 Poster: A snowHead
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This is very late in coming, but prompted by regular requests for recommendations for info about resorts for non-skiers, and reminded of our trip last year by the Wengen Downhill at the weekend, I thought it might be better late than never.
Last winter I was pregnant but keen to spend a week in the mountains to have a break and so that my OH could go skiing (without leaving me at home!  ). After taking advice from snowHeads (http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=56231&highlight=) we decided on Wengen.
Travel
We flew to Zurich and took the train to Wengen. It took about 3 hours. There were a few changes but they are as easy as it is possible for them to be and you can get a print-out online or from the ticket office saying which platform you need for each leg of the journey.
There are various options for buying Swiss rail tickets. There is a Swiss Transfer Ticket which is only available to tourists and must be purchased in advance from outside the country, which seems at the moment to be £79. This may have been more economical for us but we didn’t do anything about it in advance so wasn’t an option.
Another option is the Half-Fare Travelcard. This is a travelcard valid for a year that gives you a 50% reduction on most rail travel in Switzerland as well as postbuses etc. For the skiers it wasn’t worth getting the travelcard as it doesn’t give you any discount on lift passes and didn’t pay for itself on the return trip to Wengen alone. However, it was worth it for me, as I didn’t buy a lift pass but just bought individual tickets when I wanted to use the trains around Wengen.
I could have bought a lift pass for hikers which would have given me free access to the trains and (I think) some of the lifts around Wengen. However, the hikers’ pass was quite expensive and for the amount I was planning to use the trains I decided the Half-Fare Travelcard and individual tickets would work out cheaper, and so it turned out. I probably took a return trip up to Kleine Scheidegg a couple of times and did a couple of single trips (walking back down), plus one trip to Mürren.
Incidentally, due to a long queue for train tickets at the airport and a bit of a panic on our part, I didn’t buy the Half-Fare Travelcard initially. I wasn’t very hopeful when I went to the station at Wengen the next day and asked very nicely if it would be possible to buy the Half-Fare Travelcard and apply it retrospectively to the Zurich-Wengen return ticket I’d already bought and half used, as well as to the tickets I wanted to buy during the week. I was very impressed (not to say surprised) when I was allowed to do exactly that. Wouldn’t happen here… 
Accommodation
We were looking for self-catering accommodation and found it on this website, recommended by a snowHead on the Jungfrau thread (thank you): http://www.swissmaidservices.com/smse/id19.htm. We stayed in Chalet Am Acher 2 which was a fantastic apartment, well-located, very spacious and extremely well-equipped and furnished. I'd go back there.
Non-skiing activities
My activities were limited somewhat by the fact that I was not hugely mobile – nearly 7 months pregnant and suffering from hip pain. If I hadn’t been, I would have done a lot more walking on the many well-signposted trails and the hikers’ pass might have been worthwhile. As it was, I had plenty to occupy myself. One day I just pottered around the village, had some lunch and looked around the shops. Two or three times I got the train up to Kleine Scheidegg to meet my skiing friends for lunch. Once or twice I got the train back down afterwards but once I walked back down to the village with my OH, which was a lovely walk. Should have taken some poles though, especially for some of the steeper downhill sections, some of which were shared with toboggans which made for some entertaining moments. Another time I got the train to an intermediate station (Allmend) where there is a restaurant on the piste down from Kleine Scheidegg to the village, met a friend there and then walked down together.
One day I ventured out of Wengen and my friend and I made the trip to Mürren (a train down to Lauterbrunnen, a cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp, then a train along to Mürren). We pottered about the village, had some lunch there (you may be detecting a theme, can’t think why my jeans don’t fit now  ) and then took the other cable car down from Mürren village to the Lauterbrunnen valley and walked from there along the floor of the valley back to Lauterbrunnen. I’d recommend that as an easy walk but with impressive views of rock and icefalls.
I decided against taking the train up to Jungfraujoch as it is pretty expensive and I wasn’t keen to experiment with the altitude. Another thing I investigated but didn’t get round to was a trip to a hotel spa. There were plenty of options, I was just too busy pottering in the end!
We ate in most evenings and the supermarket near the station was very well-stocked. My OH and I had dinner alone together for our wedding anniversary at the Bären Hotel which was very good, as was the buffet night at the Alpenrose hotel. I think we had a pizza one night which was good too, can’t remember where though I’m afraid.
Wengen Downhill
The Wengen Downhill took place on our last day there. We got the train up to Wengernalp to watch the race from there, where there was a great view of Canadian Corner. It seemed to be pretty necessary to pay for a ticket in order to watch the race and it was quite expensive but well worth it. It was also fun in town on the Friday night (when the racing order was picked on stage), where the town had been totally transformed from the quiet village it seemed when we arrived at the beginning of the week. I would highly recommend being there for the World Cup but I wouldn’t recommend needing to get the train out of Wengen after the race has finished in order to get to your flight! The queues were amazing and the train timetables were out of the window in favour of a sort of shuttle service. We were lucky to be taken pity on by a member of staff and moved into the VIP queue (think we were standing just behind Manual Osborne-Paradis) and put on a train along with several ski teams plus Graham Bell and the Ski Sunday production team, who we later met again getting on our flight at Zurich – along with Rory Bremner. Pleased to report that all were in Economy.
Skiing
Can’t really report on this I’m afraid! Conditions were good and my OH says he would like to go back there – preferably when the World Cup is not there so that he can have a go at the Lauberhorn! I didn’t mind not skiing as much as I was expecting to (possibly something to do with the fact that I was finding it difficult to do up my walking boots, let alone ski boots) but I’d also like to go back and ski.
Conclusion
I’d highly recommend Wengen to a mixed skiing/non-skiing group. There is plenty to do for the non-skier, you don’t feel like a second-class citizen, and it is easy to meet up with your skiing friends if you want to.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Me and BabyG at the Wengen Downhill!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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NatalieG, thanks for sharing
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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NatalieG, Lovely report, thanks for sharing it. BabyG will be skiing in a few years!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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telford_mike, that's the plan! 
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FAQ
