Lace up your hiking boots, stash some snacks in your backpack, and don’t forget to pack your jammies. We’re taking you along on a stunning hike from Gimmelwald to the Tanzbödeli with an overnight stay in the rustic Obersteinberg Hotel.
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How to start the hike to Obersteinberg
Our day started bright and early with a train to Lauterbrunnen, a bus to Stechelberg, and a cable car ride to the car-free village of Gimmelwald. From here, we walked on the main road through the village until we reached this trailhead.
We’re actually going to Tanzbödeli, but we need to follow the route to Obersteinberg until Tanzbödeli shows up on the signs.
Although we have a lot of elevation gain ahead of us, the trail starts with a descent through the shady forest and along a cool river.
And now our climb begins as we trek into the Sefinen Valley. Even if you’d rather not do the entire hike we’re showing you today, we highly recommend even a short walk in this beautiful valley, which is often left off of most tourists’ itineraries.
Notes about the trail from Gimmelwald to Tanzbödeli
Jana needs a break to catch her breath and I want to see the views. In fact, we highly recommend that you stop every so often to just turn around and scope out the landscapes. Some of the stuff is a different perspective on maybe some mountains and things you’ve seen before, but by this point I’m seeing things that I haven’t seen, no matter how many hikes I’ve done around here.
A comment on the trail, though. It is a standard red and white mountain trail, so no steep drop offs or anything dangerous, but it’s been a relentless uphill for like 1 hour and 15 minutes. But I’d say if you’ve hiked something like Harder Kulm, it’s somewhat like that. But even steeper and a little more total elevation gain. So make sure you’re prepared for this hike. It is hard, but I think it’s going to reward us pretty well.
According to the trail sign, we are 20 minutes away from Tanzbödeli now. We’ve spent years in the Jungfrau Region, so we’re very familiar with these views and of course they’re amazing. But this is our first time being so far back in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, so I cannot wait to get to the top to see even more of what it looks like.
Welcome to the Tanzbödeli
Welcome to the Tanzbödeli. This wide grassy plateau delivers 360 degrees of jaw dropping views from the Lauterbrunnen Valley below to the snowy peaks and glaciers above.
Not to mention that there are plenty of waterfalls too. Tanzbödeli means “dance floor” and apparently a long time ago there used to be a lot of local festivals and dances up here. That would actually be really cool to see! But during our visit it was quiet, peaceful, and nothing but us mesmerized by nature.
Man, I’m so glad we have pictures (and a video!) to show you because words literally could not possibly describe this. We’ve been to so many spots here in the Jungfrau Region, and this might be the best. It’s hard to imagine topping this — although there are some others that are close.
But at this point, we’ve been hiking for like 3 hours plus filming and our bellies need fuel. So we brought along a picnic and I can’t imagine a better picnic spot than this. If only we had a drone!
Tips for the hike to Tanzbödeli and Obersteinberg
All right, we finished our lunch and just made it back down the 20 minutes from the top of the Tanzbödeli. And like I mentioned earlier, we did a ton of research before this hike and we kind of had a hard time finding good information. So here are a few tips based on our experience:
Definitely bring hiking poles. We can’t recommend them enough for the majority of the hike. I will say I don’t think they’re that helpful on the last bit and we actually left them behind. You go up and down the same way when you’re going up to Tanzbödeli. So we actually dropped a bag to save some weight, too.
And I was a little bit worried because I heard some people saying maybe you’re scrambling to get up there. I wouldn’t call it scrambling. But as you got closer to the top, it was pretty steep. And I appreciated having my hands free to be able to put them on rocks for balance.
So I think for the majority of you who are seasoned hikers who come on a good weather day (I’d say that’s important) I think you could probably do this without incident. But of course, use your discretion. We can’t tell you if something’s safe or not, but something that is a safe bet is we’re going to be really happy when we make it to Hotel Obersteinberg, which is about 45 minutes in that direction.
Why Hike to Hotel Obersteinberg
We have made it to the Obersteinberg. This place is charming beyond charming, and I cannot wait to give you a tour and show you around. But first I wanted to explain something. So obviously we love hiking, but we have never done an overnight hike together. This one has been on our list for years, but there are thousands of trails in Switzerland. So how did we pick this one?
- Well, first of all, it’s in one of the most stunning locations in the Jungfrau Region.
- Second, it’s not terribly long or difficult and doesn’t require any special skills or mountaineering gear.
- Third, while many of the lodging options along hiking trails in Switzerland are more rustic alpine huts, this is a full fledged hotel, and the room and board meant that we didn’t need to pack a ton of gear with us in our bags — more on that in a moment.
- And fourth, we’ve been waiting to hike this specific trail until we could combine it with an overnight stay here at Obersteinberg.
So basically, this is the experience we’ve been waiting for. So if you love hiking like we do and you’d like to try a more approachable overnight hike, then we highly recommend this one. Although you could do this entire hike, including the trail back to the Valley, as a really long day hike if you’re up for it.
Tour of Hotel Obersteinberg
It’s the middle of the afternoon right now and dinner isn’t until 7 pm, so we have plenty of time to show you around and relax a bit too. But I did want to remind you that Hotel Obersteinberg is only reachable by foot. So everybody here, whether they’re staying overnight in the hotel or just stopping in the restaurant, literally got here by their own two feet. Although I did read that they bring in supplies with mules also. That’s kind of cool!
And this is also a truly rustic off the grid location. There is no electricity yet it’s a fully functioning hotel and restaurant. There’s just something super nostalgic about that and it’s fascinating. It kind of feels like we’re stepping back in time, you know?!
As you can see, there is a nice big terrace outside and a spacious indoor dining room, too. And all of the bedrooms are upstairs.
Welcome to our room. We’re staying in room number 6. But first things first: no shoes in the bedroom, but they do provide you some really nice cozy slippers. Our room is so cute. Let me give you a little tour! We have a nice closet, a vanity and mirror, a desk, and — oh my gosh, look at these beds! These duvets look so cozy I can already imagine that we’re going to sleep so good tonight.
We each got a piece of candy on our bedside table, and the room comes with a candle too. Remember there’s no electricity here! And actually, when we booked, they told us that we needed to bring two things with us: cash and a flashlight. But I am glad we have a candle in case of backup.
What to pack for an Overnight at Hotel Obersteinberg
We really struggled with what to pack to bring here, so I thought it might be helpful to show you what we brought in our backpacks to help you pack when you plan your trip to Obersteinberg.
- First, a water bottle, of course.
- We have some leftovers from our picnic lunch today.
- We both brought a sweatshirt because it was cold this morning and it’s probably going to be chilly again this evening.
- A hat and sunglasses.
- A toiletry bag. We went pretty minimal with a hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, contacts, that kind of thing. And of course, sunscreen — Brett never goes anywhere without sunscreen.
- An extra pair of socks and underwear.
- An extra shirt.
- We knew we’d arrive and have some time to relax in the afternoon to be brought a few of our favorite card games with us.
- Brett has a headlamp and I have a solar lantern.
- And I packed one luxury splurge item — that’s my Kindle because I cannot fall asleep without reading.
And I almost forgot! I was worried there would be no running water and an outhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that there’s a shared bathroom in our hall with one sink and two toilets and the water is drinking water.
Book Your Stay at Hotel Obersteinberg
The hotel is open from around the end of May to the end of September, and you need to make your reservation by phone. In 2024, half board costs 97 CHF per adult, which includes your room, dinner, and breakfast.
Speaking of food, this family-run hut also uses local products from their farms, including cheese and butter. And I already can’t wait to see what we eat for dinner! But until then, I think we’re just going to relax on the terrace, maybe play some games and see if we can meet any other hikers.
Dinner at Hotel Obersteinberg
So we just finished dinner and it was amazing. All the guests were seated in the indoor dining room and we shared a table with another couple. The food came out family style. So first we had a really yummy veggie soup, and then the main course was pasta, salad, and beef chunks — also amazing. And dessert was pear and chocolate pudding. Everything was just so fantastic! We loved getting to talk to the other travelers and then as soon as we finished dinner, it was like golden hour, so we had to come outside and see the mountains.
But it’s about time for bed now. So we’ll pick things up bright and early tomorrow morning with our next adventure.
Breakfast at Hotel Obersteinberg
Good morning. We slept so peacefully! I will say it was very quiet, except for the sound of the waterfall…and all the creaking floors every time someone walked down the hall to the bathroom. But still, we had a great night! We just finished breakfast. It was a simple fare of bread, butter, jam, cheese and juice, but enough for us to get started on our hike for today.
Welcome to the Oberhornsee
Wow, this is stunning. Welcome to the Oberhornsee. I cannot imagine a better way to start the morning. We both love beautiful, peaceful mornings — and this is it!
I mean, the hike here was incredible. Both of us thought about maybe not coming here because we’ve got a lot of hiking still ahead. But I cannot imagine having missed this hike because it’s not just this beautiful lake. I mean, the walk here over waterfalls across bridges (I mean, over waterfalls using bridges, of course!), and then so many fields of beautiful wildflowers. And I just feel like we’re tucked so far back in this valley that hardly anybody ever sees this stuff. Like this glacier that’s above us, and the craggy peaks — it’s just indescribable.
Between the Tanzbödeli and here, it’s hard to imagine a better spot in the Jungfrau Region if you’re just looking for unspoiled nature. I could go on about this all day, but we’re going to hike back to the Obersteinberg Hotel where we actually left one of our bags and then we’ll check out and continue the journey ahead of us.
But we can’t come here and not at least feel the water. I heard you could swim here, so let’s see how cold it is. Oh yeah, that’s definitely glacier water. I don’t even know if I’d put my feet in that!
Hiking from Obersteinberg to Trachsellauenen
All right, we have picked up our bags and checked out of the hotel, and we still have a few more adventures ahead of us. But I just wanted to say that this was an awesome overnight experience. I don’t know if we could have picked a better hike and a better hotel for our first overnight hike in Switzerland.
We could retrace our steps from yesterday, but we’re headed down to Stechelberg in the Valley instead. And there are actually 2 different options from here: an upper route that’s shorter, steeper, and has more mountain views; or a lower route that’s longer, less steep, and has more waterfall views.
We picked the lower trail because there’s a restaurant along the way and some really cool mines to see. Yesterday was all uphill so as you can imagine, today will be mostly downhill.
Hiking from Trachsellauenen to Stechelberg (Lauterbrunnen)
Welcome to Trachsellauenen. Like where we stayed last night, this is a hotel and fully functioning restaurant. We just stopped here for lunch and my gosh, the food was fantastic. We definitely recommend it!
I mentioned earlier there are mines here and there’s apparently not a whole lot to see. But from the 1400s to 1800s, they mined for lead, silver, and barite, which is just super interesting.
And from here it’s just a 40 minute hike back down into the Lauterbrunnen Valley to our final stop in Stechelberg, where a bus awaits to take us (and you if you decide to enjoy this experience) basically anywhere you want to go.
But before you try this overnight hike, read this to see what else you can do in Lauterbrunnen Valley. Or if you want to see more of our absolute favorite Swiss hikes, read this too. And we’ll see you in Switzerland!