St. Moritz: Introduction: Overview

“St. Moritz is famous for the Cresta Run and for its over-the-top nightlife. The Cresta is a one-man luge, on which competitors travel three-quarters of a mile face first down a frozen bobsled run at speeds of up to 90 mph, holding on to a sled that is little more than a tea tray while steering with their toes. In 1885, two Englishmen and a Swiss (Badrutt) laid out a snow-banked run down a gully from St. Moritz to the village of Cresta. In 2002, the sport was added to the Olympics, and a Cresta rider from the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club won 4th place at the Olympics in Salt Lake.

There is an alternative to the Cresta that may be less hair-raising. It involves taking a sledge (a small wooden sled) between Breda and Marguns (as well as one from Muottas Muragl) on what are hiking trails in the summer. You can have dinner at one of the restaurants before taking a train back up to St. Moritz. Ask your concierge or your ski guide for more information. There is also a four-man bob run that parallels the Cresta and is driven by a professional.

Just as lethal are nightclubs such as Dracula’s Ghost Riders Club and The King’s Club, in what was the indoor tennis court of The Palace Hotel, that are favorite after-dinner itineraries into the wee hours. Another hot spot (in the Chesa Veglia) know simply as The Club, or Club Privée to the cognoscenti, is open to members only and to their friends (the proprietor is Peppo Vanini, a Swiss-Italian from Lugano, who opened Regine’s and Xenon in New York).”

From a long-time regular visitor from N.Y.