A Swiss Delight

The Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina.

A Trip Back in Time

The lavish Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina’s elegance harks to a more genteel era

By Tim Johnson

Rolling through the swiss Alpine splendor, the train seemed to balance on a rocky spine, valleys falling away in both directions, each one filled by a village—red roofs, tall steeples, and gilded clock towers—more charming than the last.

Soon enough, we were on the other side and rolling up to the town of Pontresina, Switzerland, which, at least from a distance, seemed set in the Belle Époque. Grand hotels lined the ridge, each one signaling an era of luxury that felt almost forgotten.

Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina

I was staying at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina, which has occupied a perch overlooking a broad valley and the surrounding snowcapped peaks, in the shadow of the expanse of the Roseg Glacier, since 1848. Together with the nearby town of St. Moritz, this is one of Switzerland’s most stylish destinations. The area is also culturally unique, making up one of the only regions in the country where Romansh is spoken.

Taking a tour of the hotel just after checking in, my guide told me that 19th-century residents, during the Little Ice Age, were actually afraid of the glacier.

“They thought it would come down here and overwhelm them,” she said.

Passing through a recently updated, Euro-chic smoker’s lounge, the rest of the spaces on the main floor maintained a bygone feel— painted ceilings, a grand piano, and antique furniture, as well as a dining room where a jacket is still required for dinner, a maître d’ in a tuxedo seats you, and servers in white uniforms plunk down silver trays on your table. SWITZERLAND

PONTRESINA ST. MORITZ

Pontresina and St. Moritz

are only about four miles apart.

“It feels like a long time ago,” my guide said. “You can almost see the women out there on the floor dancing in their ball gowns.”

And then we came to the best part—the basement. First, we saw a one-lane bowling alley finished with natural stone. Then, winding a path that I could never retrace through a series of corridors, we finished in what looked to be a storage room. It held dozens of pairs of vintage wood-and-leather skis (“the hotel was owned by the same family for 140 years, and they never threw anything out,” my guide told me), but I quickly saw that it was actually a wine cellar, dominated by two massive wooden barrels, reaching all the way to the ceiling, that once held gallons of Veltliner wine.

The guide said the original owners, the Gredig family, purchased a 10-room guesthouse in 1848 and steadily expanded it into the present hotel. But they faced lean times, especially during World War I, when most travelers stayed home.

“But they were wine traders,” she said, pointing to a couple of old sleds on the wall that were originally used to transport the good stuff across mountain passes. “The locals and the soldiers kept this place alive, coming here to buy wine.”

St. Moritz

St. Moritz, host to two Winter Olympic Games— in 1928 and 1948—remains a wealthy and glamorous place, and it’s less than 10 minutes travel by local train from Pontresina. After I arrived, I set out on foot, touring some of the sites from those Games. Then boarding a funicular, then a gondola, I swooped over steep slopes, riding all the way to the 10,026-foot peak of Piz Nair.

Back in town, wandering the winding streets, I stumbled upon the Engadine Museum, a place dedicated to preserving the culture of the region in a curious way—by showcasing its living rooms. A long-isolated valley in the far reaches of southeast Switzerland, the Engadine is guarded by massive peaks. There, Romansh is still spoken, a Latin language that traces its roots all the way back to the Roman empire. Walking through the museum, I encountered a number of “stuva,” where family and friends would gather around the stove to visit, work, and pass the time.

I made one last stop—at the Devil’s Place, home to the world’s largest whisky collection. Sitting inside a small hotel at the far end of Lake St. Moritz, I met Claudio Bernasconi, owner of the Devil’s Place, who offered me a dram from one of his own personal casks—he has about 150, all over Scotland.

As I admired some of his 2,500 bottles, which line every available space on the walls, he told me that he fell in love with the stuff after staying at a bad hotel where the water wasn’t potable and he had to brush his teeth with whisky—and I don’t quite believe him. I flipped through his five different tasting menus, all with whisky pairings (“it used to be wine and dine, now it’s whisky and dine,” Bernasconi said), and considered what it would be like to order his most expensive offering—Macallan 72, which goes for more than $20,000 per dram.

Warmed by the whisky, I was soon back on the train. The sun was fading over the lake, and we chugged into the valley, the peaks, and glacier forbidding overhead. But it wouldn’t be a long ride—my room, with bubbling stream, was waiting for me, just 10 minutes up the track. 

Tim Johnson is based in Toronto. He has visited 140 countries across all seven continents.

The Albula Railway traverses

55 bridges and 39 tunnels

If You Go

Accommodations:

With 112 rooms and suites—no two the same—the Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina transports guests back in time, to a more genteel era. Opt for the halfboard package, which includes daily breakfast and tasting-menu dinners in the ornate dining room.

Getting Around:

Train travel is the best way to see Switzerland, and the all-in-one Swiss Travel Pass offers unlimited rides by rail, bus, and boat, as well as free admission to more than 500 museums and local transportation in 90 communities.