Berner Oberland Lenk September 2025

[Pauline]

Note: We've been going to Lenk every year for two to three weeks for the last 10 years. For better information see my earlier trip reports.

We’ve been in Switzerland for two weeks and have had good weather and done a lot of walking. Today is the first day of rain so we are taking a day off.

We drove to Lenk from the UK spending a night in Arras and a night in Obernai. We’ve stayed in Arras many times. This was our second time in Obernai (we used to stay in Colmar) and I really like the town. We stay at the Hotel La Diligence on the main square. The town has some good walking paths. We explored more of it on this trip. It also has a good Lebanese restaurant that works well for us.

We arrived in Lenk on Monday September 8. For the last few years we’ve been renting the same apartment (Alpsunne) but when we came here in June there was construction going on and we had the agency move us to another place. Our days at Alpsunne are over because the construction on one side is a huge project that won’t be done until end of 2027 and the project on the other side will block most of the previously outstanding view.

This time we rented from a local agency that we’ve used once before, HUH Immoblien, and are happy with their apartments. We had to rent two places because I booked late and the time we wanted was not available in one place. Our first 10 nights was in a beautiful apartment in the town center beside the building where we’ve stayed many times.

Our second 10 nights, where we are now, is an eight minute drive out of town towards the mountains in an area where we’ve never stayed. It is smaller than the first apartment but quite cosy. The only problem is a sloping ceiling above one side of the bed which can lead to head bumps but we dragged the bed away from the wall as much as we could so they are less likely now.

We’ve done some of our favorite walks, went to the St Stephen Alpabfahrt (Cow Parade), shopped at the weekly market in Zweisimmen, and swanned around Gstaad a couple of times.

The weather has been good until today. The last four days were hot (nearly 80F) and sunny. Before that it was mostly sunny and warm.

Some photos from the trip.

View from hotel room in Obernai.

View from our first apartment in Lenk.

We hiked up to Siebenbrunnen (Seven Springs), a favorite hike.

A day at the St Stephen Alpabfahrt (Cow Parade).

Walking along the river. Our second apartment is just ahead.

We took the Metsch gondola to the middle station and walked out to the restaurant at Nessli - a two-hour walk with a good climb.

We had a vegetable soup. Everything else on offer was meat.

View from the restaurant towards Siebenbrunnen. The day was overcast but the sun came out after this.

Walking along the river.

 

[Pauline]

The bad weather is not as bad as forecast. Yesterday it rained at night but only a bit during the day. Still we took the day off from hiking. I was busy researching and booking the rest of the trip. We leave here Sunday then drive to the Perigord for 10 nights.

Today was overcast with low clouds on the mountains but it cleared late morning and we had a good two-hour walk along the river.

The apartment we are renting is in a three level chalet, 2 apartments on each level. The agency rents another apartment on the ground floor. Ours is on the top floor. We are in a small group of houses two miles from the center of Lenk. We liked our first apartment better and will stay there next year but this apartment is comfortable and cozy and I like being outside the town center.

View from Sumpfbach apartment.

The street from Lenk to Simmenfalle is not busy.

We are in that group of houses.

We drove up to Iffigfall and walked in (we usually walk from town) because there were two trail running races on the weekend that went along the trail.

Looking back to the falls from where we parked and you can see runners on the trail. We saw quite a few of them on our walk in, but we made sure to keep out of their way.

On a hot, sunny day we did the four-mile, mostly gentle downhill walk from Saanenmoser to Gstaad. This is a lovely walk.

On the last of the hot, sunny days we did the walk to Iffigfall but did not go all the way to the falls because the weather was turning. We could see the footprints and hiking pole holes from the hundreds of runners the two days before.

View from apartment on a colder, wet day.

Today we did a long walk along the river and bought alp cheese along the trail. Temps went from 80F to 52F.

 

[Pauline]

There was a goat show in Lenk today! We happened upon it coming back from our hike. Four types of goats and they were judging them.

The judge.

The farmer talking to visitors about his goats.

Me and the goats.

 

[Pauline]

Today is Saturday and we head out tomorrow with an overnight in Nyon (near Geneva) and then Vichy (spa town and where the Germans ran France in WWII). We’ve used to stay in Nyon when we flew in and out of Geneva but haven’t stayed here in several years. It is a nice town on the lake only 2.5hrs from Lenk, so we will leave here in the afternoon and have a short day of travel.

The bad weather is over here now and it is warming up again so we should have a sunny driving out of the mountains.

We’ve had a nice few last days doing walks along the river since the higher areas were covered in cloud. We were caught in the rain once but it was only a drizzle.

I’ve booked our next trip here in May/June - 10 nights in Baden-Baden then three weeks in Lenk in the first apartment. Next year my Steve turns 80 (hard to believe) and he gets to make all the travel decisions. He loves coming to Switzerland.

Marsh area near Lenk - called Klopflisbergmoos

The Swiss love to head out on the trails and barbecue their lunch. Places like this are set up in the valley and the local council even supplies wood.

Walking from St Stephen to Zweisimmen. This is Reid.

Walking along the river in St Stephen. They have a big lumber yard.

Steve on our last walk.

 

[BryanS]

Next year my Steve turns 80 (hard to believe) and he gets to make all the travel decisions. He loves coming to Switzerland.

Keep doing what you love as long as you can!

 

[Pauline]

Our last night in Switzerland for this trip. We are spending the night in Nyon before driving into France.

We had a beautiful sunny day for the drive (2.5hr). We drove out through Saanen and Gstaad to Chateau d’Oex where you turn into the mountains heading to Gryeres and Bulle. This drive was fabulous. I thought we had never driven this route but we both recognized some of the towns. It is a little bit of climbing over the pass then a wide open valley with beautiful villages.

Coming out to Lake Geneva at Vevey was a shock. Larger towns, big highway, that gorgeous lake. Nyon was very busy with a huge market along the lake. It felt like being in a city. We had takeout Thai food for dinner - our first “dinner out” since we arrived in Lenk. Exciting.

I’ll continue the trip report in the France section.

Our last morning in Lenk. View from our apartment.

Roman columns in Nyon with Lake Geneva and the French Alps.

 

[Pauline]

Forgot to mention that we went to a cafe in Nyon and had the best desserts of the trip - small chocolate cake and a cherry Kuchen (which must have another name in French).

In German Switzerland I order Milch Cafe which is probably Cafe ou Lait but I didn’t see that on the menu so went with cappuccino. Steve ordered macchiato but got latte macchiato, so had to order a black coffee.

The breakfast menu is below (checkout those prices). I looked up one of the drinks, “renversé”, which seems to be a Cortado. That’s what I should have ordered. Oh, the mysteries of coffee.

From Google: A café renversé, or simply renversé, is a popular coffee drink in French-speaking Switzerland made by adding hot, steamed milk to an espresso, rather than the other way around as in a traditional latte.

 

[Laurie]

Thanks for this wonderful report, Pauline! My husband and I are just back from 3 weeks in Switzerland. We relied entirely on public transportation, which was truly marvelous. We spent 9 days in Vevey, walking through the Vaudois vineyards along Lake Geneva, hiking in Les Pleiades, Mt. Pelerin, and Les Avants-Sonloup, as well as exploring Montreux, Vevey, and Lausanne. Then we had one week in Gimmelwald, hiking the area around there, mostly in the Gimmelwald-Murren-Grutschalp area. Our last week was divided between 3 days in Les Diablerets and then our final 3 days in Geneva (including a side trip to Nyon). We had Swiss travel passes, so we were able to easily travel to places like Bern and Gruyeres on days that were less conducive to hiking. When we weren't hiking we went to a lot of chateaux and museums. It was a wonderful trip. It was our first time in Switzerland, but not our last, I hope. It wasn't truly "slow travel" in that we moved around a bit but our stays were long enough that we were able to settle in to each place and come to know it.
Laurie

 

[Pauline]

That sounds like a great slow travel trip to me! I want to hear more. What was the hiking like when you stayed in Vevey? I imagine it as straight up those hills and might be too difficult for me. I would love to stay on the lake. It was so beautiful yesterday when we were driving by it

You were not far from where we were when you stayed in Les Diablerets. Once we stayed in Leysin which is in that area (but the hiking was not good there - not as good as in the Berner Oberland.

Nyon is cute, isn’t it?

I’m happy to see how much you like Switzerland. We drive our car there but then hardly use it while we are there. The public transportation is very good.

 

[Laurie]

Near Vevey we took some beautiful walks through the vineyards, from Lutry to St. Sephorins (it's a World Heritage site). For Les Pleiades, Mt. Pelerins and Les Avants above Vevey we took trains, cog trains and funiculars up to the tops and then hiked around at the tops. We didn't do a lot of big climbing hikes in that portion of the trip. The views of Lake Geneva from Les Avants and Sonloup were truly spectacular, and getting there from Vevey was easy. Our hotel in Vevey was right on the Town Square, which is adjacent to the water, so from our hotel we had views over Lake Geneva and the Saturday marketplace. (It was a little noisy on Friday and Saturday nights, however.) We had a lovely swim in Lake Geneva after our hike through the Vaud vineyards. It was a Sunday afternoon and lots of families were picnicking by the water. We loved Vevey--we thought it was charming and a manageable size, and easier to navigate than either Lausanne or Montreux. It was also convenient for transportation to the entire area.

We actually visited Leysin from Les Diablerets. My husband had gone to high school there many moons ago and was eager to see his old haunts. I thought Les Diablerets was a better place to stay than Leysin, and we did some great hiking around Les Diablerets. Les Diablerets is a bit touristy, but it's cute and the hiking is spectacular.

Nyon was charming. On a rainy day en route to Geneva towards the end of our trip we parked our bags at the train station and went to the glass museum/chateau there. Another day we walked from Nyon to Prangins where there is a fabulous chateau/museum on 18th century Swiss life.

Our most strenuous hikes were in Gimmelwald in the Bernese Oberland. They were absolutely gorgeous; that whole area is just stunning.

Overall, we had a good combination of hiking and sightseeing. On rainy days it was nice to be able to hop on a train and go to new cities or nearby museums. We felt very free to travel about with the Swiss Pass.

I'm a little jet-lagged, but I'm still on a high from this incredible trip.
Laurie

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for all the details! That hiking from Vevey sounds great!