Pontresina is the quieter, more affordable side of the Engadine. Sister village to St. Moritz under a single regional lift pass, it sits at 1,800 m at the foot of Diavolezza and Lagalb, with 60 km of snow-sure pistes that climb to 3,303 m and the great ski-touring playground of the Bernina range directly overhead.
Pontresina is a ski resort in Switzerland, in the Swiss Alps. The village sits at 1800 m and the lifts top out at 3303 m, with 60 km of pistes and 13 lifts. Its BestSnowHotels snow score is 86/100, and the season usually runs Dec 7 → Apr 21.
How we score and classify resortsRun counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
A handful of well-rated hotels in and around the resort. Pick one, then compare live prices across Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Excellent · 484 reviews
One of the highest-rated places to stay in Pontresina, with guests singling out the service and comfort.
Guests rate this hotel as excellent (4.9/5 from 484 reviews). It sits about 1.1 km from the slopes. A upper-scale option for Pontresina, with live nightly rates shown for your exact dates so you always see the best price.
Excellent · 492 reviews
One of the highest-rated places to stay in Pontresina, with guests singling out the service and comfort.
Very good · 610 reviews
A long-standing favourite in Pontresina, trusted by thousands of guests before you.
Excellent · 407 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Excellent · 329 reviews
One of the highest-rated places to stay in Pontresina, with guests singling out the service and comfort.
Very good · 359 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Very good · 360 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Excellent · 236 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Great · 358 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Great · 337 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Pontresina.
Ratings from Google, prices indicative per night. Live availability and rates via our booking partners.
Pontresina is a valley-floor Engadine village, not a piste-side resort: Diavolezza and Lagalb are a short post-bus or car ride up the Bernina pass road, and the lifts of the St. Moritz-Corviglia side are reached by train or bus. Ski-in ski-out in the strict sense is not the point here.
Pontresina has always been the Engadine's other choice. Where St. Moritz across the lake plays the part of the glitzy Alpine capital, Pontresina keeps its old Romansh inn-fronts and its dialect, and lets the mountain do the talking. The regional lift pass binds the two together, which means everything St. Moritz, Corviglia, Corvatsch and Furtschellas is yours, but you sleep cheaper and quieter, and you wake up looking at the Bernina rather than at the shopping windows of the Via Serlas. The two home areas are Diavolezza and Lagalb, both north of the village on the Bernina pass road. Diavolezza is the glacier sector, topping out at 3,303 m with that famous high-altitude descent down the Morteratsch glacier when conditions allow, an off-piste itinerary rather than a marked piste but one of the great runs of the Alps. Lagalb is steeper, narrower, north-facing and tends to be the locals' choice when it snows. Between them you have around 60 km of pisted skiing, much of it red and black, and almost all of it above 2,000 m, which is why this corner of the Engadine stays in such reliable shape from December through April. What really makes Pontresina is what surrounds it. The village is the springboard for cross-country skiing in the Engadine, with one of the longest groomed trail networks in the country running right from the door, and it is the unofficial Swiss capital of ski touring: the Bernina, Piz Palu, Bellavista, Morteratsch and a dozen named couloirs are all within a half-day skin from the valley floor. After dark the rhythm is hotel bars, a couple of good restaurants, and the certainty that you are sleeping at 1,800 m in air that is famously dry, clear and cold.
Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Everything on our site connected to Pontresina: its area, the lists it makes, head-to-heads and trip guides.
Pontresina offers 60 km of pistes across 13 lifts, from 1800 m to 3303 m. Whether it suits beginners depends on the dedicated learner zones at the base of the slopes, so check the local ski-school options for green and blue run access.
The season runs from Dec 7 to Apr 21, with a snow score of 86/100. The best conditions are usually from late January through February, while spring skiing in March and April brings longer days and softer afternoons.
Pontresina is a valley-floor Engadine village, not a piste-side resort: Diavolezza and Lagalb are a short post-bus or car ride up the Bernina pass road, and the lifts of the St. Moritz-Corviglia side are reached by train or bus. Ski-in ski-out in the strict sense is not the point here.
Pontresina has 60 km of marked pistes served by 13 lifts, between 1800 m and 3303 m of altitude.
Pontresina counts about 52 marked runs in total. The colour breakdown above shows how they split by difficulty, a good guide to whether the resort fits your level.
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