Perched high above a frozen lake in the Bernese Oberland, the Grimsel Hospiz, Switzerland’s oldest recorded mountain inn, offers an unusual winter escape. With gourmet food, a hot tub, and star-filled skies, it provides a distraction-free retreat in a setting that predates Westminster Abbey.
First documented in 1142, the inn was originally built as a simple hostel, possibly by the Order of Saint Lazarus or the Augustinian monastery of Interlaken. Today, the much-modernised Grimsel Hospiz sits on a spur of sheer rock and snow at 2,000 metres, surrounded by plunging ravines and the frozen Grimselsee. Over the centuries, it has been inhabited by monks, used by shepherds and soldiers, ravaged by fire, and buried by an avalanche.
Access involves a journey by PostBus and a minibus through a tunnel blasted into granite, ending at a cable car station. The cable car rises above the Grimselsee reservoir and Spitallamm Dam, offering views of the Unteraargletscher, the Alps’ fifth-largest glacier. From the cable car, guests can spot horned ibex climbing the col.
The inn’s environmental outlook is a key feature. Located within the Unesco World Heritage Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch region, it sits in a critical wildlife habitat where all winter sports are banned. Ski gear is prohibited by management and cannot be transported on the cable car. The only activity is snowshoeing on a 500-metre loop around the inn’s granite porches and chapel, described by manager Markus Meier as “the shortest winter trail in Switzerland”.
Inside, the inn offers a fantasy mountain atmosphere with sensitive restoration. It provides a rare meditative place where doing nothing is the only activity, offering an antidote to typical winter destinations.
