Kandersteg

Kandersteg sits at 1,170 m at the head of the Kander valley, an hour from Bern, and it is the base for one of the best things in the country.

The village itself is modest — a long street of chalets and hotels, quiet, with none of the polish of the big resorts. Its role is as a starting point.

Oeschinensee

The reason to come. A gondola and twenty minutes on foot bring you to a turquoise lake in a cirque of 3,000-metre walls, with waterfalls coming off them straight into the water.

It is UNESCO-listed and it is the best return on effort in Switzerland. Full details on the Oeschinensee page.

Blausee

Ten minutes down the valley: a very small lake in forest, of the same improbable blue, fed by underground springs and so clear that the trout appear to be floating in air.

It is privately owned and there is an entry charge, which some people resent and which keeps it in the condition it is in. There is a trout farm, a hotel and a short circuit path. Half an hour, and worth it on the way past.

The Lötschberg tunnel

Behind the village, the car-carrying rail shuttle runs through the Lötschberg tunnel to Goppenstein in the Valais — you drive onto a flat wagon and are taken under the mountains in fifteen minutes.

It runs all year, several times an hour, and it is how you get from the Bernese Oberland to the Valais in winter when the passes are shut. See driving in Switzerland.

Walking

Kandersteg is a serious walking base:

Over the Gemmi to Leukerbad — a full day across a high pass into the Valais, ending at a thermal bath, with a cable car down at the far end. One of the classic crossings.

Gasterntal — a wild, narrow valley behind the village, reached by a single-track road with traffic-light control, and almost untouched.

The Doldenhorn and Blüemlisalp huts — proper mountain routes for the equipped.

In winter there is a small ski area, and the frozen Oeschinensee becomes a walking and skating surface. Kandersteg is better known in winter for cross-country skiing and for ice climbing.

The scouts

Kandersteg has the International Scout Centre, established in 1923 and the movement’s permanent world centre. Several thousand scouts pass through every year, and in summer the village has a noticeable population of teenagers in neckerchiefs, which is either charming or not depending on your view of teenagers.

Getting there

• By train — Bern about an hour, Interlaken about an hour and a quarter with a change at Spiez. Zurich about two hours.
• On foot — the gondola station for the Oeschinensee is fifteen minutes from the railway station.

When to go

June to October for the lake and the walking; the Oeschinensee usually stays frozen into May.

Winter for cross-country and the frozen lake. The village is quiet in both seasons, which is the point of it.