Vegan summer holidays centred in Wengen, Switzerland
Why holiday in Wengen?
We have now had several brilliant holidays in Wengen, Switzerland in the summer months. Why do we love Wengen? It is a quiet base for a holiday set in the midst of some of the most amazing scenery you could wish for, at an altitude of 1300 metres at the foot of the Jungfrau mountain range. See http://www.wengen.com/ for more information and webcam. We particularly enjoy staying in Wengen as it is a quiet, car-free village, with the exception of a few electric vehicles operated by the hotels and a small number of taxis.
We have visited a couple of times in mid to late June/early July, as well as some visits later in the year in September. In June/July, the meadow flowers seem to be magnificent and if you enjoy walking, as we do, they add a special bonus and provide amazing opportunities for some beautiful photographs. There are many walks from the village itself, and nearby a lovely level walk through the bottom of the valley from Lauterbrunnen station, there are also numerous walking route options from Mürren, the village on the opposite ledge across the valley from Wengen, and one of our real favourite areas, a range of walks from the top of the funicular railway at Allmendhubel reached from Mürren village centre. There are many well-marked trails to choose from to suit different levels of ability and energy!! These pictures gives you a taste of why we love these walks so much!
See http://www.jungfrauwinter.ch/pages/english/PST/PST_LiveCams.htm for other webcams around the Wengen area.
Travel in and around Wengen
For general information about travel to and within Switzerland, the Swiss Travel Centre is very helpful. See http://www.stc.co.uk/index.html . They can also book train tickets right through from the UK and can help you find the best price options, as well as sourcing a range of Swiss Rail Passes in advance. The following website is also excellent for rail travel options from the UK http://www.seat61.com/Switzerland.htm If you need to check rail links within Switzerland, the following website is fabulous, giving you all the information you need, including the platforms the trains will arrive and leave from! http://www.sbb.ch/en/
Wengen itself is reached by rail through Interlaken Ost station, via regular trains to Lauterbrunnen. You need to make sure you get on the correct section of the train. You will need to change trains at Lauterbrunnen for Wengen. From Wengen, you will be dependent on the regular and efficient trains down to Lauterbrunnen for onward links to Interlaken and beyond, and up to Kleine Scheidegg and right on up to the incredible experience of the Jungfraujoch. There is also a cable car that runs from the village centre up to Mannlichen – a high plateau above the village with panoramic views and another cable car link down to Grindelwald in the next valley. There are a range of travel passes you can buy to get reduced fares, such as the Jungfraubahn Pass - see http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-20/172_read-696/
A trip up to the Jungfraujoch is a really magical experience and worth the expense. Despite being at 3454 metres, ingenious Swiss engineering has taken a mountain railway all the way to the viewing station complex – the highest-altitude station in Europe, the final stage of the journey is inside the mountain itself. Be prepared for a chilly visit, even in summer, and for the altitude to make you a little breathless! The viewing platforms give the most stunning views down the glacier (on clear days – be sure to take sunglasses) and it is possible to walk out on the snow. You will feel like you are on top of the world! See http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-1/ If you are planning to make this trip and your accommodation has cable TV you can check on the Swiss resorts webcam channel before setting out to make sure the views are nice and clear. The station also has this TV link. Here is a sample of what you can expect to see!!
Another spectacular trip is up to the Schilthorn viewing complex above Mürren, reached by a large cable car carrying about 80 people up above some rather hair-raising rocky terrain. The cable car starts down in the Lauterbrunnen valley from Stechelberg, which is a pleasant level walk of about 40 – 50 minutes from the station at Lauterbrunnen if you are feeling like some gentle exercise, or a short bus ride. The views from the top are magnificent, mountain peaks surround you for 360º - just amazing. See http://www.swisspanorama.com/assets/images/schilthorn.jpg
For trips further afield, the Swiss Folk Museum at Ballenberg, which is reached via Interlaken by train to Brienz and then bus is a great day out. See http://www.ballenberg.ch/e/index_bb_500.html You can buy all in tickets for your chosen travel options, including entrance to the museum, at Wengen station. The huge museum site contains many reconstructed traditional buildings from all over Switzerland, laid out according to the region of origin, and during the summer there are usually guides in many of the chalets and buildings. You can buy hot and cold drinks on site, but we have not found any vegan food there, so a packed lunch is a must. The main problem will be tearing yourself away, you may just want to find a house and move straight in!! At the end of the day, you can opt to travel back to Interlaken on a lake steamer from Brienz, a journey of about 1½ hours. This can be quite a nice way to cool off with a cold drink and chill out after all the walking around the museum.
Another pleasant trip is to Thun, which can be reached by train from Interlaken Ost or by lake steamer from Interlaken West. Thun is a historic town with a striking castle and fascinating narrow passages and steps winding through the old town. Thun offers useful shopping opportunities for more specialist food items as noted below. Another pleasant trip from Thun in the afternoon is to Schloss Hünneg, a small, but perfectly formed art nouveau chateau with exquisite original interiors. See http://www.schlosshuenegg.ch/ for more information. The museum is reached either by bus or a pleasant short steamer ride across the lake from Thun to Hilterfingen and a short walk. Boats leave just across from the station.
Accommodation
We have always chosen self-catering accommodation, booked through Chalet Service, a company based in the village; their staff have always been extremely helpful and efficient. Their website has clear pictures and descriptions of the wide range of the accommodation on offer and we have found this information has been really accurate. http://www.chalet-service.com/english/index.htm . You need to be aware that unless the apartment or chalet is listed as very near the station it is likely to involve some steep walks up or down – the village definitely gets the leg muscles working! We choose self-catering as we like to have our own space to relax and really enjoy making time to cook while on holiday.
Vegan food
We have not found it too difficult to find vegan food in the Wengen area, although we do also take some basic supplies with us. Wengen is situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but food labelling is also in French, so you have two options you can work with. The Co-op in Wengen which is just opposite the station always has soya milk in stock. It is also usually possible to get some sort of bread or rolls there, although sometimes you may need to be content with white rather than wholemeal. The Co-op is a relatively small shop, but provides most of the basics you might need such as fresh fruit and vegetables, things liked tinned beans and frozen vegetables, staples like flour, rice, lentils, dried fruit, herb and fruit teas and fruit juices. There is also another small food shop in the village – the Frischmarkt. This is in the main street and again has fruit and vegetables, and some basic wholefood items. There are a couple of bakeries in the village, but we have not checked out the suitability of their produce for vegans! People often expect Switzerland to be very expensive for food - this can be true for specialist items, such as some things in health food shops, but with careful selection of basic ingredients it is possible to keep to a reasonable budget.
If you are self-catering, you need to be aware of shop closing times on your arrival day, as food shops often close at 4pm on Saturdays. We try to plan a quick food shop on our journey through to Wengen. You may be able to break your journey at Bern, where there are some food shops in the station complex . There is also a buffet-style restaurant Tibits just outside Bern station which has menu of hot and cold food sold by weight to eat in or take-away. The food is quite reasonably priced and there is a great selection of savoury dishes and imaginative salads for vegans. Items on the self-serve buffet are all clearly marked so you don’t need to ask which items are safe for vegans. See http://www.happycow.net/europe/switzerland/bern/index.html . This link also gives information about a couple of health food shops in Bern.
The other place for a convenient food shop stop en-route to Wengen is Interlaken Ost with a huge Co-op supermarket just opposite the station. There are plenty of luggage lockers on the station (make sure you have a selection of coins with you) so you can dump off your cases and shop unencumbered! This Co-op has quite a lot of choice to offer vegans – as well as a brilliant range of fresh fruit and veg, ready made salads, fresh sprouted beans and seeds and fresh herbs, together with all the usual staples and a good selection of breads. With careful searching we have also found tofu, tofu burgers and a useful frozen 14 veg and bean minestrone soup base to which plenty of fresh veg can be added to give a really good base for a hearty vegetable stew. I have also found chilled pastry and pizza dough, although obviously this is made with white flour – you just need to check ingredients carefully. It is worth remembering that the prices in the Co-op in Wengen will be the same, so don’t load yourself up with basics that you can pop into the village shop to pick up just as easily as and when you need it.
There are also a few other places we have found useful for vegan items if you are travelling down from Wengen and around the general area. At Wilderswil (a station 5 minutes before getting into Interlaken Ost from Lauterbrunnen), the small Migros supermarket opposite the station always seems to stock very reasonably priced soya yogurts. In Thun, a lovely historic town on one of the two lakes either side of Interlaken, there are large Co-op and Migros supermarkets. Migros again stocks soya yogurts and flavoured soya milks. There is also a small health food shop, the Egli Reformhaus, which stocks a good range of soya milks and creams, patés and chilled vegan food staples such as tofu and tofu cutlets and vegan sausages. See http://www.happycow.net/europe/switzerland/thun/index.html
I usually also take some basic food supplies with me to supplement what is available. We have often found the apartments we have booked through Chalet Service have a small selection of items such as vegetable oil and soy sauce and other condiments in the cupboard which can be quite useful. I always take a large tub of margarine as this is not something we have been able to trace easily. I freeze this beforehand and transport in an insulated bag to try and keep it cool for as long as possible during the length of the journey from home. I also always pack yeast extract, a few stock cubes and a couple of herb and spice mixes to pep up vegetable based-dishes. Some vegetable paté – a non-refrigerated kind can also be useful to get you started. If you like it, then it may be worth taking something like Sosmix which is light to carry and can be useful to supplement other available items. It has to be said it is difficult to get sweet items that can be useful for keeping energy levels up if you are out walking all day, so I also tend to pack some fruit and cereal bars, as well as being ready to bake a batch of something suitable while I am away. For this reason I often pack a sachet of baking yeast so I can make fruit buns or similar.