Wengen hotels

Stayed at the Silberhorn about 15 years ago for 7 days in the Winter. It is literally across the street from the train station.

I have not stayed in any of them, but the Maya Caprice has a fabulous restaurant. Some of the best pizza in the entire area.

We spent the first week of October in a junior suite at the Maya Caprice and absolutely loved it.

It is about two minutes from the station, up a very slight slope, but everywhere in Wengen is.

The only thing that I didn't like was that it didn't have large picture windows for the stunning view. Having said that it is in the Swiss Chalet style, so they wouldn't work anyway. The view was so stupendous that we spent all our time on the balcony, and if it was chilly, just used a blanket.

The restaurant was indeed excellent. I never had a pizza, as there were too many other things on offer. We had our 40th anniversary dinner there and it was incredible, so good we booked for our last night. We rarely eat twice in one place, but this was worth it.

I’m a big fan of Hotel Schonegg and have stayed there twice—June 2022 and June 2024—and will stay there again. I get the small queen room which faces the mountains and playground. Here’s a video from my balcony. You can see the playground below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tfzRbe1ZKwfND7y19

I’ve never had an issue with noise. I’m out and about during the day and kids playing outside at a playground would not bother me.

Breakfast is typical for a small European hotel. I wouldn’t put this breakfast in my top 5, but it’s not at the bottom either. If you expand on what you mean by “quality of breakfast” I can provide more detail.

Thanks Laurel : I too have heard a lot about the restaurant at Maya Caprice and the great meals they serve.

DebH : Thanks for the detailed post. We too are thinking about booking a Junior Suite at Maya Caprice and from your post it seems like that’s the right decision.

Since you have stayed there, do you feel any other hotel would be a better choice ?

.

Hi Carrie
Thanks for your input.
Also thanks for sharing the video .. I agree the view is breathtaking . In your video I hear some bells .. is that the church bells ?

Do you know if the hotel has all rooms with balconies facing the kids park ( Jungfrau ) or do you know if the Life style Junior suite has a balcony that faces the Maanlichen ?
By quality of breakfast I mean : availability of warm and freshly made eggs , cooked meats and fruits. Some continental breakfasts have no hot or freshly prepared dishes or eggs.
TIA

Yup, those were the church bells in the video. I love that sound! :-) Most of the rooms face the mountains because that’s what most people want. I could see the Männlichen from my balcony. In the video, the blue/grey building with the slanted roof is the Männlichen cable car station. I was able to watch the cable cars go up and down.

I added two pictures to the link in my previous post. The first shows the other side of the hotel. That’s where you would enter, not up the stairs in the front. There are a few rooms on that side, but I don’t think you’d want that. You want to see the mountains. The other picture is the source of the church bells. Even if you stay at another hotel, by sure to walk to the church for the views. It’s just past the Schonegg on the left.

I don’t think you’ll like the breakfast. The continental breakfast had no hot items. I think there is a menu you can order from for hot items, but I did not do that so I couldn’t tell you what the options are.

I’m not familiar with the Maya Caprice, but it sounds like that might be a better fit for you if they have a hot breakfast. Both hotels have a 9 or higher rating on booking.com. Those are the ratings I trust.

Good luck deciding. I don’t think there’s any wrong choice. Go with your gut.

Thank you so much Carrie for your detailed reply

I could not see the other two photos , only the video is available at the link.

One last question .. how far is the hotel from the railway station and is it a flat or a steep walk.

TIA

Meenamehta74, the only thing that wasn't almost perfect about the Maya Caprice was that it had no large floor to ceiling windows. Having said that they really wouldn't fit with the Swiss Chalet style of the building. This meant though that to really appreciate the views you needed to be outside, or right by the window. This wasn't a massive problem except that sometimes it was very chilly in the evenings and early mornings. Never mind, I sat there anyway, as the view was the entire reason I was there.

As for breakfast, there was a full continental buffet along with hot mushrooms and tomatoes, I think. You could also order eggs, which I did every morning, they made an excellent omelette. You could get fried or scrambled eggs too from memory, along with sides of bacon. The only thing I didn't like was that breakfast started at 7am but the egg chef didn't start doing eggs until 8am, which meant you couldn't get a super early start if you wanted eggs. Again, we worked around it.

I couldn't understand why they didn't get a chef who'd cook eggs at 7am until we ate our first dinner there. If you have a chef who can cook like that I would think you would let him do whatever he (or she) wants just to keep him!

We did walk past the Schonegg a couple of times but it was closed during our stay. It was a much longer walk from the station than I would prefer, but that is only because I struggled with breathlessness due to altitude. That walk would have been tough for me under those circumstances, although it did look like a nice hotel.

I quickly used my hiking app to map it out for you, maybe that will help. From the train station to

Schönegg

• Distance: .33km (.205 miles)
• Ascent: 10m (32.8 feet)
• Time to walk: 5 minutes

Note: the walk is along the main street, handy to grab a coffee or treat from the bakery before heading out for the day, or to go up Männlichen or stop in at the TI with any questions you may have. All of these are between you and the train station.

Maya Caprice (assuming you can access the hotel by crossing the train tracks and do not have to walk all the way around)

• Distance: 0.13 km (.081 miles)
• Ascent: 3 m (9.8 feet)
• Time to walk: 2 minutes

Those who have already shared their personal experiences with these hotels provide invaluable input, but this might help you get a lay of the land.

Sorry about that. I created a new link, which should (hopefully) work.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tfzRbe1ZKwfND7y19

I also added a picture of the inside of my room so you can see the nice big windows.

Very helpful of SwissNomad to add the walking details. You can see neither hotel is far from the train station. And to state obvious, Wengen is on a mountain. So, if you stray from the train station, at some point, you will be walking up or down.

Lauterbrunnen is nice and flat, but you won’t have the mountain views. But I do love the cliffs and waterfalls down there.

DebH

Thanks for the details that have helped me make up my mind.
I agree that not having floor to ceiling windows in a place where view is it utmost importance doesn’t make sense. But then that’s how the Swiss chalets were made I suppose .. to keep the heat in.
The breakfast sounds very good and I too have heard about how good their dinners are.
Did you take the half board option?
Would you recommend taking the half board option?

Thanks for all your inputs.

I have not stayed at Hotel Schonegg, but I stayed very close to it. I don't recall noise being an issue by the Schonegg, but I was out all day and there was really very little activity in the area at night, especially kids. I think most of Wengen is fast asleep early if people have been out hiking all day.

There really isn't any reason to stay near the train station because the village is not that big. You can walk in either direction for 10 minutes and reach the end of the village. I suspect any hotel by the station will be more noisy than 5-10 minutes away.

No matter which hotel you choose, you have picked a great place to stay. Enjoy.

SwissNomad thanks a lot.
That was very helpful indeed.

Just for my knowledge and for future help to navigate trails : which hiking app do you use ?

TIA

Threadwear thanks for your input.

A couple of reviews on TripAdvisor talked about disturbance of sleep due to the noise of kids playing in the park. That’s why I posed this question on this forum.

And I agree with you, most of us in Wengen will be out most of the day hiking/ sightseeing and will come back to the hotel tired and ready to sleep early.

The reason I wanted to stay near the station is not becz of the walk but the steep climbs. We can walk a lot as long as the terrain is flat. a steep climb to the hotel from the station or to the station from the hotel is what I want to avoid ( if possible). Can you suggest a nice hotel which can be reached by an almost flat road.
TIA

I don't recall the walk to the Schonegg area to be too steep. A more of a slow gradual incline from the train station. Hotels past that area are an uphill walk.

I use this https://schweizmobil.ch/en/summer

Click on the map of Switzerland in the bottom right corner. If you zoom in close enough, in addition to the major hiking routes, you can see every yellow wanderweg path, of which there are many! I find this especially helpful if doing some of the walking paths around Wengen. I use the tracking option so that I can see exactly where I am on the trail. This has helped me stay on my intended course many, many times.

You can also choose to be shown all public transportation options. For example in the Lauterbrunnen valley this will allow you to see exactly how far you are from the next bus stop, click on the icon for that stop and you are led directly to the SBB timetable for that stop.

All of this is free, but to draw your own routes you need the paid version, you can look into that and see if it is worth it for you or not.

Google maps will also tell you the elevation change of a route you draw along the roads, so you could do that from the train station to the different hotels. I find that I can be very precise with my hiking app, so I included right when you get off of the train until where you enter the hotel, so my numbers were slightly higher than Google maps shows.

Threadwear is absolutely correct in their memory of the walk to Schönegg. I would suggest mapping out a few walks that you know at home. What are the ones that take you to the limit of what you are comfortable doing? Then compare those with any you plan on doing on your holiday. I would say that the incline to Schönegg, which is just before entering the hotel, is no steeper than the ramps at the train stations. You will certainly need to be able to do this throughout your travels in Switzerland!

As DebH pointed out, some will be affected by the elevation and it can be a bit more difficult than usual, so you can factor that in as well.

Meenamehta74, we were never offered a half board option, but to be fair we wouldn't have taken it anyway.

We enjoy eating out at different places and would have hated to be tied just to the hotel, although it was by far the best place that we ate at!

Each morning at breakfast they would offer the daily menu, which was a set three courses for around 64 CHF, which was very good value. We ate there twice and did use the menu the first time as we liked every dish on it. The second time we chose from the regular a la carte menu, more expensive but still very good.

There are lots of restaurants in Wengen, even late in the year when we went. The hightest rated one is Restaurant Baren. We ate there on our first night, and while the ambience was nice and it looked lovely, the food was just OK.

On our second night we ate at da Sina's and loved it. It just had such a casual, warm atmosphere and it was absolutely packed, with a huge variety of different traveller types. We loved the atmosphere and the food.

The third night was our anniversary and we ate at Maya Caprice - it was completely perfect.

Night four we ate at Golden India - we were the only people there which I didn't like, but hardly their fault. The food to be was bland, so I couldn't recommend.

Night five we had a reservation at Mira's for a particular dish. When we arrived they didn't have it, so we cancelled and went to Pasta and More. Again, pleasant but wouldn't repeat.

Nights six and seven we did go back to our favourites, da Sina's on the Wednesday, not quite as busy but still terrific, and then saved the best for last with revisiting Maya Caprice for our final dinner. Again it was faultless and they made a huge fuss of us too, giving us a table up on a dais, so we felt like film stars lol.

Hi SwissNomad

Thanks for your time and patience for firstly sending, and then trying to explain how to use the link to see the various hiking trails of Switzerland. I have opened the link several times and am now trying to familiarize myself with the map. How I wish that along with the link you could also send me the brain power needed to understand the map and master it

Although I can see Wengen and the yellow lines showing the wandering paths, I cannot understand the distance / elevation between various hotels and the station ( which is what I really want to do ) as the names of hotels are not given. I don’t know how to do that.

We are fairly fit and able to walk up to 5 miles, but would prefer to stay at a hotel without a steep incline as we would prefer to use our energy on the hikes rather than in going to and fro to our hotel. I don’t think the elevation will affect us much as I have been to Whistler ( Canada) without any problem. But that was almost 12 years ago and who knows what will happen now that I am 12 years older.

Can I ask you a hike related questions here or I need to start another topic ?

Hi Threadwear

Thanks for your reply.
Any idea how far Jungfraublick is from the station?
The hotel seems good but a bit far and as per what you have mentioned maybe the incline is too much too.

Hi DebH
Thanks for sharing a detailed list of places to have dinner. I have read very good reviews of every restaurant you have mentioned, specially Da Sina. I plan to book my stay of 7 days with HB , an option to be able to eat out for 3 days.
Will definitely try the food at each of these restaurants .
Any opinion about Restaurant Taverne in Wengen ?

Re lunch / brunch did you eat at Piz Gloria ?
We were thinking about booking a lunch there .

Also any opinion about :
1 Restaurant Berghaus in Murren which serves mountain brunch ?
Here’s the link:
https://www.berghaus-maennlichen.ch/en/events

2 In Gimmelwald : the mountain hostel and Pension Gimmelwald

3 In Lauterbrunnen: Lunch at Camping Jungfrau Alpine Lodge and Hotel Oberland

4 The Crystal Restaurant in Jungfraujoch

TIA

Hi, you are so welcome, happy to help!

I cannot understand the distance / elevation between various hotels
and the station

Oh sorry, I am so used to using this app that I did not think what it would be like for someone else. You can see every building, and since I know the area I could easily find which building the hotel was….not so helpful for you in this case.

Now that I realise you do not need absolutely exact distances, but just want to know if you will wear yourself out trying to get to the hotel, I think you can just use google maps, it will give you a close enough idea of what you will face.

Search from ‘Wengen Bahnhoff’ to the hotel you are researching. When you choose to see the walking directions, you can also see the elevation profile. On my computer when I do this for the Jungfraublick, it gives a few route options and says “all routes are mostly flat”, expand that to see the elevation gain and also a handy profile - run along this with your curser to see that it goes slowly up, then when you turn the corner (where Schönegg is) it becomes a bit steeper up to the Jugnfraublick. Total elevation gain is 21m.

Can I ask you a hike related questions here or I need to start another topic ?

You can do either, but I suggest starting a new topic. That way others are more likely to see it and you can get a variety of responses. Many people who reply here have been to Wengen, and one person actually lives there. There will be lots of people who can help you!

We never got to eat at the Restaurant Taverne in Wengen, as we simply ran out of time. The one evening we had free it was closed. It seemed to be fairly full every time we walked past though, which is always a good sign.

We didn't eat at Piz Gloria, but we did go in for a glass of delicious Bollinger though to celebrate that we'd made it to Schilthorn.
It was due to close in two days, and so we had limited opportunities and luckily the weather worked for us.

I personally didn't like the look of the buffet brunch, primarily because of the huge numbers of children being allowed to help themselves. I am not a fan of coughing and spluttering kids at buffets. Apart from that we were still full from our breakfast at Maya Caprice.

We never got to the Berghaus, but we did have lunch (and more champagne!) at the Berghaus Grindelwaldblick at Kleine Scheidegg. We did the hike from Mannlichen the day after Schilthorn and then stopped there for pork schnitzel sandwiches outside with the lovely view.

On our way back from Schilthorn we stopped for lunch in Murren, although for the life of me I can't remember where. We were both fairly disappointed with Murren, I know it was late in the season, but Wengen, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen appeared to all be open, Murren was dead and deserted. We did have a nice bowl of goulash soup, somewhere with an amazing view though, but it was really our only option for eating on a beautiful weekend day.

After lunch we did the nice and easy hike down to Gimmelwald and of course paid a visit to the Pension Gimmelwald with its lovely outdoor terrace. My husband enjoyed their famous Schwarz Monch beer, I hate all beers so had a glass of red. We actually enjoyed this terrace so much that we returned on our last day for another drink.

We didn't eat in Lauterbrunnen at all. We didn't find it a very impressive place, and it was chaotically busy with people and cars.
After the peace of Wengen it was the last place we wanted to be.

We also didn't go to Jungfraujoch, we simply ran out of time and by then we had seen enough mountains, so obviously we didn't eat there.

I hope this helps.

Hello Again,

I hope you are getting the answers you need. Your responses seem a bit confusing. You said, We are fairly fit and able to walk up to 5 miles, but would prefer to stay at a hotel without a steep incline as we would prefer to use our energy on the hikes rather than in going to and from to our hotel. The hotel seems good but a bit far and as per what you have mentioned maybe the incline is too much too.**

Perhaps the word "incline" is really throwing you off. If you can walk up a long wheel chair ramp, then you can handle the inclines to the named hotels in Wengen. The hotel mentioned is only a 5 minute walk from the train. Everywhere in Wengen will have small inclines to some degree as it is in the mountains. If you can walk 5 miles a day, I see no problem for you and I think you are stressing too much over the terrain in making choices. Good luck and enjoy Wengen.

Hi SwissNomad

Once again thank you so much for taking out your time and for your patience in explaining so well. I have now clearly understood how to find out the elevation between two points on google maps . Really appreciate your help.

Thanks for your advise : I shall ask my hikes related questions on a new topic

Thanks once again

Hi DebH

That was truly a very exhaustive list of all the lunch places in and around Wengen. You have literally made my itinerary so much easier .. now I will just go to all the places you have recommended and have a blast :)

Did you make a booking for drinks at Piz Gloria or you could just walk in and get a table ? Also I have read that the window tables are reserved for party of 4 people and not given to party of 2. Is that true ?

Before or after Shilthorn did you go to Birg ? Is it worth doing the Cliff Walk and thrill walk there in case one is going to do the Cliff walk at First ? Are they similar or different ?

Suggestion of Berghaus Grindelwaldblick at Kleine Scheidegg sounds good. Maybe we too will do that.

On your way back from Schilthorn, did you hike from Gruschap to Murren ?
We too plan to do the Murren to Gimmelwald hike and go to Pension Gimmelwald. It this place only for drinks or do they serve food too ?

In reply to your last line “I hope this helps”…
oh yes, it helps .. it helps a lot !

Really appreciate your inputs.

Hi Threadwear

I am sorry if I have not been able to explain my self clearly and my responses are confusing. We are 70+ years old and fairly fit for our age ( though not as fit as when we were 50 years old ). We do for walks in our neighborhood in Seattle for up to 4-5 miles at least 3 times a week .. but it’s on flat trails.
As we will be staying in wengen for 7 nights, and may go to and from the hotel maybe more than once a day, I am trying to make an educated and wise choice in selection of the hotel. That’s why my questions regarding steep climbs.

I agree with you , maybe I am over thinking and over stressing. After all the inputs I have received, I have narrowed my choice to 3 hotels : Maya Caprice, Silberhorn and Schönegg.

Thanks for all your help.

Meenamehta, I am younger than you, mid-60s, and also walk regularly. I also live in a hilly suburb, but due to altitude issues I found all of the mountain areas in Switzerland very tough. I am very pleased we didn't have to do added hills to and from the hotel, although other posters are right that it is only a gentle slope. There are so many gentle slopes though!

We only did the hike from Murren to Gimmelwald. We also did the one from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, plus one at Schynigge Platte which I found really tough.

There was limited food at Pension Gimmelwald, from memory there was a toastie that looked really good and a couple of other snack style things. We just had drinks.

We didn't do the Berg cliff walk as the website stated that it was closed. As our gondola sailed past it on the way down, we saw that it was actually open, but by then we had plans for Murren and Gimmelwald, so it was too late. I don't feel we missed too much as we did the one at First and I am sure they would be reasonably similar. There simply is not time to do everything.

As for our drinks at Piz Gloria, that was all a bit of an accidental muckup. We somehow entered the restaurant at a back entrance, there were no queues and we had no reservation. There were lots of empty tables as it was just after 11, so a bit late for breakfast and too early for lunch. Some tables had a Reservation sign so we ignored them, obviously, and sat at a completely empty table right by the window.

Shortly after the waitress came around and we ordered two glass of Bollinger. Of course the restaurant is constantly revolving, and we got to see virtually all of the better views before we moved to an area with a massive queue of people. A man came over and asked how we had got our seats and who seated us, so we told him. At that point he said we'd come in the wrong entrance and would need to join the very long queue, also that no window tables were available without a reservation. Oops.

Luckily for us, right at that moment the drinks arrived. Once he saw we had ordered, and paid for, Bollinger, he completely changed his tune. He said if we moved to the other end of the table we could stay and have our drinks.

I do feel if we hadn't ordered, or had just had water or a coke, he would have made us move. Hardly fair, but that's life I suppose. It was a genuine mistake on our part. We finished our drinks and left, which was what we had planned anyway, and luckily we had seen the views by then any.

So long story short, if you want to go you should book, but I don't think you can just book for a drink.

Hi DebH
Thanks for your in-depth reply.

Lucky, lucky you .. for getting to have your drink at Piz Gloria.
And thanks for sharing your story of “ how we got a table at Piz Gloria without prior booking” :)
Very interesting and very lucky indeed !

I shall go by ur advise, and book a table before going. Having said that, I feel it’s all so confusing as you are not supposed to book till you have checked the webcams on the morning of the day u are going and by that time most probably all the bookings are gone !!

Re your stay at Maya Caprice : I am planning to book Junior Suite No 45 which is on the 3rd floor. Do you remember your suite No. and the floor ? I am asking becz I am being offered Junior Suite No 18 which is larger but on the 1st floor. I am opting for Suite No. 45 as it’s on the 3rd floor as I feel that the higher you are , the better the view . But I could be wrong, and so seeking your input. Should I go for the larger suite or higher floor ?

I too plan on doing just one hike a day and need advise on them, but I am going to put that on another post.

Both of us are teetotalers and therefore my questions about non alcoholic beverages and snacks at Pension Gimmelwald.

Thanks for sharing all ur experiences .. they will all be invaluable when we go to wengen next year

Hi meenamehta74

For context I can see from her trip report that DebH visited Piz Gloria on the Saturday of the final weekend before their five month closure to complete the renovation of their aerial cableway.

They advertised special prices for these final days and many people booked their tables well in advance. This was not a usual Saturday by any means, so it might be helpful for you to create a new post regarding Piz Gloria so that you can hear the experience of others as well. Same with Pension Gimmelwald.

Many people will look at the title of your post to see what kind of question you are asking and those with relevant experience will answer. Since you are going in the summer, it could be good to hear from others that have gone at that time of year. Some things are seasonal, sometimes there are special events that change the experience of the day, etc. Hearing from various people's experiences can help you get a well rounded picture of what you might encounter.

SwissNomad you are quite right, we did visit on that last Saturday. I just assumed it was always that busy, plus it was a spectacular day with clear blue skies and sunshine.

Meenamehta, we had Junior Suite 18 on the first floor. I certainly couldn't fault our view and I couldn't imagine it being better if we were higher up.

https://photos.google.com/search/1086/photo/AF1QipN5YMDmT5aaRlvHABqOKVebfon5EuW2XcMfBBbE

Here is what our view looked like in the early morning.

Hi DebH

Thanks for your revert .

Since you stayed in junior suite 18, can u pls tell me if it has a private balcony or a shared balcony with other rooms ? I am asking becz a lot of reviews mention cigarette smoke and noise from people talking on adjacent rooms , disturbing their peace on the balcony.

Thanks for sending the link but for whatever reason it isn’t working.

I am asking becz a lot of reviews mention cigarette smoke and noise
from people talking on adjacent rooms , disturbing their peace on the
balcony.

This will always be a risk because the balconies are not enclosed spaces. You will be able to hear noise and possibly smell smoke if someone nearby is smoking. There’s no way to avoid it, other than move inside.

It was a private balcony but as Carrie mentioned if others are on their balcony you will hear noise and if they smoke you might smell it. There was certainly no smoke while we were there.

Not sure why the link isn't working, when I click it it does, so maybe I've done something wrong. Don't worry though, since we've now discovered we know each other on FB too, it is the same pic that I sent you in Messenger.

Hi SwissNomad

Thanks for your advise.
I understand that some events are seasonal, or special events and I cannot base my itinerary / day trip according to that. I agree that sharing the experience of several people will be very helpful to me. In a few days I shall put up posts on these topics and hopefully will get good advise on each.
In the meanwhile, as you live in the Berner Oberland region, I have a question for you. Can you please advise me as to the best month to visit this region. As per today I have a booking in the 3rd week of September 2025. But it snowed in the 2nd week of September in Wengen this year, and I read a lot of sad posts about tourists just sitting in their hotel rooms .. unable to go on hikes/ day trips.
Hence I would like to change my booking to the end of August.
What is your advise ?

TIA

Hi Carrie

It’s sad that in case you want to enjoy the mountain view ( the main reason for which you have gone to Switzerland) you have to put up with loud talk and cigarette smoke (even if you opt for smoke free room/ hotel) on your own balcony. As both of us are non smokers this smell can potentially be a big problem for us.
That’s the main reason I have booked a suite, thinking that suites may have private balconies. I am hoping that the suite of Maya Caprice has a private balcony and we don’t have to put up with someone smoking next to us. That’s why I had posed this question to DebH.

Hi DebH

Thanks for your revert.
I am happy to know that the Maya Caprice junior suite has a private balcony. Does private mean with a partition between two balconies or a separately enclosed balcony?

Hopefully we will get a non smoker and soft spoken people next to our room :)

And yes, no problem about the link, I saw the photos on messenger.

As per today I have a booking in the 3rd week of September 2025. But it snowed in the 2nd week of September in Wengen this year, and I read a lot of sad posts about tourists just sitting in their hotel rooms .. unable to go on hikes/ day trips.
Hence I would like to change my booking to the end of August.

Every year is different. We have had hot, dry weeks in late September there and snow in early September. This year was rainy everywhere, and apparently hard to forecast more than a day in advance. You go when you can, hope for the best, have plans for the worst. True whenever or wherever we travel.

Meena it is a private balcony, but not enclosed, therefore you can hear noise and would smell smoke if it is around.

Unfortunately in Europe, people smoke everywhere, particular on balconies, outside terraces in restaurants, in the street etc. I am a long time reformed smoker, but actually love the smell, so it doesn't worry me a bit.

As for balconies, you do have to be careful. We booked a suite in a well reviewed hotel in Zermatt, and one of the highlights was that the bed was facing the Matterhorn, which it was. The trouble was you couldn't leave the curtains open because the balcony was shared between us and the room next to us. They had children who kept running to our side and peering in. Not quite the romantic interlude I had planned, but what can you do?

For some reason, I thought you were going in the summer. But no matter when your holiday is, Laurel offers excellent advice: go when you can, hope for the best, and have plans for the worst.

When it snows very early (or late) in the season, it typically melts fairly quickly. As for people sitting in their hotel rooms because of snow on their intended hiking paths—that’s on them! There are always plenty of wonderful things to do here, and definitely no reason to waste time because of the weather!

Hi Laurel
Thanks for your advice.
I feel that that instead of changing my booking to late August, I shall just stick to my present booking , which is in 2nd week of September and hope for the best !

Hi DebH

Thanks for letting me know about the balcony. Hope we are lucky enough to get non smokers in adjacent rooms.

Sad that the “ peeping Tom’s “ spoilt your romantic interlude. We are just staying in Wengen , so don’t have to book anyplace else. That’s one thing less to worry about :)

Hi SwissNomad

I had booked in 2 nd week September as I had consistently read that September was the best season to go to Switzerland as the weather was cool with clear skies and less crowds.

You are not wrong in thinking that I was going in summer, becz due to the snowfall in 2nd week
of September in Wengen this year , I panicked and was planning to change my booking to end August.

However, now I think I am going to stick with my initial booking,
Thanks for helping me in firming up my plans.
Appreciate all the time u have spent in advising me.