St. Moritz and Sils Maria: Two Visions of Luxury in the Heart of the Engadine

Few mountain destinations enjoy a reputation comparable to that of St. Moritz. The cradle of modern winter tourism since 1864, this resort in Graubünden remains one of the main economic drivers of the Swiss Alps today.

The municipality has approximately 5,200 permanent residents but welcomes nearly 2,500 additional workers during the tourist seasons. This temporary increase of nearly 48% in its working population makes tourism the region’s leading economic sector.

While skiing remains an economic mainstay, St. Moritz has gradually broadened its appeal—especially during the summer season—by hosting vintage car collectors events and international sports competitions. Added to this is a wide range of culinary offerings, wellness experiences, luxury shopping, contemporary art, and major cultural events, all of which encourage year-round tourism.

A pioneer in tourism marketing, St. Moritz had already registered its name as a trademark as early as 1987, a move that made a significant impact on the industry at the time.

The tourism office registered “St. Summer”, which is protected internationally, to boost its appeal during the summer season. This initiative is part of a long-term strategy aimed at developing its summer tourism offerings.

For the resort’s management, this move does not protect the word “summer” itself, but rather its graphic and visual association with St. Moritz. The goal is to preserve a unique brand identity, prevent imitations, and consolidate the resort’s market position.

“By registering 'St. Summer', St. Moritz secures exclusive rights to this specific design, which helps prevent imitations and strengthens its position as a leading tourism destination,” explains Marijana Jakic, CEO of the St. Moritz Tourism Office.

The new campaign represents an investment of tens of thousands of francs, primarily targeting German-speaking Swiss customers likely to vacation there between June and August. The goal is therefore to encourage vacationers to extend their stays and boost the economic impact of the summer season.

Just a twenty-minute drive from St. Moritz, Sils Maria offers a radically different experience. Far from being competitors, the two destinations now appear to be complementary. St. Moritz remains the international showcase of Alpine luxury. Sils Maria is gradually becoming its cultural haven and focuses on a deliberately limited, high-quality, and culturally rich offering. This identity is also reflected in its tourism offerings.

The destination has only 15 hotels, compared to about 40 in St. Moritz, allowing it to maintain a much more intimate atmosphere.

Visitors come to Sils Maria as much for the hikes in the Fex Valley, the lakes of Sils and Silvaplana, cross-country skiing, the landscapes ranked among the best-preserved in the Engadine, and the village’s cultural richness.

The village, long frequented by Friedrich Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Alberto Giacometti, and Marc Chagall, prioritizes silence, nature, and culture over ostentation.

At first glance, Sils Maria is a peaceful village of some 700 residents, nestled at an altitude of 1,800 meters between Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana. Yet few Alpine hamlets have held such a fascination for European intellectuals. For more than 150 years, this hamlet in the Upper Engadine has attracted philosophers, writers, painters, musicians, and filmmakers in search of silence, light, and inspiration.

The cultural history of Sils Maria is inextricably linked to Friedrich Nietzsche. The philosopher discovered the village in 1881 and stayed there almost every summer between 1883 and 1888. It was on the shores of Lake Sils, near the rock now known as the “Nietzsche Stone,” that he claimed to have had the insight for his theory of the “eternal return,” one of the major concepts of his work. A commemorative plaque now marks this place of meditation, while the house where he lived has become the Nietzsche Museum, welcoming researchers and visitors from around the world each year. But Nietzsche was only the first in a long line.

Throughout the 20th century, Sils Maria became a veritable intellectual laboratory. Hermann Hesse stayed there regularly, as did Thomas Mann, who drew part of the Alpine atmosphere for his writings from the area. Rainer Maria Rilke, Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Elias Canetti, and Carl Gustav Jung also frequented the region.

The painters Giovanni Segantini and the Giacometti family, originally from the nearby Bregaglia Valley, found an inexhaustible source of inspiration in the Engadine’s exceptional light. Alberto Giacometti, born just a few kilometers away, returned regularly to this valley, which would leave a lasting mark on his artistic vision. Marc Chagall, Joseph Beuys, and Gerhard Richter were also among the artists captivated by this landscape of rare intensity.

More recently, director Olivier Assayas chose Sils Maria as the setting for his film Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz. The film helped introduce the village to a new generation of travelers, fascinated by this atmosphere suspended between nature and creativity.

Among the places that have shaped Sils Maria’s identity, few are as iconic as the Chesa Marchetta.

In 1947, the parents of Maria and Christina Godly purchased this 16th-century Engadine house. The family opened a restaurant, a small guesthouse, and a village grocery store all under one roof. The four children helped with the work, before Maria and her sister Christina gradually took over the reins of the establishment.

For nearly seventy years, the two sisters became indispensable figures in Sils Maria. Their philosophy mirrored that of the village: simplicity, generosity, and a complete lack of ostentation.

The restaurant operated according to a single, simple rule: only one menu was served each day. The first guest to make a reservation chooses the meal, which all the other diners then enjoy. There is only one option: the famous Chinese fondue prepared in broth. This approach—unimaginable in a contemporary luxury resort—nevertheless became one of the Engadine’s culinary hallmarks.

The Godly sisters cook as if they were entertaining friends in their own living room. There are only a few wooden tables; the atmosphere is familial, and conversations often linger well past dessert. What made Chesa Marchetta unique was not only its cuisine but also its social mix.

Seated at the same tables were residents of Sils, hikers, Swiss families, and even some of Europe’s wealthiest individuals from St. Moritz. Archives and accounts mention, in particular, visits by Gianni Agnelli, members of the Rothschild family, Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as writers such as Max Frisch, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Eugène Ionesco. Greta Garbo is also said to have stepped through the doors of this unassuming inn. No special treatment was reserved for them: everyone ate exactly the same meal.

This equal treatment was almost a philosophy. In a valley where luxury is omnipresent, the Chesa Marchetta served as a reminder that hospitality could take precedence over prestige.

When Maria Godly, then in her nineties, finally decided to retire, many residents feared the disappearance of this institution. In 2019, Iwan and Manuela Wirth—founders of the Hauser & Wirth gallery and longtime regulars in the village—purchased the building where they had shared their first romantic date in the 1990s. Their goal was not to create a traditional luxury hotel, but to preserve the spirit of the place within their “Artfarm” hotel group.