Kandersteg

Located in the valley of the Kander River, west of the Jungfrau massif, Kandersteg is renowned for its spectacular alpine scenery and is a year-round mecca for hiking and climbing. In winter, it is a downhill and cross-country skiing paradise.

Kandersteg is the northern portal of the Lötschberg railway tunnel, on the line that connects Bern to Valais and, via the Simplon tunnel, Switzerland to Italy. Here you can load your car onto a flatcar and thus avoid the high mountain passes, which are of course closed in winter.

This Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway line is, together with the Gotthard and Great St Bernard road tunnels, the only north-south route through the Swiss Alps in any season.

But it would be a pity to pass through Kandersteg only on the way to the Valais or Italy: the village is set in a magnificent landscape and is the starting point for a magnificent hike to the Oeschinensee, a high mountain lake set in a spectacular rocky cirque.

Kandersteg is part of the extended UNESCO World Heritage Site Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn. Ricola has set up a garden at the foot of the Ruedihuus Inn where you can learn about the 13 plants used to make the legendary sweets.

On the other hand, you should not attempt to visit the K20 Command Centre, a top-secret bunker where the Swiss government is supposed to take refuge in case of nuclear war. (But if you really want to, look for the entrance behind the cable car station up to the Sunnbüel).