Grace La Margna St Moritz, hotel review

Grace La Margna is an alpine-chic haven with a heavenly pool, that offers sophisticated dining, a wonderful kids’ club, and views that mesmerise

Location

Grace La Margna St Moritz is set in a spectacular location at 5,900 feet and on the edge of Switzerland’s Lake St Moritz, overlooking the glitzy resort’s terminus railway station, from where you can catch the famous Glacier Express to Zermatt and scenic services to Zurich and its airport. If you are flying in, the train journey takes around four hours via Chur, or a taxi will get you to the hotel in around two hours, 45 minutes.

Directly above is a vast ski landscape with over 200 miles of pistes, accessed by a thrilling funicular train that launches from a station just 15 minutes away by foot.

The lake freezes over every winter and becomes a gigantic ice playground, hosting car shows, cricket matches and even horse races. During my April visit, it was still frozen, with handfuls of people stepping onto the ice for selfies.

Also within walking distance are the ski town’s glamorous shops, from Chanel to Prada, and memorable food and drink venues, including Hemingway’s Club (for pizzas and burgers in the day, and cocktails till 4am) and Langosteria St Moritz for top-tier seafood and magnificent terrace panoramas.

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The vibe

Grace La Margna has a restrained stone exterior with subtle ornamentation (nothing more flamboyant than red shutters), and a sleek but anonymous new wing. The facade hides an interior that’s far less forgettable.

The hotel first opened in 1906 as La Margna, designed in the Art Nouveau style. Relaunched in 2023 as Grace La Margna St Moritz, the first new five-star hotel in the town in over 50 years, design elements echo the Art Nouveau history, with swirling floral motifs in the bar’s ceiling beams and arches, but the overall vibe is alpine chic – modern, intimate and boutique in style.

A mix of millennials in designer puffer jackets, families with excited children and sporty types keen to test their mettle on St Moritz’s challenging slopes tread dark herringbone parquet flooring, relax in velvet furniture, dine amid rustic pine panelling, and exchange tales over drinks made at the eye-catching monolithic marble bar.

Service

The young staff were consistently warm and courteous, and had the air of a team who enjoys their work.

I was greeted like an old friend by the receptionists, and service at breakfast and dinner was prompt and enthusiastic, with the waiter who assembled the tiramisu tableside particularly eager for guest satisfaction, treating his moment almost like a mini piece of theatre.

Bed and bath

There are 74 rooms at Grace La Margna, ranging from Superior to Junior, as well as Signature Suites. Of these, 47 feature a bathtub, and all include a separate shower. The remaining rooms are shower-only.

Standard amenities include 50-inch smart TVs, a minibar that’s complimentary for the first round, a hipster Sjöstrand coffee machine, a Bang & Olufsen Bluetooth speaker and a Dyson hairdryer.

Our Junior Suite was fit for a magazine cover shoot, with jaw-dropping lake views, an enormous walk-in rain shower, and a sofa and chair that resembled minimalist Mid Century-modern sculptures.

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Food and drink

Grace La Margna’s dining and drinks offering is as sophisticated as the interior design, even at breakfast in The View restaurant. Here, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows affording views of the lake, there’s a tableside croissant trolley where you are invited to customise pastries with Nutella, vanilla cream and chocolate sprinkles. There’s also a yoghurt/cereal bar, a la carte options (think omelettes and eggs Benedict), and an astonishing range of teas, from malty to fruity brews.

In the evening, The View serves up dinner with a Mediterranean theme, from lobster linguine to stone-oven pizzas, and the aforementioned tiramisu, of course.

I also thoroughly enjoyed a fondue evening at rustic Stüvetta, surrounded by cosy wood panelling. The ambience was relaxing, the food excellent and the Swiss pinot noir top-tier.

Elsewhere, high-end meat cuts are rustled up at Beefbar restaurant, and snacks and comfort food (think juicy burgers and linguini) at N/5 The Bar.

Those with dietary requirements are thoroughly catered for, with all four venues offering vegetarian and gluten-free dishes.

At the bar, vegetarian options include penne alfredo and caprese salad, with the likes of beef tartare and tuna sashimi among the gluten-free choices. At The View there are gluten-free risottos and spring salads for vegetarians, while Beefbar can rustle up miso spinach salad for vegetarians and lemon chicken for those who are gluten-free.

Facilities

There is an excellent spa, with a 20-metre pool, hydrotherapy pool, a bio-salt sauna and four treatment rooms, plus a state-of-the-art fitness centre.

There is also a swish ski shop concession with a maintenance service and locker room. The hotel offers a free shuttle service to and from the funicular station.

For little guests aged three and over, there is a gigantic kids’ club that’s open to external visitors, too.

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Accessibility

All guest rooms are accessible via lift. The hotel has three Superior rooms that can be equipped to accommodate those with accessibility needs, with wider access points and bathrooms that can be fitted with a chair. Handrails can be installed in the shower if required, but not in the bedroom or near the toilet.

Pet policy

Dogs are welcome in the modern Grace wing at a daily rate of CHF 55 (around £52, food not included).

Check-in/check-out

Check-in is at 3pm, check-out by noon.

Family-friendly?

Very. I struggled to get my eight-year-old daughter to leave the kids’ club, which comes with a treehouse-style den and slide, a teepee to play in, and games consoles and an arcade machine for older children. The hydrotherapy pool was similarly magnetic for her.

Food-wise, children are anything but an afterthought. For example, at breakfast, they even get to serve themselves from a cute little food cart stocked with cereals and doughnuts.

At a glance

Best thing: The photogenic design.

Perfect for: Affluent skiers and hikers, and their children.

Not right for: Those after a boutique ski stay.

Instagram from: The epic marble bar.

Address: Via Serlas 5, 7500 St Moritz, Switzerland.

Phone: +41 81 832 22 10.

Website: gracehotels.com/st-moritz

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Ted was a guest of  Grace La Margna St Moritz. Ski passes were provided by the St Moritz Tourism Board.