A concours of elegance held where no concours should be possible — on a metre of ice at 1,800 metres
The Ice St Moritz — written by its organisers as The I.C.E., the International Concours of Elegance — takes place over two days each winter on the frozen lake at St Moritz, in the Engadin valley of eastern Switzerland. The 2027 edition runs on 29-30 January.
A concours d’elegance is normally a summer affair: a lawn, a marquee, a line of cars polished to a standard and then not moved again. This one inverts nearly all of it. The surface is a metre of lake ice under packed snow, the backdrop is the Engadin, and the cars are driven — first onto the ice, then across it, in front of everyone.
The lake opens at nine, with the I.C.E. Village and the Drivers’ Lounge, and the concours field is open for static display from half past nine. Late morning belongs to the contemporary machines — a show of current cars and, in most editions, one or two unveilings staged on the ice, which is how a handful of manufacturers now choose to launch. Lunch is served in the Drivers’ Lounge, and early afternoon brings a sky display, flown in recent years by the Patrouille Suisse.
Then the part everyone comes for. The concours entries are driven one at a time across the frozen lake, engines echoing off the mountains, on a surface that offers no grip worth the name. Awards follow — Best in Class, and, in a category that exists nowhere else in the concours world, Best Sound. Activity on the ice closes in the late afternoon, and the I.C.E. Art Show, staged on shore beside the Kulm Hotel, runs on into the evening.
Tell us which winter you are thinking of and we will build the Engadin week around the lake
In 2024 the organisers cancelled the event outright after heavy snowfall, days before it was due to open, and said plainly that the safety of participants and spectators came before the programme.
That is the trade for staging a concours on a natural surface rather than a lawn — most years it is the most striking motoring event in Europe, and occasionally it does not happen at all. A trip built around it should be a week that still works if the two days do not. See our guide to Snow Polo St Moritz for what else the same lake holds in January.
One more thing about the lake that is easy to miss. The ice is load-bearing for roughly six weeks a year, and in that window St Moritz puts three events on it — polo and the concours in January and racing across three Sundays in February — while the Cresta Run runs above the town throughout.
Over two days each winter, on the frozen lake at St Moritz. The 2027 edition is on 29-30 January.
On Lake St Moritz itself, in the Engadin valley, with the I.C.E. Art Show staged on shore beside the Kulm Hotel.
Spectator admission is ticketed and open. Showing a car is a different matter — the field is selected by the organisers rather than filled by application.
The organisers describe it as “alpine comfy warm”. In practice that means proper winter clothing and boots with grip, because the day is spent standing on ice.
Via Zurich, then by road over a mountain pass or by the Rhaetian Railway. Samedan, ten minutes from town, is the nearest airfield.
Snow Polo is played on the same lake in January, White Turf racing runs across three Sundays in February, and the Cresta Run is open through the season.
Collector cars on a frozen lake, and a week in the Engadin around them
