Berner Oberland Zweisimmen and Lenk, June 2024

[Pauline]

We’ve been spending 2 - 4 weeks in summer in Lenk for the past 10 years. This year we decided to stay in a nearby town - Zweisimmen.

Location - Simmental​

The Simmental (Simmen Valley) is 30 miles long and runs south following the Simmen River from Lake Thun ending up in the mountains at Gstaad and Saanen. Zweisimmen is 20 miles up the valley. From Zweisimmen a side valley runs to Lenk, nine miles away.

Zweisimmen​

Zweisimmen is a good location because you can quickly drive (or train) to several towns - Gstaad, Saanen, Lenk, Boltigen. All of these towns have mountain rides or buses to good hiking destinations. The train to Lenk runs between Zweisimmen and Lenk, so you have one less train to take if based in Zweisimmen.

There are a lot of vacation rentals in Zweisimmen. They are priced similar to Lenk and less than Saanen and Gstaad which are better known resorts. Use the Gstaad.ch tourist website to book rentals.

One benefit of Zweisimmen over Lenk in previous years is that the guest card is part of the Gstaad/Saanen area (Lenk has its own card) and you get discounts on the mountain gondola/chairlifts in that area. But that changed this year! Now, as in Lenk, the guest card gives you free bus (including mountain buses) and trains for the Lenk/Gstaad/Saanen area but no discount on gondolas/chairlifts, which can be quite expensive. For example, the chairlift from Schoenreid to Hornburg costs 36CHF per person. (This is cheap compared to the mountain rides in Grindelwald.)

Zweisimmen is not as dramatically beautiful as the other towns in the Simmental because it is not as close to the mountains. It is a wide valley of green mountains with a distant view of the rocky peaks behind Lenk. If you want dramatic Swiss mountain scenery Kandersteg, Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald are better options, but they are more popular with tourists. This area is a popular area with mostly Swiss and German visitors. It doesn’t get crowded. And it is a great area for hiking at lower levels or higher up.

Zweisimmen is a lovely town. We never took the time before to explore it before, it was just where you turn left to go to Lenk. There are many old houses. The residential streets run up the mountainside but are not steep like those in Lenk because the valley is not as steep. There is a weekly fruit and vegetable market, several supermarkets, two cafes, and a few restaurants. Everyone is friendly and many speak English.

Weather​

The weather has been great but you wouldn’t know that from looking at the weather forecast. It always shows rain! The rain either doesn’t happen or comes in late afternoon. We had two hot days at 80F but there are shaded walks along the river for those days. Mostly it’s been in the high 60sF sunny or some cloud. Several days in the low 70sF. A few heavy overcast days that turned into rain late afternoon.

Bugs​

Flies! Just a few in the apartment because I keep all the windows open and there are no screens. Not as many as we’ve had some years in Lenk. I got a good fly swatter from the Coop so we are set. Last September in Lenk we were in a chalet surrounded by farms and we had a lot of bugs. This year we are staying in town and are not getting the bugs.

Our Trip​

We’ve been here two weeks (just about to leave) and have had a great time. We’ve taken the Rinderberg gondola from Zweisimmen to do a middle level hike back to Zweisimmen and the Hornberg chairlift (my favourite) from Schoenreid to do a nice hike at a higher level. All the other walks have been along the rivers here or up to nearby villages.

On one of the hot days we drove to Lenk to do the river walk. It was strange visiting Lenk but not staying there, so we extended our trip by 10 nights and are moving to Lenk tomorrow. Then we can compare the towns!

We can’t do the long hikes that we used to do for two reasons - I’ve been sick for the past 2 1/2 years (recovering now) and the corticosteroids that saved my life also ate away at my strength. Second reason - we are getting older! Steve turns 78 this year, I turn 70 next year. Steve’s in good shape, it is me slowing us down. But I’ve done well on this trip which is why we are staying longer. We go for walks most days and rest when I need to, much like our trip to Lenk last September. You don’t have to be a top level hiker to enjoy this area.

We both like the apartment we rented. It is a new chalet with six apartments, two on each level. We are on the middle level in a two-bedroom apartment. There are large windows, a big balcony in front and a large ground level terrace on the side (the building is built into a hill). Roomy and bright, well equipped. The only problem is the scented sheets and towels but I brought our own sheets just in case. Usually sheets are not scented in Switzerland. I asked about it and they said they could do something about it next time (what?). We will stay here again and I’ll come more prepared.

Also they locked the streaming channels on the smart TV (why? no explanation) but I travel with an old AppleTV cube thing that you attach and it does the streaming. Or you can use your computer.

We love the cafe in town - much better than the ones in Lenk. It is a local chain called Early Beck and they are the best. They have cafes in Saanen and Gstaad too. They have the best quality bread. We’ve used the cafe here frequently. For breakfast sitting on their terrace with coffee and gipfel or croissants, to get sandwiches for lunch, afternoon coffee and pastry, and to buy bread. It is a 10 minute walk to the cafe.

Next post will be photos. I’ll post again from Lenk.

 

[Pauline]

A few photos.

+10

Zweisimmen Hiking

• Pauline
• Jun 26, 2024
• 19

Two weeks in Zweisimmen in June 2024.

 

[Pauline]

We had a great 11 nights extra in Lenk. We rented an apartment in the town center (Spitzacker) instead of where we’ve stayed the last two years outside of town (AlpSunne). Both are from the same agency, FerienLizenz.

The apartment was very nice, on the top floor of a three-storey building across from the church. The view from the balcony was spectacular. The location was good - a few steps from a bakery and not far from the grocery shops.

The nearby church bells ringing every 1/4 hour were loud but they went to once an hour at 8pm and never woke us up. I bought earplugs when we arrived but they didn’t work for me and I didn’t need them anyway. The apartment is on one of the main streets and was noisy in the early morning but quiet after that.

I booked Zweisimmen for this trip because I was getting tired of Lenk, but staying in Lenk after Zweisimmen made me realize how great Lenk is. Really this whole area is fantastic.

View from the balcony.

We were very close to the church.

We did not leave Lenk the whole time but did lots of local walks. It was a very leisurely holiday. The weather was good, similar to the previous two weeks. A couple of hot days (80F), a couple of overcast days and a bit of rain.

We took the Betelberg gondola on a nice sunny day hoping to do a favourite hike but when we got up there it was very windy. We’ve been up there many times and have never had wind like this. So we changed our plans and did the easier hike down to the middle station.

Our big hike was our new favourite, to the water falls on the trail to Iffigenalp. It was the perfect day for it.

We did many walks along the river. You can make this hike anywhere from 2 to 5 miles and it is flat.

Walking along the river.

Fields of wildflowers under the gondola.

Walking out to the water falls.

Balcony view on a wet day.

Driving home to the UK we tried a new route. Since I had trouble with the full driving days on the way out, we shortened the first day’s drive by leaving Lenk in the afternoon, driving just 2 hours, and spending the first night in Biel/Bienne on a lake below the Jura mountains close to the France border. We had a nice evening stroll through town and down to the lake. I booked a room with a kitchen so made a simple dinner.

The next day’s drive was into France, through the mountains and off the autoroute, to Troyes. I did not like this route. I prefer to be on the autoroute most of the time where you can easily stop for petrol/coffee/bathrooms. And where you make good time. This route was good at first but then turned into a slow country road. We went by Langres where we stayed a few years ago and got to see the fortified hill town from below.

Troyes was somewhat interesting. Lovely old timber buildings but not as lovely as Rouen. We had some good Lebanese food for dinner.

Timber buildings in Troyes.

Our last stop was Saint-Omer, a small town 30 minutes drive from the tunnel. This is a pretty town but not very big. We stayed at the Mercure which was the best one of this chain that we’ve stayed in. We had a good walk around town and found an Italian restaurant for dinner.

I liked the town but it was 15 minutes off the autoroute. We usually stay in Arras but wanted to try something closer to the tunnel. I’m always looking for an Arras alternative but Arras is probably the best option.

Abbey ruins in Saint-Omer.

It was a great trip but we are not back to exploring and hiking like we used to. I am mostly through the treatment for this disease that started almost 3 years ago (Giant Cell Arteritis) but the corticosteroids that I took (finished now) weakened me and may take another year to recover from. Plus I started out 66 and now I’m turning 70 next year! What the hell? Still, I am much better now than I was last year and the year before. And we really had a lovely trip - fresh mountain air, daily walks, lots of time chatting and reading. Steve has been doing German on DuoLingo for a few years now and I can see the difference, he is easily speaking German and even joking with people. More people speak English there than when we first visited 30+ years ago, but some don’t, so it is good to be able to speak German.

Lately we’ve been going to Switzerland in September but this year we wanted to do two trips. Our September trip is booked - 3 weeks in Lenk, at AlpSunne - and we leave in a month! We decided on AlpSunne because it is quieter out there but we did like being in the center of town.

Thanks for reading!