Keeping in mind the catch phrase "cheap and good," there are still plenty of overnighting possibilities in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Though I personally am keen on your finding a place to stay in the Mürren area or somewhere more remote, you may nonetheless elect to stay in Wengen, Stechelberg or Lauterbrunnen. Wengen, for example, is located close to the largest and most versatile of the region's ski areas, and for that reason, you might want to try their new hostel, "Eddy's." The Hotel Bernerhof also offers dormitory style accomodations and is apparently even cheaper. In Stechelberg, there is a Naturfreundehaus (Nature Friends' House), kind of a family-oriented hostel, in the Chalet Alpenrose. In Lauterbrunnen, you should take Let's Go's recommendation, Massenlager Stocki, or stay at the Camping Jungfrau, a huge complex at the base of the Staubbach Falls, offering probably the cheapest private accommodations in the whole valley.

If you want to go uuchi, to the Mürren area, you do have to give some consideration to the season. Naturally, there will be more possibilities in the "summer," i.e. the time of year when most things are not made inaccessible by snow (or booked out by ski groups). In Mürren itself, the fifteen or so pricier hotels are offset by the more economical Hotel Belmont and the Chalet Fontana. The Belmont, located almost directly across from the train station, at the northern tip of the village, has atmosphere in its rooms and restaurant that exceeds its two-star status. It will run you SFr 50.00 per person per night in a room without bath, including a great breakfast buffet. (In summer, rooms without mountain views can be had for SFr 45.00 per person, but in winter, Mürren's high season, all the prices go up by fifteen francs.) Anne and Res Goetschi and their staff offer service that is multi-lingual and friendly, if frenetic, often all in one sentence. The Fontana, found on the lower road right in the center of town, is more rustic but nonetheless more than adequate and primarily English-speaking. The manager Denise offers 2-3 person rooms for SFr 35.00-40.00 per person and the possiblility of renting and apartment for SFr 45.00 per person, all prices including breakfast. Don't ever be alarmed if you see her being followed around by a goat.

Down in Gimmelwald, the number one choice is of course "Walter's" (the Hotel Mittaghorn), made famous by Rick Steves in his travel books and videos. Walter has it all: unbelievable prices, atmosphere and local color. (Also crowds, as I mentioned before, so try to avoid the month of August, when you will certainly see no one local go anywhere near the place.) Dorm beds cost SFr 25.00 and double rooms SFr 30.00 per person, both with breakfast included. Dinner is also available, but you have to sign up early on the chart on the wall of the front hallway. Walter is Swiss but speaks English well, often punctuated by sudden bursts of raucous laughter. His summer staff consists of a Canadian named Don, whose new book, Exploring the Lauterbrunnen Valley, is definitely worth checking out.

If you are on Mürren's upper road and take the road that leads uphill from the Feuz Bakery, you will eventually find yourself in the small community of Blumental (Flower Valley). For those interested in staying in the Blumental, an excellent choice in either winter or summer, the forty minute uphill jaunt can be replaced with a quick ride up on the Allmendhubel funicular, followed by a fifteen minute walk down. There are only two places to stay up there, and the first one you'll come to, regardless of whether you're coming from town or from the funicular, is the Pension Sonnenberg. What the Sonnenberg may lack in atmosphere, it makes up for with exceedingly good food and friendly service. Their dorm beds go for SFr 28.00 and their private rooms for SFr 38.00 per person, breakfast included. Half board is available for an additional SFr 14.00 per person. On the other side of the valley, only ten minutes further by foot, is the Pension Flora Suppenalp. In contrast to the Sonnenberg, the Suppenalp's big selling point is atmosphere. It's a ramshackle farmhouse with a perfect view and all the comforts of home. Dorm beds, SFr 31.00, private rooms, SFr 41.00 per person, breakfast included, half board (winter only, though a la carte meals are always available) an additional SFr 14.00 per person. Both of these pensions are conveniently situated in the middle of a hiking trail in summer, in the middle of a ski piste in winter.

A forty-five minute walk from the Schilthornbahn, across the ravine from the community of Gimmele(n), is a hundred year old dairy farm called Spielbodenalp (Playground Alp). Nobody seems to know it, but dorm beds are available there for a mere SFr 13.00 a night. (Private rooms, SFr 42.00 per person, breakfast, SFr 13.00.) Meals are also available, though electricity is not, and we're talking a strictly cold-water-and-outhouse situation, here. But, if you want to go stay in what's tantamount to a mountain hut in a remote location, this is a better and more cultural choice than the Gimmelwald hostel. This brings us to the subject of the actual mountain huts. Of course there are many in the area, but the two most accessible ones are the Schilthorn Hut and the Rotstock Hut, both a scant two and a half hours' walk from Mürren. Both cost SFr 15.00 a night just for a bed, but breakfast and other meals are available. Strictly cold water, strictly outhouse, and don't be surprised if everybody's sleeping together in narrow side-by-side bunks in one big room. It's tradition! And, though beer, wine and schnapps flow freely, bedtime usually falls between ten and eleven, with wakey-wake time between the invigorating hours of six and seven. Then, it's back on the trail. Though the Schilthorn Hut is a perfectly good hut, I'm not so keen on the treeless moonscape littered with ski-lifts, which is what kind of scenery you'll be seeing on the upper reaches of the Schilthorn. The area around the Rotstock Hut is in my opinion a lot prettier, and this hut is also the first place you overnight, if you want to do the four-day hike over to the Kander Valley.

Embarrassingly enough, I've never been to the Lobhorn Hut (best approached from the Grütschalp Station), and even after my summer at Obersteinberg, I never got any closer than forty minutes away from the Schmadri Hut. Both are very dramatically situated and can accommodate you for the approximate standard of SFr 15.00 per night. The Lobhorn Hut has a warden and food, whereas the Schmadri Hut does not. Though the location of the Schmadri Hut, next to the alleged "Schmadri Quelle" and in the midst of a glacier-ridden landscape, interests me more, be forewarned that it's a bit rustic up there, and you should check with the tourist office in Mürren before hand, just to make sure that it's unlocked and accessible.

Last but not least, you may want to consider finding accommodations in the Back Lauterbrunnen Valley. This valley can be reached by walking from the Mürren/Gimmelwald area or from Stechelberg and only by walking. Bizarrely enough, two of the three old hotels there, Tschingelhorn and Obersteinberg, are located only fifteen minutes from each other, with miles and miles of nothing all around. The Tschingelhorn, just above the erstwhile village of Ammerten, offers private accommodations with breakfast and dinner for SFr 67.00 per person, per day, or SFr 65.00, if you stay for three days or more. A dorm bed with breakfast and dinner will run you SFr 57.00 per day, and I'm assuming a similar discount applies for stays of three days or more. Hot showers, SFr 2.00. Just around the bend but with an even more striking view, the Hotel Obersteinberg has dorm beds for SFr 16.00, private rooms for SFr 33.00 per person, breakfast for SFr 14.00 and dinner for SFr 24.00. Both offer a la carte meals as well and are very comfortable, in spite of supplementing limited electricity with candlelight and gas lamps--which seem almost more appropriate here in the Alpine "Outback." Though Obersteinberg offers no hot shower, I still prefer it because it's fun and interesting to have a cheese-making hut right there next to the hotel. Much further down the valley, though hardly less dramatically situated, is the Berghaus Trachsellauenen. Only fifty minutes from Stechelberg, Trachsellauenen's dorm-bed-and-breakfast for SFr 36.00 is offered preferrably for a stay of three nights or more --only sensible, considering the amount of hiking that can be done from there.

The remoter options, like those in the Back Lauterbrunnen Valley, the huts and Spielbodenalp, all close down between the end of September and the end of October, not to reopen until the first of June. The two places in the Blumental shut down for October, November and half of December. Walter's and the Gimmelwald hostel stay open during the fall, but Walter's is booked out to groups during the winter. The Gimmelwald hostel, on the other hand, is open but for the last two weeks in December, the last week in January and all of February. Chalet Fontana is both closed down in the fall and booked out to groups in the winter. Though the Suppenalp and Sonnenberg are both good options in the winter, the most dependable of all choices is the Belmont. With the exception of two weeks in the beginning of December and one week at the end of April, the Belmont is open virtually all year round.

[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]