Meiringen town and Hasliberg village

Best known for the Reichenbach Falls and Sherlock Holmes, Meiringen is also a small Swiss ski resort with 60km of groomed pistes and some quite interesting off-piste for advanced skiers. The majority of guests come from Switzerland (50%), Germany (30%) and Holland (10%) with the UK and other countries around 5% each.

The Reichenbach Falls are famous as the setting for the apparent death of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes at the hands of his arch rival Moriarty in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Final Problem. The Sherlock Holmes museum and Reichenbach Falls attract Sherlock Holmes fans from all over the world and the connection with Sherlock Holmes and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is evident throughout the town. It’s also claimed that Meiringen is the place where meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar, was invented although that is contested.

Meiringen

A small town with all of the usual amenities and shops required to meet the everyday needs of its 4,500 residents, Meiringen is more functional than pretty. Most of Meiringen’s accommodation and shops are on main streets Hauptstrasse and Rudenz. The town centre is about a 10 minutes stroll from end to end and it’s about a 10 minute walk (or a 2-3 minute free bus ride) from the centre of town to the Meiringen cable car station on the outskirts of town. Getting to Meiringen is easy by road or rail via Lucerne and Interlaken and the main railway station is just a stone’s throw from the centre of town.

Buildings are mostly of stone construction rather than wood and include a mix of architectural styles including some modern hotels built in the 1960’s which are mostly better inside than out. The main landmark in the centre of Meiringen is the Parkhotel du Sauvage, which is a large and quite attractive five-storey art deco hotel. There’s a wide range of shops selling mostly day-to-day products, rather than high-end designer goods and the best delicacies in town are homemade Swiss chocolates and confectionary at the charming Confiserie Café Brunner and in cosy tea rooms. There are not many restaurants and bars nor much in the way of après ski or nightlife so 18-30 year olds will soon get bored.

Hasliberg

Hasliberg is the setting for a series of four tiny villages – Hohfluh, Wasserwendi, Goldern and Reuti – at an altitude of about 1,000m with views across the Haslital valley. The villages are about 1-2km apart and although Reuti is just 300m higher than Meiringen and connected by cable car, it’s about an 11-16km journey from Hasliberg villages to Meiringen by road.

The Hasliberg villages are quieter, prettier and closer to the ski lifts and the ski area, especially if staying near the gondola stations in Reuti or Wasserwendi.  Because of their higher elevation and south-facing aspect, the Hasliberg villages are sunnier than Meiringen which is sometimes blanketed by thick cloud cover that lingers over the Haslital valley until late in the day.

Meiringen & Haslital Tourism
Bahnhofplatz 12
CH-3860 Meiringen
Tel: +41 (0) 33 972 50 50
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.haslital.ch