Why bemoan winter’s arctic cold when you can embrace the season with a jaunt to St. Moritz? One of the world’s most glamorous winter destinations, the Swiss village offers more than just excellent, snow-covered pistes for ski hounds. Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, long a favorite hideaway for the winter-loving jetset, organizes a slew of fun and games for the winter months. Imagine watching polo, cricket or horse races on ice with a hot toddy in hand... You can even sign up for winter driving lessons at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. Here’s a sampling of the fantastic calendar of events:
January 15-22, 2012: 54th Concours Hippique St. Moritz
St. Moritz welcomes around 120 horses and riders to compete in show jumping on snow—smack dab in the middle of town.
January 16-22, 2012: Bobsleigh and Skeleton European and World Championships
The birthplace of the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton, St. Moritz is the only natural (non-refrigerated) track that hosts international competition. The track winds from St. Moritz some 1,700 meters to the finish in Celerina. St. Moritz has hosted the FIBT World Championship a record 17 times.
February 16-18, 2012: 24th Annual Cricket on Ice
The traditional British sport is played on the frozen lake-- a sight to behold.
February 5, 12, 19, 2012: White Turf Weekends
Badrutt’s Palace Hotel installs a Bedouin hospitality tent on the frozen lake to view horse races as well as skikjöring, a discipline in which men on skis are pulled along a 2,700-m-long track by unsaddled thoroughbreds at high speeds.
February 17, 2012: 6th Art on Ice, St. Moritz
Lake St. Moritz hosts open-air figure skating for one magical night a year featuring some of the world's best skaters.