SNOW POLO WORLD CUP

Late January · St. Moritz, Engadin · Three Days · Since 1985 · The Snow and The Field

Arranged by the Court

High-goal polo at the Snow Polo World Cup on the frozen lake at St. Moritz, ponies at full stretch on the snow — I · The Match

Dates: 22 to 24 January 2027
WhereSt. Moritz
DressCountry attire
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn January the valley at Samedan, near St. Moritz, reaches about minus 1°C by day and minus 16°C at night, and snow falls on about one day in six.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Chesa Veglia, Via Veglia 2, St. Moritz (badruttspalace.com).
Of noteThe practice games on the Thursday are free to enter. From Friday to Sunday a ticket is needed by everyone aged sixteen and over, and those under sixteen enter free.
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

The Snow Polo World Cup is three days of high-goal polo played on the frozen surface of Lake St. Moritz in the last week of January. Teams of four, and a crowd standing on the ice.

It is the only high-goal tournament in the world played on snow, and it was the first tournament of any kind to be played on it.

The frozen lake at St. Moritz with the Snow Polo World Cup field built on the ice and the mountains behind — II · The Field on the Ice

The Lake

Polo arrived in St. Moritz in 1899, when British officers laid out a field in the valley, one of the first on the Continent. The polo club proper was founded in 1959.

In 1983 a hotelier named Reto Gaudenzi, who had put together the St. Moritz polo team five years before, proposed playing on the frozen lake. Nobody had done it. The tournament that followed invented snow polo, and there are now versions of it at Aspen, Cortina and Kitzbühel. The original still holds the money and the standard.

The lake freezes deep enough to carry horses, and a field is built on top of it out of compacted snow. It is taken up every February and built again the following January.

A team riding out onto the snow field at the Snow Polo World Cup, St. Moritz — III · The Team

The Game

Four chukkas, each of seven and a half minutes save the last, which is seven. A pony may play two of them, and never consecutively.

The ball is brightly coloured, larger and lighter than a grass ball, because a white ball on white ground cannot be seen and a heavy one will not travel on snow.

The surface changes everything. Ponies are shod with studs. The ball skids rather than rolls. Play is quicker over short distances and slower over long ones, and all of it happens against a wall of mountains that makes distance hard to judge from the stands.

Guests on the ice alongside the field at the Snow Polo World Cup, St. Moritz — IV · The Guests

What to Know

Watching is free only on the Thursday, when the practice games are open to all, grandstand included. From Friday to Sunday everyone aged sixteen and over needs a general admission ticket for the public area beside the field. The grandstand, the tent and the evenings in the town afterwards cost a good deal more.

Sunday is the final and the day people come to be seen. Friday and Saturday are better polo in front of a thinner crowd.

The same lake takes horse racing on three Sundays in February, which is worth knowing if you are choosing between the two.

Dress for standing on ice for four hours. Country attire holds up. Thin soles do not.

The mistake is treating it as polo with snow added. It is a different game, and the people who know it are watching for different things.

Questions

When is the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz in 2027?

The 42nd Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz is played on the frozen lake from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 January 2027, by six high-goal teams. Practice games are held on Thursday 21 January. The final for the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz Trophy is at 2.30pm on Sunday 24 January.

Is the Snow Polo World Cup free to watch?

Only on the Thursday, when the practice games are free to enter, grandstand included. From Friday to Sunday, entry to the public area, including the games, requires a General Admission ticket for everyone aged 16 and over; children and teenagers under 16 enter free.

How much are tickets for the Snow Polo World Cup?

As of October 2026, the organisers’ shop lists 2027 General Admission at 20 francs a day and a Perrier-Jouët Chukker Club grandstand seat at 150 francs a day. VIP tickets, with the tent, lunch and the VIP grandstand, cost 800 francs on Friday and 1,200 on Saturday or Sunday. The Saturday gala, at 1,800 francs, was sold out.

What should you wear to the Snow Polo World Cup?

The organisers publish no dress code for the lake. The Saturday cocktail reception and gala dinner are black tie, and the VIP and Chukker Club grandstands provide blankets. The Court wears country attire, with boots fit for standing on ice.

How do you get to the Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz?

The ground is on the frozen Lake St. Moritz, a short walk from the village centre, the main hotels and the railway station. The train from Zurich takes about three hours. Engadin Airport at Samedan, about ten minutes away, takes private aircraft and helicopters; travellers by scheduled flight arrive at Zurich, Milan or Munich.

The trophy presentation on the lake on the final Sunday of the Snow Polo World Cup, St. Moritz — V · The Trophy

The Court

The Snow Polo World Cup is not the Court’s own. Places in the grandstand and the tent, and the evenings that follow in the town, are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the day around it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. Rooms in St. Moritz that week are the difficult part.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.