TRAVEL.SWITZERLAND

Unusual and Fun Places to Spend the Night in Switzerland — Part 1

Nighttime adventures beyond the traditional chalet

It was another of those Friday mornings when my husband and I sat at the breakfast table, looked at the weather forecast, and spontaneously decided we wanted to spend the long weekend in the mountains. Going away on the spur of the moment makes our life exciting but a bit complicated at times.

This time, the challenge was finding a hotel or B&B in the Bernese Highlands on such short notice in late October. The places I called were either fully booked or closed between the summer and skiing season. I was getting a bit annoyed. We would plan our next trip earlier, I vowed.

As a last try, I searched for accommodations online. And came across a traditional yurt, a round tent covered with felt and canvas that is most commonly used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia.

Yurts have provided shelter for herders and their families with their yaks, sheep, camels or horses for more than 2000 years. They are still common in Mongolia and other Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, sometimes as homes but increasingly as hostels, museums, cafés or restaurants. A yurt sounded perfect: Not quite as rough as camping but more exciting than staying in a hotel.

After driving on a winding road to the small town of Beatenberg, about 3,700 feet above Lake Thun, we spotted the round tent on a meadow behind a farm on an elevated plain. The yurt looked inviting: Cozy with a double bed, extra thick-down duvets, woolen blankets, and an iron wood-burning stove. It turned out to be the perfect place for a couple of nights.

Even as the temperatures outside dropped to 24°F, we stayed warm. I shouldn’t have been surprised: Yurts are common in regions where differences between day and night temperatures are substantial. Of course they provide good insulation.

I got up before dawn the next morning and peeked outside. The sky was clear, and millions of stars sparkled above. The view was so spectacular that I didn’t want my husband to miss it and woke him up. We stood at the yurt’s entrance in our pajamas and down jackets, looking at the starry sky and the snow-covered mountains with the famous Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau skyline.

Suddenly, I felt grateful for our lack of planning. Had we booked a nice middle-class hotel in advance, we would have missed out on the experience and the feeling of awe as we looked at the universe above and the majestic mountains across the black, velvety lake below.

Slowly, the dark gave way to sunlight and soon, clouds started to move in. After warming up with steaming hot coffee made on the electric plate inside the yurt, we took off for a hike. The yurt is just a short walk away from the cable-car that took us to Niederhorn, a peak in the Emmental Alps.

The cable car station on top of the mountain rents out kick scooters for spectacular downhill runs on a paved zigzagging path, but we decided to go for a hike instead. Following the ridge, we arrived at a peak called Gemmenalphorn where we started our descent through moorlands and meadows. About five hours later, we were back at the yurt, tired and happy like I almost always feel after spending a day outdoors.

For people who don’t enjoy hiking as much as we do, the Beatenberg area has other attractions to offer; the Beatus caves and the Staubbach waterfalls among them.

Sleeping in a yurt might not be the first thing that comes to mind when visiting Switzerland but it was definitely a great experience for us. And besides chalets and hotels, there are other interesting places to spend the night in the Swiss mountains.

If you like a bit more luxurious adventures and are not afraid of the cold, sleeping in one of the igloo villages in different locations in Switzerland may be the perfect winter experience. This, however, is almost impossible without prior planning and my husband and I made several attempts to book last minute before we made a reservation at the Igloo village in Zermatt several weeks in advance.

The Gornergrat mountain railway took us up to the station Riffelalp at almost 8,950 feet above sea level. The igloo village looked like a fairy tale winter oasis with views facing the iconic Matterhorn and 28 other alpine peaks.

We wore several layers of warm winter clothes and had packed lightly — comfortable clothes for one night including bathing suits and towels for the spa — in our backpacks. That turned out to be a good decision as the igloo village is inaccessible by car and there is not a lot of space to store your belongings.

There are several types of rooms from smaller ones for single travelers and couples to a family & friends igloo for up to six people. Each igloo is equipped with expedition-type sleeping bags and thermal mats. The snow art caved into the walls is spectacular and each snow house is built with care, style and attention to detail. If you consider staying there, read the description of each type of igloo carefully, as it contains important information — such as whether a toilet is nearby.

After an apero (pre-dinner drinks) at the ice bar, we enjoy a traditional Swiss fondue. Going for a short hike afterward was spectacular — I am about to gush over the starry sky and the stark beauty of the mountains again, but you already know how I feel when I am out at night in beautiful places.

There is a jacuzzi to warm up before going to bed, which adds a luxurious touch to a natural and otherwise pretty harsh environment. Once inside the igloo, we snuggled up in the warm sleeping bags and almost immediately felt relaxed and cozy. I recommend wearing a beanie or some other type of woolen hat and a neck gaiter for extra warmth.

This may sound paradox, but I was almost disappointed when I woke up — I had slept so well that I felt like I had missed the whole experience. The feeling was gone and made way for excitement and joy as soon as one of the staff brought a hot cup of tea to our room. After a solid breakfast, we went on a snowshoe tour in the spectacular mountain landscape before heading back home.

Our next nighttime adventure will also require some planning and reservations in advance: A night in the treehouses in the Neuchatel Jura region. Stay tuned for part 2 of the “unusual paces to spend the night” series.

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