Pauline
Forums Admin
This is our 6th summer in a row spending 2 - 3 weeks in Lenk. We’ve traveled to Switzerland regularly since 1987 and have re-visited places several times but in 2014 we fell in love with Lenk and decided to make this our place. Lenk is a quiet small town well away from the tourist track, but is popular with Swiss and German hikers. It is in a beautiful valley but there are more spectacular valleys in the Berner Oberland and those get the visitors. Meiringen, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and Kandersteg are more stunning and also have great hiking.
But there is something about Lenk. The hiking here suits us. Easy hikes on the valley floor for wet days or when you need an easy day. A gondola that goes to a good hiking area and four buses that go up into the mountains.
This is our fourth year renting the same apartment (from FerienLenk). The agency is run by a local hotel group and have good rentals. The apartment is on the ground floor of a three floor chalet. There are two apartments on our level. We have a nice terrace with a view of the valley. We are 10 minutes walk from the gondola and five minutes from the train and bus station. The Coop small supermarket is a few steps away.
We arrived yesterday, Saturday, after a long drive. We left Dorset on Thursday, drove five hours to the Tunnel, then 1 1/2 hours on the other side to Arras. Traffic in the UK was thick and slow in parts. It was better in France. But the motorway and autoroute driving is boring. We arrived at 6pm, walked around town, then had a nice dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. The Mercure hotel (a chain) was more rundown than I had remembered from last year.
Arras was the scene of large battles in both World Wars and is popular with American tourists. The town center was rebuilt after much destruction in WWI but built to look as it did before. Beautiful buildings and two large squares.
On Friday we didn’t get on the road until 10:30 (there is a time change making it an hour later in France) and we spent the day driving across France. The traffic was mostly good and a few hours were off autoroutes. We switch back and forth with the driving and stop frequently to walk a bit because my back can seize up with too much time in the car. We got into Basel at 7pm and had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. This time we had a very nice hotel, Hotel Wettstein, in a good location with secured parking for our car full of luggage.
There is a border coming into Switzerland but they don’t check passports. They sell you a 40CHF decal needed to drive on Swiss highways.
On Saturday we had a nice morning in Basel. It is a lovely city sitting on the borders of France and Germany, with the River Rhine running through it. The old town is large and lovely. There is a nice walk along the river and several spots where small boats take you across. They are powered only by the water. We took one. This was our second visit to Basel - we stopped there last year when driving home.
Large pretzels cut in half and smothered in butter are a thing there and they are very good!
We left at 1pm and traffic was thick and slow. We arrived in Lenk at 4pm, checked in and got groceries. The Coop closes at 5pm on Saturday and is closed Sunday. We brought a lot of basics with us, something we can do because we are driving, which saved us money (everything is very expensive here) and shopping time.
Sunday August 25
Our first day in Lenk. A beautiful sunny day, temps in the low 70sF. We were tired from the drive so had a very easy day. We walked around the town and lake in the morning. In the afternoon we walked out along the river, towards St Stephen. 6.5 miles in total.
But there is something about Lenk. The hiking here suits us. Easy hikes on the valley floor for wet days or when you need an easy day. A gondola that goes to a good hiking area and four buses that go up into the mountains.
This is our fourth year renting the same apartment (from FerienLenk). The agency is run by a local hotel group and have good rentals. The apartment is on the ground floor of a three floor chalet. There are two apartments on our level. We have a nice terrace with a view of the valley. We are 10 minutes walk from the gondola and five minutes from the train and bus station. The Coop small supermarket is a few steps away.
We arrived yesterday, Saturday, after a long drive. We left Dorset on Thursday, drove five hours to the Tunnel, then 1 1/2 hours on the other side to Arras. Traffic in the UK was thick and slow in parts. It was better in France. But the motorway and autoroute driving is boring. We arrived at 6pm, walked around town, then had a nice dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. The Mercure hotel (a chain) was more rundown than I had remembered from last year.
Arras was the scene of large battles in both World Wars and is popular with American tourists. The town center was rebuilt after much destruction in WWI but built to look as it did before. Beautiful buildings and two large squares.
On Friday we didn’t get on the road until 10:30 (there is a time change making it an hour later in France) and we spent the day driving across France. The traffic was mostly good and a few hours were off autoroutes. We switch back and forth with the driving and stop frequently to walk a bit because my back can seize up with too much time in the car. We got into Basel at 7pm and had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. This time we had a very nice hotel, Hotel Wettstein, in a good location with secured parking for our car full of luggage.
There is a border coming into Switzerland but they don’t check passports. They sell you a 40CHF decal needed to drive on Swiss highways.
On Saturday we had a nice morning in Basel. It is a lovely city sitting on the borders of France and Germany, with the River Rhine running through it. The old town is large and lovely. There is a nice walk along the river and several spots where small boats take you across. They are powered only by the water. We took one. This was our second visit to Basel - we stopped there last year when driving home.
Large pretzels cut in half and smothered in butter are a thing there and they are very good!
We left at 1pm and traffic was thick and slow. We arrived in Lenk at 4pm, checked in and got groceries. The Coop closes at 5pm on Saturday and is closed Sunday. We brought a lot of basics with us, something we can do because we are driving, which saved us money (everything is very expensive here) and shopping time.
Sunday August 25
Our first day in Lenk. A beautiful sunny day, temps in the low 70sF. We were tired from the drive so had a very easy day. We walked around the town and lake in the morning. In the afternoon we walked out along the river, towards St Stephen. 6.5 miles in total.
