 Poster: A snowHead
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Dear Snowheads,
Some advice please, if you once again, would be so kind. We are a party of 8 or so, mixed ability skiers (and a tame boarder), and this year I fancy the scenic region of Grindlewald/Wengen.
The transfer from Basel seems to be about 2 hours, can anyone personally recommend a transfer company?
Accomodation, do any  own property in the area? If so, PM me or blatantly advertise your wares on this thread  Otherwise anyone got a wee hidden gem they wish to share with us?
We like Chalet accomodation, but half-board would be ok too.
Any personal recommendations for Ski School, both for beginners and for off-piste wanabees.
Any other tips welcome.
Thank you kind people, in advance, for your contributions.
Sabreboy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sabreboy, Why not do the transfer by train. It's a very civilised way of getting to Wengen and you can get a Swiss Transfer ticket which covers the airport to any resort for a reasonable price.
You can get the tickets online from here : http://www.swisspasses.com/
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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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sabreboy, I don't know about transfer companies offering direct transfers from Basel to Grindelwald/Wengen, but I and many others have used the Swiss Railways transfer ticket which covers you for return rail travel from any Swiss airport to any Swiss resort ,see eg this.
As regards ski schools in Wengen, I would recommend Privat.
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Hmm from Basle if you're not going by a tour company then you will almost certainly need the train, if arriving at Basle Airport it's a 15-20 minute bus journey to the Railway Station, from there Every Other train (roughly) goes all the way to Interlaken Ost, for alternate hours you need to change at Bern (Basle to Interlaken Ost is about 2 Hours), At Interlaken Ost Change again here it's onto the Cream and Brown trains of the BOB, the front half of the train goes to Lauternrunnen, the Rear to Grindelwald, 20mins to Lauterbrunnen (Another change of railway to WAB in Green and Yellow) 15 more mins to Wengen, or just 35 mins to Grindelwald. Journey cost per Adult arround 150CHF Return, or get a Swiss Transfer ticket For £78 per Adult, kids under 16 with their parents can travel free with a free familycard available when you order transfer tickets.
Personally I'm biased and would choose Wengen over Grindelwald any day, Grindelwald is more in the shadow and tends to be colder during the day, however it's also a little lower and thus runs to the village tend to be better for Wengen, Wengen also has the better views of the two, however I'd be remiss if I didn't also say that Murren is very nice as well, that said with a group of mixed ability I'd go with Wengen, Ski School for any who need it is right in the middle of the village as are the nursery slopes, there's a good selection of mainly hotel restaurants in the village if you want to eat out in the evening.
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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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Absolutely Wengen and the civilised train journey. You can ski both Murren and Grindelwald. Best views in the alps and car free friendly resort. No many chalets used by tour ops but lots of hotels to suit all budgets. Have a look at the Hotel Bernerhof for moderate prices. Or ask the Tourist Office who all speak English. I'll be there Christmas and New Year.
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sabreboy, There has been a lot of bias on this thread towards Wengen and while I agree it is a nice place, so is Grindelwald. Grindelwald also has much better views of the Eiger North Face and a better choice of runs back to resort.
As others have said, taking the train from Basel is proabably the best option for whichever resort you choose.
For self catering accommodation I would recommend the Jasmine apartments in Grindelwald. A decent location and nice spacious apartments.
With regards to ski school; obviously I am going to recommend Altitude and will say nothing more than we operate out of both Grindelwald and Wengen, offering Private and Group lessons with qualified English speaking instructors.
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LaserStock,
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Grindelwald also has much better views of the Eiger North Face
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True, but it can be frightening, overwhelming, overbearing...it's one of the main reasons I prefer Wengen, I really do find the power that the Eiger exerts over Grindelwald a bit too much.
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Thank you all, taking the train seems to be the way forward.
I suspect whether we choose Grindelwald or Wengen, we will be happy. It may come down to what accomodation we can find.
Jasmine Appartments look nice, although we are normally a group of about 8, so it would be more economical to find one big appartment.
Ski Miquel (who have been reviewed favourably on this forum) offer accomodation in Lauterbrunnen. This appears to be somewhat less convenient, although their website describes being able to ski back to one of the chalets from Murren.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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sabreboy, Lauterbrunnen is not a bad choice, several snowheads have stayed there, the only disadvantage is that you are at the bottom of the valley, the advantages may outweigh this though, firstly it's usually somewhat cheaper for accommodation, secondly you will be first on the train/cablecar up, also makes it a lot easier to choose to go to the Murren or Wengen sides.
I believe this year they plan to increase coverage of the snow cannons to the valley from the Murren side so skiing down should be a definite possibility.
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| skilegs wrote: |
| Absolutely Wengen and the civilised train journey. You can ski both Murren and Grindelwald. Best views in the alps and car free friendly resort. No many chalets used by tour ops but lots of hotels to suit all budgets. Have a look at the Hotel Bernerhof for moderate prices. Or ask the Tourist Office who all speak English. I'll be there Christmas and New Year. |
Skilegs its hardly car free and best views in the alps,no way.....out of the three, Murren has the best views
Out of the other two villages...Wengen as Grindelwald is awful
Murren all the way !! (footage: skiing through the village)
http://www.youtube.com/user/electricdreams3000?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/EfuxQBVws6Y
Skiing above Murren :
http://www.vimeo.com/21410179
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'd suggest Grindelwald ahead of Wengen, but only because it's easier to access the ski area at First as well as the KS side.
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The way the skiing is, with First on one end and Murren at the other. It's next to impossible to get from one to the other and still get some skiing done. So you either ski First or Murren. Choose base village accordingly.
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You know it makes sense.
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abc, It is possible to achieve in a day let alone a week, I've known people catch the train down from Wengen then go up to the Schilthorn, ski all the way down to Lauterbrunnen, get the train back to Wengen, cablecar up Mannlichen, ski down to Grund, get the bus to First, go up First ski back to Grindelwald, go up to Kleine Scheidegg and ski back to Wengen, You need to start fairly early to do all that and be a good skier (and quite honestly I don't see the point of doing it all in a day) but it is possible.
Basing yourself in Grindelwald will as Elizabeth B, says make it easier to choose to go up either the First side or Kleine Scheidegg side but makes it more time consuming to Get over to Murren, Being in Murren makes it unlikely you will get to First, Wengen is sort of in the middle of the two, but whichever resort you choose you will get some great scenery and have the choice of a variety of runs, the only thing I will say about the area is that it doesn't have many black runs so if you want to do lots of those you are better off elsewhere, you also need to bear in mind that many of the runs are quite long, most from the top of say Lauberhorn to Wengen, First to Grindelwald, Mannlichen or Kl Scheidegg to Grund are arround 7 or more km in length, the one from Schilthorn all the way to Lauterbrunnen is about 13km so expect to take a while to get up the mountain in the first place, the only truly quick route up is the Cablecar from Wengen up to the Mannlichen, all the others will take 20 or more minutes from wherever you start, not counting any time spent waiting for the lift or train.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| D G Orf wrote: |
| abc, It is possible to achieve in a day let alone a week, I've known people catch the train down from Wengen then go up to the Schilthorn, ski all the way down to Lauterbrunnen, get the train back to Wengen, cablecar up Mannlichen, ski down to Grund, get the bus to First, go up First ski back to Grindelwald, go up to Kleine Scheidegg and ski back to Wengen, You need to start fairly early to do all that and be a good skier (and quite honestly I don't see the point of doing it all in a day) but it is possible. |
Kind of my point, possible but not desirable.
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Poster: A snowHead
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abc, but why would you want to cover that whole area in a day ? Most people are more than happy to go to a different area each day and that's easy enough to do staying in Wengen though a little more time consuming if going from Grindelwald to Murren or vice versa.
From memory there's over 210km of pistes in the area which should keep most people happy for a week or so
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sabreboy, it is a beautiful area and has the atmosphere to go with it. Dont want to dampen things down but have you checked out what the day to day costs will be with the current exchange rate - it is frighteningly expensive.
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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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D G Orf, abc andElizabeth B, thanks, some good points for each area.
sunnbuel, Hopefully, we can get half-board and so restrict our main costs to lunch (there must be some less expensive cafes for a quick bite - although the occasional long lunch with a long view is appealing). Looking at various options, it seems that Crystal are actually quite cheap at £600 or so for a week HB (yes I know the pro's and con's of going with them), as travel and self-catering is not far off that.
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sabreboy, not the cheapest place to eat but you do get a reasonable amount for your money at the Brandegg restaurant, worth going to the back of the restaurant inside and eating at the table service section as its usually less busy and charges the same (more or less) as self service, must be good as the local railway workers and piste patrolers often eat here.
On the Mannlichen the Mannlichen self service restaurant just a short walk from the top station of the Gondola has great views and probably some of the cheapest prices on the mountain at lunchtime. But it can get very busy.
Marys Cafe near the Innerwengen Chairlift is a great place to sit and watch the world go by if you can get one of the half dozen or so tables outside, sadly since it was taken over by the Hotel Regina I personally think the quality has gone down and the prices up.
Several spots at Kleine Schidegg, the Station Buffet is again about as cheap as you can get and offers Wurst and Rosti as a filling lunch, they also do a Rostizza which is a pizza on a Rosti base, however even I strugle to eat a whole one, one between two is ample but at todays prices they are hardly cheap.
Oh and there are nice views if you can get a seat on the balcony at the Eigergletscher Station restaurant, food there is about average price but tends to be good quality. Mind out for the Chuffs that fly down and try and steal food of your plate though.
More expensive though with more good views is the Wengenalp Hotel.
Very expensive but with amazing views the revolving restaurant at Piz Gloria is worth a visit on a clear day, better value can be had eating one stop of the cable car lower down at Birg or at several restaurants in the bowl area just above Murren.
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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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| sunnbuel wrote: |
| sabreboy, it is a beautiful area and has the atmosphere to go with it. Dont want to dampen things down but have you checked out what the day to day costs will be with the current exchange rate - it is frighteningly expensive. |
Yes, you get almost exactly half as many pounds for you Swiss Franks as 5 years ago so everything is proportionately more expensive. I've sworn to give up Switzerland after my experience last year and it is now worse. (Have you been following the long running thread about it in the "Piste" area?
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D G Orf, can you give the sabreboy, some price examples of the places you mention eg wurst/chips, chicken salad, pizza, beer, coffee, cola. I am sure it would help sabreboy, budget things.
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| D G Orf wrote: |
| abc, but why would you want to cover that whole area in a day ? Most people are more than happy to go to a different area each day and that's easy enough to do staying in Wengen though a little more time consuming if going from Grindelwald to Murren or vice versa. |
I did mean even for skiing one area in a day, it's a long trek just to get there in the morning. Then you have to reserve course at the end of the day. Makes for a long day that's typically not repeated the rest of the week. Sampling, yes. Skiing, not really.
Most people end up skiing 4 out of their 6 days in the area immediate above where they're staying. And only make one single foray to the remote sector and not to be repeated. For those who have special preference of Murren or First, they'd be hating the "daily commute" if they made a wrong choice in their bed base.
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sunnbuel, would love to, unfortunately I don't have any prices to give, back when I was getting Chf 2 ish to the pound I used to allow £10 per day for a drink at lunchtime with something hot (say sausage and rosti or a pasta dish) plus an after dinner drink at the bar, with the current exchange rates I think it will be closer to £20 for the same which is really not cheap.
At current exchange rates a coffee or a cola is likely to be between £3 and £4 with some places charging more than that.
My tip is to stock up in the resort coop with sweets, crisps and bottled drinks, I used to buy a small plastic bottle of lemonade or similar and then reuse the bottle decanting in refils from a stock of fizzy apple or lemonade.
If staying in Wengen get cakes from the bakery (any of them) all are good, (assuming there's still more than one).
If anyone stays in Switzerland my biggest tip would be don't order spirits especially malt whiskey unless you have serious money as the prices for those are crazy, however things classed as liquers tend to be more reasonable.
I'd also suggest trying the local Swiss wines though they tend not to be the cheapest, I quite enjoy the white Spiezer which is grown in the vineyards close to nearby lake Thun.
One last thing, in general I've found Swiss hotel staff to be excellent and honest, I once managed to leave over 500 Chf on the floor of my bedroom (it fell out of my pocket I think) when I returned at the end of the day the maid had found it and placed it on the bedside cabinet with a glass on top to hold it in place, however most staff in hotels are not Swiss and I have heard tales of petty theft so do not take the chance.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hi
Stayed in th Hotel Derby in Grindelwald with Crystal last year - ate so well at breakfast, 4/5 courses in the evening, that eating out at lunch wasnt such a problem, survived on a hot dog and a beer most days which was c.chf 10 if I remember correctly. I'd definately recommend, south facing rooms had a view of the north face, good sized rooms and balconies.
You also mentioned your nervous border in the group. We had one who didnt enjoy the place that much as no wide cruisy blues, and the ones that are often have steep entrances into them - just something to bear in mind.
Hope that helps.
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Fleecy, Thanks, although I apologise if I gave the impression our boarder is timid in any way.
By tame, I mean't that he is house-trained and only needs to stay on the lead when on-piste to stop him bothering other piste users. We let him free to bounce down cliffs and avalanche prone slopes.
We do have once skiier who has only skiied for one week, so is a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. She is the one that would like cruisy blues or greens.
D G Orf, I'll be sure to pack some duty-free (or duty paid but lower cost at the airport, or just stock up on whisky before we go). Co-op lunch sounds good, or Fleecy's beer and hot-dog solution.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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sabreboy, get your one week skier to try the long but easy blue from Kl Scheidegg to Brandegg, from memory Piste No 22, at one point the piste splits with No.24 (I think) going to the left which is the slightly easier route with less flat section, it's a nice gentle quiet run which tends to keep good snow conditions as it's only in the sun for a couple of hours a day and is not as popular as the Blue from Kl Scheidegg to Wengen which has far more walking sections, also theres a fairly gentle blue on the Mannlichen but it crosses over the much faster and steeper red runs and so may not be best for a really timid or nervous skier.
If you stay in Wengen the Hotel Falken has one of the cheapest bars in the resort and in Feb they usually have a really good Pianist who plays after dinner.
If eating a picnic lunch there are a couple of spots that are good, first and most obvious is the rack of seating next to the Wigwams at Kl Sheidegg station, there is also a picnic room in the lower floor of the top station of the mannlichen gondola, you access it by taking a door on the side of the building, think it might have toilets on the sign, theres a nice picture window down there giving a good view down the valley, a good spot to picnic on a cold windy day.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| D G Orf wrote: |
If eating a picnic lunch there are a couple of spots that are good, first and most obvious is the rack of seating next to the Wigwams at Kl Sheidegg station. |
Is Wigwam(s) the correct name? I always thought it was referred to as the Teepee. 
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You know it makes sense.
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Whatever 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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sabreboy, check out the exchange rate today 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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empty pistes for next season...excellent !!
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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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Chris Brookes, Bring it on - just booked Christmas and New Year!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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And jolly nice too, but I don't happen to have the reserves of cash required for such a holiday (at least not if I hope to ski more than once in the season, which I do.)
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FAQ
