suite or Carlton Suite with the south-facing balcony, the fireplace, and the lake view that does most of the work. Sixty suites total means the corridors are quiet, the spa is rarely busy, and the staff learn names by the second morning. Da Vittorio on the second or third night is non-negotiable.
The Penthouse Suite, with its private-lift access and the eighth-floor wraparound terrace, is the obvious proposal staging here. Concierge will arrange a private string ensemble in the suite, a sunset helicopter to Piz Nair for the moment itself, and Da Vittorio for the dinner afterwards. The hotel runs perhaps a dozen staged proposals per season; the choreography is well-practised but never templated.
For a milestone anniversary the Carlton's all-suites format pays off, there are no standard doubles to be allocated, no small-category fallback, only the lake-facing south orientation and the south terrace. The Carlton Suite handles the major year; the Penthouse handles the headline year. Tschuggen's family ownership means the property's standards do not drift between seasons.
Via Johannes Badrutt 11
7500 St Moritz
Switzerland
Above Via Serlas on the wooded south slope; short shuttle to the village centre and the Corviglia funicular
60 suites (no standard rooms)
Junior Suites from CHF 1,200/night
Carlton Suites from CHF 1,950/night
Grand Family Suites from CHF 3,400/night
Penthouse Suite from CHF 12,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Winter season only: 11 December 2026, 21 March 2027
All suites south-facing
Da Vittorio St Moritz (3-Michelin-star)
Romanoff & Carlton Bar
Two-floor Sisley spa & 25m pool
24-hour butler service in Penthouse
Tschuggen Collection (Swiss family)
Leading Hotels of the World
From CHF 1,200/night. The Carlton operates only in winter (mid-December to late March). Carlton Suites, Grand Family Suites, and the Penthouse book eight to twelve months ahead for the New Year and Snow Polo weeks.
Book This Hotel →The 1896 turreted Badrutt-family grand hotel, 157 rooms, eleven restaurants, GaultMillau Hotel of the Year 2026.
The 1856 hotel where Johannes Badrutt staged the winter-tourism bet, 150 rooms above the Kulm Park ice rink.
The 1912 family-owned grand on the wooded slope above the lake, direct ski-in/ski-out via the Suvretta lift.