We discovered Moving Mountains, the Carlton Hotel St. Moritz’s alpine wellness programme combining movement, recovery and mindful rest, set high above the Engadin valley. The perfect retreat for the beginning of the year.
While most wellness programmes promise transformation. Moving Mountains offers something quieter — a considered reset shaped by altitude, stillness and restraint. Set high above the lake in St. Moritz, the Carlton’s winter initiative is less about performance and more about recalibrating how the body moves, rests and recovers.
The programme is built around a simple idea: let the mountains set the pace while having five pillars on your mind: Move, Play, Nourish, Rest and Give. Each session, built around these pillars is designed to complement the alpine environment rather than compete with it — walks, mobility work and functional strength that support winter days outdoors or counterbalance long hours spent sitting. Everything is adaptable, guided, and deliberately unhurried.
Cold exposure and breathwork appear as tools rather than challenges. That I noticed not only during a night walk with fire pokers, but during a morning cold plunge at lake St. Moritz with minus 20 degrees outside temperature. Believe me, it felt warm once stepping into the water which was (only) 3°C cold.
Each activity is introduced thoughtfully by the outdoors Butler Alexandra who´s love for cold outdoor activities inspire you easily. Without pressure, she encourages awareness rather than endurance. The focus remains on balance: energising the system without exhausting it, restoring rhythm rather than pushing limits and for most feeling joy while doing it.
At the centre sits the Carlton spa and the Hotel Cuisine, that created a special menu in collaboration with the chef, Salvatore Frequente and the nutritionist & naturopath, Rhaya Jordan —. The spa is like a refugium, where you find balance, enjoy your thoughts after the day has passed with full contentment. Treatments prioritise circulation, recovery and deep release, making use of heat, water and touch to bring the body back into equilibrium after cold air and movement. It is a space designed for pause, where you can enjoy the warmth of the inside and the fresh air of the outdoor pool, overviewing the lake.
What distinguishes Moving Mountains is its absence of noise. There is no performative wellness, no checklist of achievements. Days unfold with an ease that feels intentional: mornings that establish clarity, afternoons shaped by rest or light activity, evenings that invite a especially light designed menu, using only organic and local ingredients worked into a creative and most delicious melange of menu.
After your first night you feel progress, not necessary change. I feel recovered, after a good night sleep which thankfully came naturally. But If I would have had a problem with my sleep a special sleep butler comes up with an idea on how to improve your sleep rhythm with an in-room treatment, designed for your personal needs.
St. Moritz, a place often associated with intensity and spectacle, the programme introduces a different tempo. It reframes luxury as coherence — between environment and body, exertion and recovery, movement and stillness.
You will not leave without a sense of having been changed, but rather realigned. Sleep deepens, energy steadies, and the body feels quietly responsive again. The mountains remain unmoved, of course — but something internal has shifted, and that is more than enough, I think!
A long weekend with a three-Day night stay is a perfect start for the new year.
We would especially like to thank Jaguar Land Rover Deutschland GmbH for providing us with the Range Rover P550e SV. It was a particular pleasure to drive.