Wengen in winter

If you like good skiing and the charm of a small mountain village Wengen is for you. Wengen, with Murren on the other side of the valley, is the home of Downhill skiing. Here the Downhill Only Club was founded by the British in 1925 and flourishes still. The members went up to the top of the ski runs on the train to ski back to the village - other skiers walked back up ! Thus, in Wengen, started the sport as we know it today.

There are over 100 km of ski pitse in the Wengen area. For a ski piste map click here. These range from one of the best nursery slopes in the Alps to the Lauberhorn World Cup Course over 2.5 km of excitement ,or fear, depending on your ability.

There are also black runs such as "Oh God." The difficulty of the run is clearly expressed in its name ! Access to the main areas is via the railway to Kleine Scheidegg or the cable car to the Mannlichen. The new cable car gets you to the top of the runs in only 7 minutes from the centre of village. One of the key benefits for visitors to Wengen is that there are a good number of long runs, up to 8km (5 miles) for those from beginner to intermediate. The split is: 31km easy runs, 51 km intermediate and 23km of expert.

The slopes range from high level open areas to the excellent runs through the woods back to the village. New lift upgrades and additional snow making facilities have been added in the past year making the skiing even better.   

The main piste through the woods from Kliene Scheidegg runs within 100m of the apartment - so you can literally ski back to within 5 min of the door. It is easy to ski down to Grindelwald on the other side of the Mannlichen and return either by train or by the longest gondola in Europe. There is some excellent off piste skiing to be had, but guides are essential. The skiing season lasts from November until Easter. There is normally good snow high up right up until late April.

To keep the energy levels up there are a number of good mountain restaurants both at Mannlichen, Kliene Scheidegg and en route down the runs at several points. The Kliene Scheidegg area sits under the massive walls of the Eiger - no photograph can do justice to the 2000m towering walls of rock that have challenged, and sometimes tragically beaten, generations of climbers. Taking a break at Kleine Scheidegg relaxing at the foot of the Eiger looking up to the snow covered peak with its glaciers is a view no one will ever forget. For the non-skier there are sledging runs - to some skiers more frightening than skiing - curling and two skating rinks. Provided they have the right equipment walkers can access the skiing areas as well along the winter hiking trails. So if you have non-skiers with you it's not a problem. The train and cable car allows even the elderly to get to the top of the skiing areas to savour the views and the food in the restaurants.

If you need a day off your ski pass will give you a special price to get to the Jungfraujoch - the highest station in Europe at 11,333 ft. Sunbathing on the patio of the apartment is another option. After a hard day on the slopes a relaxing drink can be had in many of the bars, or you could be tempted by the irresistible cakes and hot chocolate at the Cafe Grubi. For more excitement you can take a higher level view of the scenery by taking a helicopter trip from the mountainside at Mannlichen. If nervous, you may prefer just to sit outside the restaurant watching the pilot take off and land avoiding the peaks around.

There are two good ski schools in Wengen, the Privat School specialising in one to one tuition. If you can afford this we would recommend it as the fastest way to improve your skills. Privat, run by the charming Tino Fuchs, has an excellent group of instructors, all of whom speak good English. There are several places to hire skiing gear. Central Sport in the village is very good: and also is excellent at dealing with painful or ill fitting boots. We would suggest that if you buy boots get them here and not from home. Central Sport will check them for you after each days skiing and either make sure they fit or change them - these are the real experts.

For those who visit Wengen in the winter a visit in the summer is a must. As well as seeing the skiing area as green meadows there is more to do in and around Wengen than in the winter - and the scenery is the same, just as stunning - but very different ! For example the summer offers massive waterfalls, the beautiful lakes, the heated swimming pool, parascending, river rafting and also walking or cycling the ski runs you did back to the village is an interesting experience! For further information see Wengen in summer.