Looking to find local food, wine or folklore festivals in Switzerland in the Fall, particularly September and early October. Prefer those in villages and smaller towns and not those in very large cities. Would appreciate recommendations and shared experiences.
Posted by
Rocky Mount, VA
290 posts
If you want to see cows and enjoy cheese and local traditions, the Chasteilet in the Justistal near Thun and Interlaken is scheduled for September 16, 2022. It’s an amazing festival in a beautiful valley where large wheels of cheese are distributed to the local farmers. People gather in traditional garb, and the cows are adorned with flowers and bells before being led down the road to where they will winter. There is spontaneous singing, food to buy, and wine as well.
Locals and guests are invited to attend this festival. After the Chästeilet, the farmers move back to Sigriswil with their cows decorated with flowers and treicheln. They move down the valley in different groups, so once the first group starts down, you can set up along the road between the festival site and the café for some photos or video.
https://www.interlaken.ch/en/planning/events/top-events/chaesteilet-justistal
https://www.sigriswil.ch/de/veranstaltungen/detail/detail.php?i=21454&highlight=ch%C3%A4steilet
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/experiences/events/chaeseteilet-im-justistal/
We took a special festival day bus from Thun to the Gron Parkplatz and walked to Spicherberg, the festival site. Afterwards, we walked to Beatenberg-Niederhorn (about an hour) and took the funicular to Beatenbucht and the regular bus back to Thun.
Spicherberg is about a 40 minute drive from Interlaken and 35 minutes from Thun, but there is a driving ban near Spicherberg the day of the festival.
The Chästeilet in Stechelberg is Sept. 24. I’m not sure if they have a big cow parade or not.
https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/experiences/events/kaeseteilet-stechelberg/
This link describes other alpine cow festivals:
The Alpabzug/ Alpabfahrt/ Alpabfahrten (festivals where the cows are decorated with flowers and return to lower pastures before winter) are great fun to attend. You can search those terms to find smaller local celebrations. Some aren’t scheduled until close to the actual day.
Also, many towns and cities have market days with lots of local food for sale in a festival-like atmosphere.
All the best,
Raymond