Kandersteg - 1175 m ü.M

• Walks from Kandersteg
• Transport around Kandersteg
• Order the book from Lulu

Kandersteg is an alpine village that is an excellent base for walks of all lengths. The village boasts numerous hotels and several small supermarkets, in addition to lots of specialist shops. The swimming pool is a favourite destination on hot days. Call at the Tourist Information Office for information on local walks and events and visit their website at www.kandersteg.ch They hold an open invitation on Monday afternoon, around 17:15, to join them for a glass of local wine and to browse their information (Gästeapero). Swiss music is provided by Postman Ruedi.

The villagers are friendly and talented; they have a dance group, a jodel club, a superb village brass band, and several alphorn players. During the summer months, look out for the guest evening (Gäste Abend) either in the school hall or on the school playground, when most of this talent will be displayed. Every second Friday evening there is a folk band that plays in the Hotel Alpenblick; this was originally "Ogi Buebe" but as the younger generation of the family join in, it is now simply the Ländlerabend at the Alpenblick.

To get easy access to higher paths, there is a gondelbahn (a chairlift until 2008) from Kandersteg up towards the Oeschinensee lake and there are two cable cars towards the head of the valley, one up to the Allmenalp and the other to Sunnbüel for the Gemmi.

There are 8 Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) huts around Kandersteg, each providing basic accommodation , food and drink; typically they are at the snow line, between 2000m and 2800m. They provide a bed for those who wish to start at dawn and climb to the peaks (ropes, ice axe, crampons and experience definitely required); alternatively they provide an excellent destination for long day walks, offering beer, coffee, soup and food before returning home to Kandersteg.

For less strenuous walks, there are a number of Höhenwegs - paths that have been constructed or augmented by the transport companies to provide one-way walks with bus or train connections home.

If the weather is poor in Kandersteg, take the train through the Lötschberg tunnel. The first station is Goppenstein, the gateway to the Lötschental valley. The Post Bus can take you to various points along the valley, either to walk to the glacier at the head of the valley and Anenhütte or to walk some or all of the Lötschental Höhenweg. At Wiler, about half way up the Lötschental valley, there is a cable car up to the Lauchernalp from where you can walk the Höhenweg or come over the Lötschen Pass back to Kandersteg. On bad days, take the train beyond Goppenstein to walk the Höhenweg Südrampe - the worse the weather looks, the further south your starting point should be!

The Kandersteg International Scout Centre (KISC) is about 2 km outside the village with scouts visiting for a week at a time, from all over the world.

-- JaneCurry - 2009-05-18