Hotel · 25 July 2026 · Martin Camichel, Host
Updated 6 August 2026
A boutique hotel in St. Moritz: thirteen rooms above the lake
Villa Beaulieu is a boutique hotel with eight rooms and five suites above Lake St. Moritz. What to expect, who the villa suits, and what happens inside it.
Villa Beaulieu is a boutique hotel with thirteen rooms and suites, directly above Lake St. Moritz. Eight rooms, five suites, between 20 and 38 square metres, each with its own name. Staying here puts you a few minutes' walk from the centre, in a villa that has been receiving guests since 1868. That is the short answer. The long one follows.
What makes a boutique hotel in St. Moritz
In a villa of thirteen rooms, many things simply work differently. Nobody queues, nobody gets lost. Le Bar downstairs quickly becomes your living room, and when you look down at the lake in the morning, you share the view with a handful of people.
The difference is not a question of fittings but of numbers. Thirteen keys mean thirteen names we can actually remember. It also means we can tell you which table in Le Jardin falls into shade in the afternoon.
What that means in practice:
- No breakfast service. Not in regular operation. The villa is open to you all day instead. For groups and whole-villa bookings we arrange one on request.
- No reservation for the bar or the garden. Neither for you nor for guests from outside.
- No lobby bustle. There is no lobby to make any.
- A villa that belongs to others too. The bar, the garden and our events are open to the village. You stay inside a living villa, not a bubble.
We don't count beds, we count guests. With thirteen rooms, nobody has to say twice how they take their coffee.
— Martin Camichel, Host
Thirteen rooms, thirteen names
No two rooms are alike. The names come from Romansh and from the history of the villa, and they say more about a room than a category ever could.
| Room | Size | What defines it |
|---|---|---|
| L'Imperatur | 38 m² | Largest suite, open plan, private terrace facing the lake |
| Il Retg | 28 m² | Junior suite with a sheepskin daybed and its own terrace |
| La Principessa | from 26 m² | Junior suite, burl-wood headboard, red leather chaise longue |
| La Contessa | 21–24 m² | Panorama suite, top-floor corner, largest windows, mobility-friendly |
| Il Conte | 21–24 m² | Corner room, headboard made from a carved door, lake view from the bed |
| La Damigella | 20–22 m² | Bright rooms overlooking the centre, Corviglia and Chantarella |
| La Stalla | A historic barn door as the headboard |
Five of them are suites, the other eight guest rooms. All have a boxspring double bed and a newly built bathroom. La Contessa was once the living room of Grandmother Gut, and the room still carries it. Full descriptions and current availability are on the rooms and suites page.
A villa with four lives
The villa has stood in the same spot for more than 150 years, and it was far from always a hotel.
- 1868 Pension Joos opens for travellers crossing the Engadin.
- 1926 Gaudenz von Planta buys the villa, a writer and member of the Graubünden von Planta family. He names it Villa Beaulieu, "the beautiful place".
- 1941 to 2023 Klinik Gut is at home here, for more than eighty years the clinic of the valley.
- 2026 the villa becomes a villa again.
Sleep in La Contessa today and you sleep in a room where generations of St. Moritz locals were treated. That is not marketing, that is the fabric of the building. Much was kept, from the stone pine to the doors. The full timeline is in the story of the villa.
What else happens inside
A boutique hotel with thirteen rooms does not live off its rooms alone. The villa is open through the day and into the evening, including for guests who are not staying with us.
- Le Bar: a drawing room with a black piano, played on many evenings. A piano bar without a stage.
- Le Jardin: a sun terrace sloping south toward the lake. Tables set about in the green, parasols for the afternoon.
- The Ballroom: up to 70 seats for dinners, talks and performances, or 60 and 16 in smaller formats.
- The Brasserie: guest-chef residencies through the season and private occasions for up to 50 guests.
- The programme: what is happening in the villa this week, from live piano to Champagne Saturday.
As a villa guest you need to reserve none of it. You simply come downstairs.
The location: by the water, minutes from the centre
The villa stands at Via Arona 34, above Lake St. Moritz. The centre is a few minutes away on foot, and so is the railway station.
Arriving by train is the finest way to come. The Rhaetian Railway runs over the Albula line to St. Moritz, a UNESCO World Heritage route, and you will need no car in the valley. What waits outside the villa, from the lake circuit to the mountain railways, is covered by Engadin St. Moritz and in our experiences.
Who the villa suits
Honestly: not everyone, and that is deliberate.
Villa Beaulieu suits you if you like a villa where people recognise you. If you like evenings that stretch because someone is still at the piano downstairs. If a terrace above the lake means more to you than a spa with eight treatment rooms.
It suits you less if you expect room service around the clock, a breakfast buffet, a concierge in livery, or the anonymity of a large villa. Others in St. Moritz do that better, and they do it gladly.
Booking and arriving
The simplest way to book is directly on the rooms page. If you are unsure which room suits you, or you are arriving with several rooms to fill, write to us. We answer personally, usually the same day.
For weddings, private dinners and corporate gatherings we plan the whole villa with you. Everything on that is under events.
Frequently asked questions
- How many rooms does Villa Beaulieu have?
- Thirteen: eight rooms and five suites, between 20 and 38 square metres. Each carries its own name and is furnished individually.
- Is Villa Beaulieu right on Lake St. Moritz?
- Yes, at Via Arona 34, above the lake and a few minutes on foot from the centre of St. Moritz and from the railway station.
- What sets a boutique hotel apart from a grand hotel in St. Moritz?
- The size, and everything that follows from it. With thirteen rooms we know your name rather than your room number, nobody queues for anything, and the bar downstairs quickly becomes your living room.
- Which room has the best lake view?
- L'Imperatur is the largest suite at 38 square metres and has its own terrace facing the lake. La Contessa on the top floor, lined entirely in stone pine, has arguably the finest view in the villa and is also set up for guests with limited mobility.
- Does Villa Beaulieu have a bar and a garden?
- Yes. Le Bar is the drawing room with the piano, Le Jardin the sun terrace above the lake. Both are open to villa guests and to visitors from outside.
- Is breakfast served at Villa Beaulieu?
- Not in regular operation. The villa is open to you all day instead, and Le Bar and Le Jardin are as much yours as a villa guest as they are anyone else's. For groups, and when you take the whole villa, we will gladly arrange one.
- Can you hold a wedding or a corporate event at Villa Beaulieu?
- Yes. The Ballroom seats up to 70, the Brasserie hosts private occasions for up to 50 guests. With thirteen rooms, your guests can stay right here in the villa.
