Bern Canton, Kandersteg
Distance: 12.21 km.
Walking time: 3h 35min.
Elevation gain: 661 m.
Highest point: 1,700 m.
Access: Car, train or bus.
Parking: at Schützenweg road - 46.496016, 7.675074
Train: stop at Kandersteg
Bus: stop at Kandersteg, Gemeindehaus or Kandersteg, Victoria
The first time a colleague told me about this lake, he described it as 'most beautiful lake in Switzerland'. I understood what he meant, when we visited it. The whole trail was scenic and pretty, but approaching the lake in the distance was breathtaking. There are two ways of approaching the trip to Oeschinen lake. The first one (and the one we chose) is climbing towards it and back; while the second option is to take a lift to the lake and climb above it. SchweizMobil website offers a lot of possible hikes around this area.
The loop hike we did was very busy with hikers, kids and dogs in both directions. There are two restaurants at the lake: Zur Sennhütte and Berghotel Oeschinensee. Many families would sit around the lake or have BBQs. There is a possibility of ordering a pre-prepared picnic basket around the lake (how romantic!). Fishing is one of the advertised activities at the lake, but a daily license is required. It is also possible to rent row boats.
The route started by following the river. When we hiked to the lake in early June, the streams were thin and the river bank was very wide, creating quite a unique, pretty scene (last picture). Since it is quite a popular hiking route, the pathways were quite wide and taken care of. Once we reached the forest (Southern part of the loop), the ascend was steeper; but the views (which were popping out between the trees) were definitely worth the effort. As we were walking, we spotted quite a few waterfalls coming down from many mountain peaks, which were still covered in snow. During the last third of the ascend, it was easier to follow the road than the pathway, which was right next to the road. We approached the lake from above, and we enjoyed coming towards our destination while it was visible to us. The views around the lake are really incredible and it is easy to get lost in time. Before joining our return path, we walked slightly around the lake. Here, we came across even more waterfalls! The return path passed by the cable car station to the lake, which meant that we had to climb a little more. The descent started through the forest and it was rather steep - there were also many steps. This trail was less common (but still busy) and a little thinner than the path on the way up. At some point, we came across a field (which we had to cross) of cows (with horns) and their young ones. Anyone who already hiked a bit around Switzerland usually seems quite OK with situations like this (because they can be quite common); but we felt quite nervous about getting attacked by the mothers. We had made our trip slightly complicated - instead of using the gate, we managed to go around the cows in quite a big circle, climb over the fence and slowly join back to our route. Looking back on this hike, I don't think there was anything to worry about, as those cows are surely used to the large amounts of hikers passing by on daily basis. As the steep descent finished, we joined back to the pathway we took to climb towards the lake initially.
There is a possibility of cutting this hike short by either taking the cable car up or down from the lake.
Kandersteg valley offers many beautiful walks and spots to visit. You can read about our walk around Gastern Valley here.
Oeschinen Lake runs its own website and blog with suggested hiking routes and other up-to-date news. More information about the lake can be found on Schweizersee website here. More detailed information about hiking routes can be found on SchweizMobil website here.
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