Gstaad has a major reputation, which it generally lives up to – it’s full of flashy clothes, with amazing people watching on the slopes. We love the region because it also delivers on one of the best outdoor experiences in Switzerland – beautiful mountain scenery, mostly below tree line, resulting in a different ‘Alps look’ than most of the country. Extremely photogenic and pleasant year round.

We like to stay in Rougemont (French speaking, lovely architecture) when skiing in the area. A short drive Northeast from Gstaad are some pretty, rural valleys – we’ve recently explored Zweisimmen and recommend it for winter skiing and bike rides/hiking the rest of the year.

I’ve organized my website notes around the ski clusters. It’s all one pass, but there are four areas that aren’t technically connected, and it’s a quite large area.

• Eggli – La Videmanette (accessible from Gstaad and Rougemont) + Wasserngrat (accessible from Gstaad)
• Rinderberg – Saanersloch – Horneggli (accessible from the towns of Zweisimmen, Sannenmöser, and Schönried)
• Glacier 3000 (standing on its own on the pass)

Ski Area: Eggli – La Videmanette + Wasserngrat

Gstaad

The downtown is smaller than you might expect, but it’s a good place to shop for high end ski wear and people watch. Sports Avenue is my favorite multi-brand store – great sweater selection!

Town Dining

• **Cappuccino Gstaad is a very “see and be seen” place, good for people watching and an expensive cocktail. Visit solo on a weekday and they’ll serve you very good food in a quiet corner – I like.
• **Posthotel Rössli has perfectly good food and is friendly, on the main drag. 

Ski Report: We’ve spent most of our time in the Eggli area. Slopes are generally not crowded, perfect for beginner/intermediate skiers. When conditions are right, a favorite for advanced skiers. It’s one of our favorite places to ski in Switzerland. Dining while skiing:

• **Hotel Arc-en-ciel Gstaad is right at the bottom of the Eggli lift, and a good, fine dining experience with a very large menu and a sunny patio. Our normal go-to-spot for lunch.
• *Bergrestaurant Eggli and the adjacent *Snoasis are the place to be seen up at mid-mountain. Both are a fine choice for a cocktail, but the food is really not very good and I’d eat elsewhere.  

Wasserngrat is a small part of the Gstaad ski area – it’s a 7 minute drive, or 20 minute bus ride, from Eggli. For this reason it took us forever to actually get over to it, but it’s a charmer! Really steep groomers, a lot of fun, two runs and one lift. Bring the big guns! Not crowded at all. We loved our lunch at **Berghaus Wasserngrat which has a beautiful terrace with stunning views over Gstaad. Excellent service.

Château d’Oex

Another pretty town on the approach to Gstaad (in Vaud), Château d’Oex (say “Day”) is famous for being the World Alpine Capital of Hot Air Ballooning. We can’t quite trace the sequencing of the original association – it’s tied to the actor David Niven and the movie Around the World in 80 Days – but regardless the town is home to an annual Balloon Festival. We attended in January 2023 on a foggy day, so the balloons were limited, but it didn’t particularly slow down the crowds. 

For food, *Ermitage Maison d’Hôtes gets everything right except the food. Nice restaurant, good staff, thoughtful wine list. Food was plated well but oddly tasteless. We will try again; could have been an off day.

There’s a very small ski area, but this area is fairly low elevation and snow coverage is spotty at best. It’s a very pretty hiking area.

Feutersoey

Feutersoey is a small community on the pass between Gstaad and Les Diablerets – home to Galen’s favorite garage in Switzerland, Porsche Service Zentrum Gstaad. Name aside, they service a wide range of exotic cars and a visit there is a treat.

***Restaurant Rössli in Feuterosey is one of Gstaad’s longest-standing restaurants – owned by the Reichenbach family since 1919. The current proprietors, a youngish couple, serve truly wonderful food. Service is top notch, the setting classic and charming.

Lauenensee

Continue past Gstaad to the end of the box canyon and you’ll reach pretty **Lauenensee – a small Alpine lake with a hiking ring around it. This is low stress, all fitness levels hiking with pretty scenery. We’ve visited in winter (frozen, quiet) and plan to return in the summer for lovely wildflower views. It looks popular, and there’s a pretty restaurant in the summer months for dining overlooking the lake.

Rougemont

Rougemont is quite nice – it has the appearance of a rather elegant bedroom community to Gstaad. Our favorite place to stay in the area. For British royalty fans, it’s also where Princess Diana went to finishing school. Technically in Vaud, and French-speaking. Direct lift access to the Gstaad ski area. 

• **Café du Cerf serves extremely cheesy fare (fondue, croute, malakoff, roesti, etc) in a very cute wooden dining room. 
• **Hôtel de Rougemont & Spa is a newer property, aiming for quite high end. It’s a pretty building, with what looks to be a fairly extensive spa. We had lunch (a good burger and club sandwich) at the casual lunch restaurant, Le Lounge – there’s also a very fancy dinner restaurant on site.
• **Hôtel Restaurant Valrose is one of the most high-end dining places in Switzerland. You can stay at the hotel for a fairly reasonable price (not cheap, but value for the price) – it’s beautifully appointed, very comfortable, very easy parking, access to slopes. There’s a beautiful bar area, very good cocktails. Great breakfast! Almost a ***, but we didn’t find the Cafe (the casual dining) particularly remarkable. Michelin experience on the list for a future visit.
• **La Trattoria Rougemont is a great find, fancy and diverse Italian food (menu changes daily; expect higher end pricing). The setting, in a historic building, is romantic and charming. Friendly Italian staff. (sadly, now closed)

Saanan

Saanan is often overlooked as the ‘last train stop before Gstaad.’ It has a compact and charming downtown, with a nice cluster of historic decorated buildings. The surrounding areas are open and generally feature wonderful views. It’s a good place to stay.

• **Hotel Spitzhorn was okay. Everything was good enough, and in some cases quite good (loved the menu diversity). Spa could have been better, rooms were a little bland.
• **HUUS Gstaad Hotel is very hip and ‘designed.’ Pricy, nice views. The restaurant is expensive, even on Swiss terms ($50 entrees, $20 cocktails), but quite delicious.
• **Hotel Landhaus has really, really good traditional food. It’s almost a three star destination – definitely the best food we’ve had in the Gstaad area. Try the house-made spicy sausage! Our waiter told us the hotel is popular for conferences and shares an owner with HUUS.
• We rented an Airbnb just next to Hotel Spitzhorn and loved the location – easy walking to everything, quite quiet. In the summer, the place is right next to the community pool.

Ski Area: Rinderberg – Saanersloch – Horneggli

Saanenmöser

Heading East from Gstaad to the next ski area, Schonried is covered under the same Gstaad pass, but not actually connected with lifts. It’s a nice, intermediate mountain with a lot of terrain, a bit less fancy than the other mountains in the area. Good warm up runs for a first day, but we still prefer Eggli.

There are good food options – we’ve tried:

• *Berghaus Horneggli was just okay – not a bad location, and the menu has all the classics (burger, rösti, Älplermagronen, schnitzel, etc.). Preparation was very average.
• **Romantic Hotel Hornberg: Excellent food and very nice outdoor patio. Hotel looks nice too.
• **Hotel Restaurant Hornfluh is a slope-side place with a massive menu (from pasta and pizza to sandwiches to rösti to sausage and more) and a sunny outdoor patio. Good option for skiing/hiking breaks.
• **Pasa Tiempo Bar -Saanersloch is a reasonable place to stop for a slope-side drink.

Zweisimmen

Zweisimmen is a very old town of the region, strategically positioned on a significant trade route over the Alps to Valais and Lake Geneva (passing through Lenk im Simmental). While written records date back to 1228, there are mesolithic artifacts and remains of a Roman era settlement nearby.

The village **St. Mary’s Church was probably built in the 10th or 11th century, with multiple expansions of the centuries. It’s worth a stop to admire the excellent restoration of the interior – frescos, murals, and stained glass from the 13th to 15th centuries. The rather unique (and quite beautiful) carved wooden ceiling was added around 1456. After the region was forcibly converted to Protestantism, the building was secularized and used for storage and meetings – perhaps a reason for the survival of the artistic elements, under layers of paint.

**Rinderberg Swiss Alpine Lodge is a newer find – it’s one of those rare places where the website really undersells the experience. Remodeled recently, in addition to the historic rooms upstairs, there’s an underground section that features private balconies opening onto the downhill slope (excellent views). There are two saunas, two hot tubs, and a huge patio for outdoor dining. Food was good enough – average breakfast, pretty good dinner buffet in the summer, and in the winter they have a small menu that was consistently tasty (if short on choices). The price is right – below $250/night for the standard rooms in 2025. The property is adjacent to a gondola (the means of access in the winter), and there are a lot of things on offer for families, including downhill scooters, and just up the lift a major playground. Strong recommend. 

(Notes for next time – the downstairs rooms are larger and newer.)

Just down the road, there’s a second dining option when the roads are open, *Restaurant Fang. It was a bit too rustic for my taste (very local, lots of kids), but the food was fine and the owners were nice. Heavy on meat- and cheese-centric Swiss classics.

**Forellensee Gstaad-Zweisimmen is an interesting find with a fancier dining experience than you might expect. Wedged between the road and the train tracks, this property specializes in trout fishing – you can book a fishing experience, and they’ll help you grill your catch for lunch. The setting is quite pretty, with a few small cabins to rent. Fancy plating and good service.

This is a great area for sports. Some favorites:

The ***Chalet Trail is an especially pretty walk, very well signed – we did the section from Zweisimmen to Boltigen. The Simmental houses, which date back to the 15th century, are an expression of great wealth, which the breeding and export of Simmental cattle brought to the sunny mountain valley many years ago. In the 17th and 18th century, the pleasure of embellishment and the demand for all things decorative reached their peak. The facades of the residential buildings facing the valley or roads became ornamental, demonstrating the social position of the owners and the craftsmanship of the carpenters.

We also loved hiking in ***Sparenmoos (Route 190) – a beautiful spot for a gentle hike, or cross-country skiing and sledding in the winter. Not too strenuous, would be good for families. Stunning vistas over all of Gstaad and Lenk.

For biking, we took the fairly strenuous **B4 St. Stephan Loop, which has beautiful vistas. With an eBike, it’s manageable; a standard bike would present a challenge for the 913M ascent. 

Articles:  https://www.yolojournal.com/saanenla/

Ski Area: Glacier 3000

Glacier 3000 is high production, and in the summer months can be very touristy (large tour groups arriving by bus). It’s not cheap (CHF 89/ticket, though it is covered by the Magic Pass) but it comes with a very dramatic gondola ascent and then a full range of activities, including skiing year round, a very high suspension bridge, restaurants, dog sledding, and a toboggan run in the warmer months. Note that it’s not quite as scenic as the Cliff Walk in Grindelwald. The area straddles two cantons, but is firmly French-speaking.

The highest peak features a Mario Botta building with three restaurants of varying quality and price points. The top restaurant, **Restaurant Botta, is very tasty, with excellent views. French food.

**Midbar Oldenalp is perfect for a break in the sun, with a small grill and fairly extensive drink menu.

*La Quille du Diable is the most remote dining spot, and I’d skip it – small, a bit grimy. Perhaps stop by for the view.

Galen’s ski report: the off-piste is reportedly good, but on days without new snow, you’re stuck with the limited groomed runs, most of which are flat. However, the black wall, which generally opens in the afternoon after the ice thaws, is extremely entertaining for its steepness, funness, and access via tunnel. Not a strongly recommended place to visit, more of a novelty.