Like an alcoholic in a distillery. That’s how I felt when I got off the train in this car free Swiss mountain village, and started walking. The main road is like a red carpet leading to your hotel. It took over 3 hours to get there from Lucerne, but it felt more like a year since thats how long I anticipated this. It’s a bucket list item I never knew I had.
Wengen isnt as posh and famous as Interlaken, Lucerne and the rest of them. It has one 5 star hotel (Belvedere) that recently opened, and sticks out like a sore thumb among all the wooden chalets. It will be a shame if more opened. Says the food blogger that had dinner at the Belvedere one night. It was in the name of research of course. For the children.
Not only you can easily spend 4 nights in Wengen, but make that your minimum. Take the cable car to Männlichen and hike to Kleine Scheidegg and Fallbodensee. On another day, see the other side of the valley (Mürren, Schilthorn, Gimmelwald). Save the rainy day to Thun and the mesmerizing Lake Thun. In destinations as such you need to have some cushion in case of bad weather.
Listen to uncle Ziggy (instead of say my main competitor Travel + leisure that recommends the Belvedere). Stay in Alpenruhe. The hospitality and attention to detail by the young couple running the place is tough to match. The views from the third floor, and the top notch breakfasts are reasons enough.
And might as well have all your meals at Alpenkräuter Restaurant Bären. We haven’t tried many, but this one is quite popular with the locals and the only one that felt like a well functioning, real restaurant, as opposed to a tourist trap or a hotel restaurant. Even though it is in fact inside a hotel.
Eating With Ziggy 