Kandersteg tourist information & hotel reservations.

We warmly welcome you to visit Kandersteg and wish you a wonderful vacation.

Situated between Grindelwald and Gstaad, Kandersteg is a popular holiday resort at one of the southern points of the Bernese Oberland, on twenty-six kilometers South of Spiez and 43 km South-west of Interlaken. Kandersteg is a nice and tranquil mountain village with traditinally-coloured rooftops and peaceful green meadows. It is both summer and winter resort, which is spread over four kilometers, so it’s never really too crowded. Kandersteg lies at the foot of the Blumlisalp chain (3600 meters) and has access to 6 remote alpine hamlets.
The resort developed as a resting point on the road to the Gemmi Pass, which long ago linked the Valais with the Bernese Oberland. Kandersteg, which is very proud of its traditions still has some old farmhouses and a small church from the sixteenth century.

In summer qualified riders in proper clothes can rent horses at the riding school at the Royal Park Hotel. There is also an extensive network of level footpaths (open year-round) dotted with benches around the resort.
In winter Kandersteg attracts many cross-country skiers and downhill novices. The resort has a cable car, 2 chairlifts, and 4 ski tows. The National Nordic Ski Centre offers a ski-jumping station. Additionally, the two kilometers cross-country ski trail is floodlit in the evening and there are also indoor and outdoor ice rinks.
Kandersteg’s ski runs lie on the slopes of a bowl-shaped depression whose sides go down into the waters of Oeschinensee, and include thirteen kilometers of downhill pistes, 76 km of cross-country trails, 8 ski lifts, 3 of which are short “baby lifts” for beginners.

The most popular side-trip from Kandersteg is to Lake Oeschinen, which is high above the resort. The lake is encircled by the snow covered peaks of the Blumlisalp, towering 1800 meters above the exclusively clear waters. One can walk to it from the Victoria Hotel or take a chairlift to the Oeschinen station and walk down from that point. Many tourists who take the chairlift decide to hike back to Kandersteg, which take 1.5 – 2 hours. Another popular trip is to the Klus Gorge; one can park his car at the cable station’s lower platform at Stock and stroll the three kilometers to the gorge, which was formed by the Kander River. The rushing water creates a romantic setting, but note that during the winter the access route is icy and dangerous!

Kandersteg Transportation

Kandersteg is at the northern terminus of the fifteen kilometers Lotschberg tunnel, which links Bern with the Rhône Valley. The railway that goes through the tunnel can also carry cars. Trains depart on every half hour and no reservations in advance are necessary. Kandersteg is also served by the Berne-Lotschberg-Simplon railway.

If driving from Interlaken, get on N8 west to Spiez, where the Kandersteg road heads south into the mountains. The trip from Spiez to Kandersteg takes about twenty min. along a well road.
Visitor Information
Instead of street names, directional signs are used in the resort. All visitors who have a room in the village are given a Visitor’s Card, entitling them to certain price reductions, including on the network of cable cars.

Kandersteg Tourist Office, Hauptstrasse, CH-3718 Kandersteg (tel. 033/675-80-80), dispenses information Monday to Friday from 8am to noon and 2 to 6pm.

For flights, trains and car-rental reservations as well as for buses, coaches and taxi ski transfers refer to the general Switzerland Transportation page!