Wengen

The clouds rose from the opposite valley, curling up perpendicular precipices like the foam of the ocean of hell, during a spring tide -- it was white and sulphury, and immeasurably deep in appearance. - Byron visited Wengen in 1816, fleeing yet another major scandal in London

Wengen was traditionally an alpine farming village: it has summer pastures and lies on the drove trail to the higher meadows around Kleine Scheidegg. It was never a major mountain pass, as you could more easily reach Grindelwald via the valley, and the formidable trio of mountains just north are impassable. Byron, Shelley and Mendelssohn were early 19th century visitors, re-defining mountain scenery to a public that had seen it as desolate. Guest houses and hotels began to appear, but until 1890 you still had to hike up. Then the cog railway changed everything.

In the early 20th century Mürren and Wengen were pioneers of "downhill only!" - skiers could ride up on the train, with no more days spent lugging kit up the mountain just for a single ski run back to the village. Sir Henry Lunn and his son Arnold founded a ski tourism business, and lift systems and prepared trails were developed, along with a calendar of ski races both straight downhill and by slalom. The Wengen area has a long reliable snow season, and many Alpine hiking trails in summer.

The tourist info center is next to Männlichen cable car station in town centre and open daily 09:00-18:00.

For inter-city routes, travel via Interlaken, which has trains every 30 min from Bern.

Change at Interlaken Ost for the BOB train - the Berner Oberland-Bahn. Don't get off at Interlaken West, which is town centre.

You need to be in the front portion of the BOB train. This runs every 30 min and takes 20 min via Wilderswil and Zweilütschinen (where the rear portion detaches for Grindelwald) to Lauterbrunnen. There you change to the WAB train, the little Wengernalpbahn, for the scenic 13 min journey up the mountainside to Wengen, with the last connection leaving Interlaken at 23:00. These trains continue up to Kleine Scheidegg at the top of the pass. Change there for the train which burrows through the Jungfrau to the summit station of Jungfraujoch, and for the train descending to Grindelwald. Eurail passes get you a 25% discount on the BOB and WAB trains but are not in themselves valid for travel beyond Interlaken. A Swiss Travel Pass is valid to Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Mürren and gets you 50% discount on the WAB trains.

🌍 Wengen railway station is central in the village and has a staffed ticket office and baggage lockers.

Private cars are not permitted in Wengen, though service vehicles skitter about - it's not really "traffic-free". Visitors have to park at Lauterbrunnen or Interlaken, see those pages for details.

Wengen is compact so you walk. Some hotels have electric buggies for transfers.

Wengen at 1274 m is on a ledge above a U-shaped valley. There are limited hiking and skiing trails below it, but you can walk to Wengwald (1200 m) where the trains stop on the way up from Lauterbrunnen. East, a very steep slope ascends to a sharp ridge, with the peaks of Männlichen north, Tschuggen midway and Lauberhorn south, then the village of Kleine Scheidegg beneath the sheer sides of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Skiing and hiking out of Wengen is mostly on the gentler east slope of that ridge.

🌍 Männlichen cable car is the quickest way to reach the slopes beyond the ridge. It starts from Wengen town centre and has 75-person gondolas running every 10 min or so. In summer you can pay an extra Fr. 5 to ride outside on the gondola roof, in case you weren't cold enough already. A cable car from Grindelwald also ascends to Männlichen.

Use the train to ride up from Wengen to Allmend (1493 m), Wengernalp (1473 m), 🌍 Kleine Scheidegg (2061 m) and Eigergletscher (2320 m) at the top of the ski area. From there, another train plunges into the mountain to ascend to Jungfraujoch. This trip is very touristy in clear weather (and may be booked out) and pointless otherwise - see Kleine Scheidegg for description.

See below for the areas covered by the ski pass. Chairlifts and gondolas criss-cross the skiing areas and some are suitable for non-skiers and run in summer.

• 🌍 Eiger (3967 m / 13,015 ft), 🌍 Mönch (4110 m / 13,480 ft) and 🌍 Jungfrau (4158 m / 13,642 ft) are the magnificent peaks towering over Wengen. You'll not regret paying for a room with a mountain view.
• 🌍 Lutheran Church (Evangelisch reformierte Kirche Wengen). Perched on an outcrop at the north end of town, the austere interior of the church is not much to look at, but the pointy white clock tower is a local landmark and on a clear day the valley views from the gardens outside are breathtaking. (updated Apr 2022)
• 🌍 Kino Wengen (next to Da Sina). Wengen's sole movie theater features standard Hollywood fare. Open most nights with a single viewing at 8:30pm. Adults/children CFH 15/10. (updated Apr 2022)

ATMs are clustered at the railway station, and there's no shortage of shops for hiking, climbing and skiing gear.

• 🌍 Coop. Daily 08:00-18:30. Small but well-stocked branch of the ubiquitous Swiss chain, this is Wengen's only real supermarket. (updated Apr 2022)

• Swiss Made. Daily 08:30-18:30. Gift shop selling the usual Swiss Army knives and cuckoo clocks: the twist is that everything sold is here is actually made in Switzerland. (updated Apr 2022)

For a town of its size, Wengen has quite a few dining options. Out of season, many are closed or have limited hours (often dinner only); in season, book ahead, especially in the evenings.

Family-friendly Wengen is emphatically not a party town, so if you're looking for wild après ski nightlife, try Verbier instead. However, there are plenty of hotel restaurants that will serve you mug of Glühwein, as well as a few dedicated drinking holes.

• 🌍 Tanne Bar, Dorfstrasse (below Männlichen cable car station). Daily 16:00-02:30. On Wengen's main drag, Tanne Bar has friendly service, eccentric decor, and a good selection of drinks with a particular emphasis on gin and whiskies. Get in early, because in season it fills up fast. (updated Feb 2022)
• Others nearby include On The Rocks, Crystal Bar and Schneebar Figeler. Hotel bars open to non-residents include Boutique Sens in the Regina and Bar Anonym in the Silberhorn.

There's no such thing as budget accommodation in this pricey resort - no hostels or camp sites.

Wengen has many serviced apartments catering particularly to families and larger groups. Local companies Alpine Holiday Services and Wengen Apartments have a stranglehold on the vast majority of the inventory, and it's slightly cheaper to deal with them directly instead of going through the usual suspects like Airbnb. High season rates for a 4-person apartment start from Fr. 250/night. Most have a 5-night minimum stay, booking Sunday to Saturday.

As of Feb 2022, Wengen has 4G from Salt and Sunrise, which extends from the valley along the railway to Kleine Scheidegg but with many dead spots. You'll be lucky to get a signal from Swisscom. 5G has reached the valley but has not yet found its way up the slopes.

• Go via Kleine Scheidegg for the train to Jungfraujoch, high up between the Jungfrau and the Mönch
• Lauterbrunnen down in the valley is a short hike to Staubbach and Trümmelbach Falls.
• Mürren is perched on a ledge on the opposite side of the valley. You can ride the cable car up through Birg to the top of the Schilthorn (2970 m), where the Piz Gloria restaurant continues to rotate in its kitsch 1960s splendour, and the Kanonenrohr is the notorious black-run descent. Ideally you'd arrive in a helicopter fitted with machine guns, as in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and rake George Lazenby for his ludicrous depiction of 007 James Bond.