Switzerland in January

I don't know that the few accomodations in Gimmelwald are open through the winter. At any rate--none of them is really "honeymoon" material. If you want to stay nearby, I would suggest Hotel Alpenruh in Mürren, or either the Alpenrose, Bären, or Bellevue in Wengen. There are winter hiking paths and shoeshoe paths from these villages as well as lift-served snowboarding.

However, these are popular ski resorts. If you would like a more remote, less well-known place, but one that still offers lifts and infrastructure for boarding, as well as miles of winter hiking paths and snowshoe trails, consider either the Lotschental (www.loetschental.ch) or Bettmeralp (www.bettmeralp.ch). The Lötchental website is only in German, but you can find a PDF brochure in 3 languages--click on "Winter Prospekt". Both areas are in the Valais, just south of the Berner Oberland, and within the UNESCO World Heritage site. I've only been there in summer, but both are beautiful---and uncrowded.

Thank you. I will continue searching online. The hard part is finding the sort of personal recommendations for winter in Switzerland like you find in a Rick Steve's book.

In terms of prices, in January you can get some great deals at most hotels mid-week, but during the weekends hotels are jammed to capacity and rates are sky-high. Make sure you make advance reservations for the weekends.

I should also clarify that we'd like to stay somewhere unique. For example: is Gimmelvald an option or are there some other "back door" places you would recommend?

There are lots of great ski resorts in the U.S. so our main reason for traveling across the ocean would be to experience something really different.

The Berner Oberland area is ideal for what you're looking for. It's a great skiing circus, as they call it, one of the largest skiing areas in the country. But it also comes with plenty of lovely, romantic towns and villages, stunning landscape etc etc. Consider staying at Wengen at least for your winter sports days...

If you are interested in the Jungfrau area(including Gimmelwald), head over to this site: www.jungfrauwinter.ch/

Make sure you check out the special winter map they have of the area:
http://tinyurl.com/2ujzs8

It shows you the various ski runs and chair lifts open in the winter.
Since this is a honeymoon you may want to see if you can find some good mid-week deals in the St. Moritz area.

Gimmelwald is wonderful in the winter but I don't think that it's really near the skiing areas. However, the Berner Oberland is really the area. Murren, at 5,300 ft. and the next gondola stop from Gimmelwald is a skiing village. Wengen is also very good but it's on the other side of the valley. One last suggestion is staying in valley with access to both sides of the valley. The main village is Lauterbrunnen. We've stayed at the Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen this past summer. It's 500 feet from the train station up a quiet street.

This is from their website. "In winter, our location offers the advantage of a ski piste that leads right up to the door. Both Murren and Wengen are easily accessible. The Hotel Silberhorn has a shorter walk to its lifts than many other hotels in the surrounding villages." The website is www.silberhorn.com. They also have a wonderful dining room. Ask to stay in the newer annex." We really like the Hotel Silberhorn but I would definitely look into Murren. It's simply stunning up there and would be very romantic.

Murren or Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Loved them both.