The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz (www.kulm.com) invites you to ditch your January diet and indulge your senses at the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival (www.stmoritz-gourmetfestival.ch) next week (Monday 26 to Friday 30 January), when a group of master chefs will cook up a storm of culinary delights – a unique opportunity that's too good to miss!

Switzerland is currently celebrating 150 years of winter tourism, which all started with an infamous bet* at the Kulm Hotel that brought the first winter guests, who were British, to St. Moritz. In recognition of the huge part that Brits have played in developing Swiss tourism, the 2015 St. Moritz Gourmet Festival will be a distinctly “British Edition”.

Nine master chefs from the UK, including Angela Hartnett, Claude Bosi and Jason Atherton, will be in St. Moritz for the week, serving up seafood blizzards, chocolate cults and kitchen parties, to name a few. Following the Grand Opening on Monday, when guests will be able to savour dishes by all nine chefs while chatting to them informally over a glass of Champagne, the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz will play host to a Gourmet Dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights with its partner chef Atul Kochhar of the Michelin starred Benares, who beautifully blends traditional spices from his native India with choice contemporary produce from Great Britain, his adoptive country.

There will also be a Gourmet Safari on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings: guests will be ferried around St. Moritz in a fleet of top-of-the-range BMWs in between visits to five master chefs in the kitchens of their partner hotels where they will sample one exquisite course per stop. The culinary stop-overs end at the dessert bar in the legendary Sunny Bar of the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, where all the Safari participants will meet for one last sweet course – or maybe two!

Meanwhile, the Kulm Hotel's sister property, Grand Hotel Kronenhof in Pontresina, has partnered with Chong Choi Fong of China Tang at The Dorchester who will be serving up delights from the Far East with his original recipes that use only traditional spices and aromas, as well as the freshest produce. No wonder China Tang is considered the best Cantonese restaurant outside China!

In the afternoons, guests will have the chance to enjoy The Dorchester's Afternoon Tea, a quintessential British tradition, in the stunning lobby of the Kronenhof. Exquisite teas and Laurent-Perrier Champagne will accompany delicate finger sandwiches, buttery scones and delicious hand-crafted pastries prepared by The Dorchester's award-winning executive chef Henry Brosi.

On Friday 30 January, the Festival will conclude with the Great BMW Gourmet Finale at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz, when the Grand Restaurant will be transformed into a classic table d'hote. All nine chefs will come together to cook a gala dinner, accompanied by fine wines and Champagne in the hotel's beautifully decorated dining room. This really is a once in a lifetime event!

For more information on the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival, please visit www.stmoritz-gourmetfestival.ch; the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz has created a St. Moritz Gourmet Festival package, which can be booked online at www.kulm.com and includes:

• 2 nights' accommodation, including sumptuous breakfast buffet and Gourmet Dine Around (half-board) daily
• 1 Gourmet Dinner at the Gourmet Restaurant The K
• Laurent-Perrier Champagne welcome in the room on arrival
• Unlimited access to the Kulm Spa
• Fit & Fun sports programme (changes daily)

Prices start from CHF945 (approx £720) per person.

The events below can be booked in addition to the package:

• Additional Gourmet Dinner in one of the Gourmet Festival restaurants CHF195 (excluding drinks)
• Welcome Cocktail at the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains on Monday 26 January CHF245
• Kitchen Party at Badrutt's Palace Hotel on Wednesday 28 January CHF330
• Gourmet Safari, Eastern or Western Trail on Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 January CHF395
• The Great BMW Gourmet Festival at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz on Friday 30 January CHF550

*In the autumn of 1864, the then owner of the Kulm Hotel St Moritz, Johannes Badrutt, made a bold bet: he promised the last departing summer guests a free stay from December to the following spring, if their winter holiday in St Moritz was not as sunny and as pleasant as it had been over the summer (the traditional holiday season at that time). Tanned and full of enthusiasm, the guests returned to England the following spring (1865) and spread the word about their fantastic mountain winter, marking the birth of winter holidays.

In its 150th winter season, the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is open from 5 December 2014 to 5 April 2015, rates start from CHF575 (approx £375) for two people sharing a double room on a half-board basis.  For more information, please visit www.kulm.com.

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Notes to Editors

Kulm Hotel St. Moritz (www.kulm.com) was the first hotel to be built in St. Moritz. The Kulm Hotel opened its doors in 1856 and immediately became popular for summer spa and painting holidays, particularly among the British who comprised around 75% of the hotel guests. The owner of the Kulm Hotel, Johannes Badrutt, initiated winter holidays to St. Moritz from 1864 and, as a result, the hotel, resort and Switzerland itself celebrates 150 years of winter tourism in the 2014/15 season.

Since the 19th century, the Kulm Hotel has changed considerably through expansion and renovation, but the fabulous location at the heart of St. Moritz with views over the Lake remains the same. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, Kulm Hotel St. Moritz has 173 rooms, five restaurants (offering formal dining, French fine dining – the Gourmet-Restaurant the K awarded 16 points by GaultMillau, Italian, local Engadin specialities and Japanese with 13 GaultMillau points), the extensive  Kulm Spa St. Moritz (with a 20 m indoor pool with underwater music, various saunas and steam room, a Jacuzzi, a fully-equipped gym and treatment rooms, all with stunning views over Lake St. Moritz) and six conference rooms, with capacities ranging from 50 to 500 people.

Entertainment and sports facilities include the 9-hole Kulm Golf Course St. Moritz, three tennis courts, a natural ice rink, a curling field and the Marmotta Club for children. The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is inextricably linked to the Cresta Run through the Sunny Bar, where tobogganing pilots have congregated for decades; the walls are lined with trophies and images of famous people who have hurled themselves down the infamous ice track.

Awards in 2014 for the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz include a place in a list of the top five best holiday hotels in Switzerland compiled by renowned Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung. In January 2015, the Kulm Hotel was named the best five-star hotel in St. Moritz for wellness, active holidays and luxury travel by HolidayCheck.

Grand Hotel Kronenhof, located in Pontresina, six miles from St. Moritz, offers the best of both worlds: the chance to enjoy the glitz of St. Moritz, while staying in a peaceful mountain village. 

Grand Hotel Kronenhof has a rich and interesting history, having first opened its doors in the first half of the 19th century as a guesthouse. However, the main part of the current building, which is a registered historical landmark, was built at the very end of the 19th century in Neo-Baroque style. The latest addition, completed in November 2007 and costing CHF 35 million (approximately £24 million), consists of 28 new guest rooms and a stunning spa complex covering more than 2000 square metres.

The spa is certainly one of the hotel's highlights and has been named “the best Alpine spa” (according to Tyler Brule writing in the FT, November 2009). Facilities include a 20m indoor infinity pool with counter-current system, a flotation pool with underwater music, a wide range of saunas and steam rooms, a luxurious private suite for couples to enjoy wraps and massages together, and – for the perfect final touch – a crackling log fire in the relaxation room.

Gourmet cuisine is also a speciality at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof. Awarded the title of GaultMillau Hotel of the Year in 2009, it has five restaurants (the formal Grand Restaurant in an elegant Neo-Baroque vaulted room, Gourmet Restaurant Kronenstübli serving Italian-Mediterranean cuisine, the traditional bowling lanes where Swiss raclette is served, the informal Le Pavillon for light lunches and the kids' restaurant Rondelle).

Finally, Grand Hotel Kronenhof is renowned for its extensive children's activities and facilities (a kids' playroom and Rondelle, a restaurant just for younger members of the family).

Recent awards for the Grand Hotel Kronenhof include Top Hotel in the World 2014 according to TripAdvisor®, a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence for the fourth year running in 2014, the HolidayCheck Award 2010-2014 (for most popular hotel in Switzerland, five years in a row) and three HolidayCheck Awards in 2015 for best wellness, active vacation and luxury travel in the five-star category in Pontresina, as well as a place in a list of the top 20 best holiday hotels in Switzerland compiled by renowned Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung and the most welcoming luxury hotel in the country as awarded by Switzerland Tourism in 2014.

Previous awards include first place in the Best Of Swiss Gastro (gourmet category), GaultMillau Hotel of the Year 2008 and the 'Bilanz' hoteliers of the year award in 2008.

Both the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz and its sister property Grand Hotel Kronenhof are owned by the Niarchos family.

For more information, please contact:
Sue Heady
Director
Heady Communications
T: 01608 651 692
M: 078 5595 0705
E: sue@headycommunications.com