A handful of resorts cluster around St Moritz, all of them characterful places to stay and offering easy access to skiing and hiking facilities throughout the area. Just 2km – or a half-hour walk – east of St Moritz is CELERINA, also known by its Romansh name of Schlarigna. This pleasant small town on the banks of the Inn has an atmospheric old cobbled quarter of traditional Engadine architecture, and it’s also the base station for a gondola rising to the ski slopes of Corviglia. On a grassy knoll about 1km east of the centre is the isolated Baselgia San Gian, with a Romanesque choir and a painted wooden ceiling dating from 1478 (mid-June to mid-Oct Mon 2–4pm, Wed 4–5.30pm, Fri 10.30am–noon; Dec–March Wed 2–4pm; free). The tourist office is in the centre on Via Maistra (Mon–Fri 8.30am–noon & 2–6pm, Sat 10am–noon & 3–5pm; 081/830 00 11, www.celerina.ch). There’s a handful of inexpensive hotels in the centre, but the most characterful choice is the Chesa Rosatsch, a 350-year-old inn on the riverbank (081/837 01 01, fax 837 01 00, hotel@rosatsch.ch, www.rosatsch.ch).

On the other side of the valley from Celerina rises the ridge of Muottas Muragl (2455m), starting point for a 4.2km toboggan run. The view from the top, some 700m above the valley, is one of the highlights of a visit to the region, offering a clear, uninterrupted gaze southwest up the length of the Engadine, its string of lakes glittering in the sunlight. The plain, shared-bath rooms of the Berghotel on the top (081/842 82 32, fax 842 82 90, hotelmmb@skiengadin.ch) are a rare bargain.

Less than 2km up the Bernina Pass road from Punt Muragl is the swish resort of PONTRESINA, lying in a privileged, wind-sheltered position on a southwest-facing terrace amidst meadows and fragrant woods. Access to the Diavolezza slopes is easy from here, and the scenery of high rocky peaks to east and west interspersed with glaciers – most notably the huge Morteratsch Glacier, sidling down from Piz Bernina (4049m) – is impressive. The small village has St-Moritzy aspirations, with fully half-a-dozen luxury palace hotels and a glitteringly modern main street. The tourist office is in the centre on Via Maistra (Mon–Fri 8.30am–noon & 2–6pm, Sat 8.30am–noon & 3–6pm; 081/838 83 00, www.pontresina.com). Pensione Valtellina, also on Via Maistra (081/842 64 06), is a cosy little hotel with simple rooms and a shower down the corridor, while the Bahnhof is across the river by the station (081/838 80 00, fax 838 80 09). Next door there are dorms for Fr.30 and bikes for rent at the HI hostelTolais (081/842 72 23, fax 842 70 31), trailhead for routes into the deep and dramatic Val Roseg.