DE S T INAT IONS
but in a strange reversal of fortune, Alpine resorts that once relied on summer visitors for income to keep them going through the long and inhospitable winters now find themselves far busier during the winter months. Tat turnaround began in 1864, when, as the story
T
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: View of Piz da Staz and the Upper Engadine lakes; Badrutt’s Palace exterior; the hotel has its own boats; Pizzeria Heuboden
would have it, Johannes Badrutt sat by the fire in the Kulm hotel in St Moritz with four English holiday guests and enthused about the resort in winter. He called it “a paradise on earth”. Te Englishmen, used to dark, cold winters, did not believe him, and so the conversation led to the legendary bet – Badrutt suggested that the four should return in December and, if they did not enjoy their stay, he would reimburse the travel expenses. Te men returned – and stayed until Easter. Badrutt won his bet, and winter tourism was launched. Roll forward 150 years, and the
situation has led to a pricing anomaly. To attract visitors in the summer, rates are up to 50 per cent lower than in the peak winter season. It means mere mortals can experience and enjoy some of the best hotels in Europe at a price that matches what they’d be paying at far lesser resorts on the European coast at the same
time of the year. And without the crowds. And with the mountains. And with that fresh air. And, and, and… It’s not all staring at the sky, however. Tere are myriad
activities on offer, some at an additional charge, others for free. Walking or hiking, depending on your appetite for exercise, is largely free, not least since in the summer many hotels offer complimentary liſt passes and local transport. It means you can take the cable car to the top of the
mountain, walk around, have a fabulous long lunch on the mountain (that’s the bit that definitely isn’t free) and then, if feeling energetic, walk down part or all of the way, or just let the cable car take the strain. However you do it, in the evening you can talk of your tour of the lakelands of the Upper Engadine without mentioning the 2,000-metre “help” you took to get there and back.
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
he Alps in summer are magical. Looking up to the mountains as dawn breaks, the higher peaks are like a painted backdrop against a pale, cloudless sky, and as the temperature rises and the valleys get the sun, the villages and towns begin to bustle and their sounds carry through the clear Alpine air.
You’d expect them to be overrun in the warmer months,
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ISTOCK/PAUL THUYSBAERT
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