A lake the colour of a glacier mint, walled in by cliffs and the ice of the Blüemlisalp, at the end of a gondola ride and a twenty-minute stroll. Climb the panorama trail to the Heuberg benches and you get the view the whole of Switzerland puts on its posters.
The Oeschinensee formed when a prehistoric rockfall dammed a high valley above Kandersteg. Fed by meltwater from the glaciers of the Blüemlisalp, it lies at 1,578 metres in a bowl of cliffs, waterfalls and larch.
Most visitors take the gondola up from Kandersteg, walk the easy road-path to the shore, hire a rowing boat, eat Rösti at one of the lakeside inns and go home happy. The lake is part of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage area, and it earns its fame.
The better day climbs above it. A panorama trail, a red-and-white mountain path, rises along the northern slope to the Heuberg, where benches look straight down on the water with the Blüemlisalp's glaciers behind. The loop continues past the summer farms of Oberbärgli and Unterbärgli, where cheese is made in summer, and drops back to the lakeshore.
It is allowed, and on a hot afternoon irresistible, but the water is glacial: around 15 degrees in high summer and much colder at the start of the season. Short dips only.
Clockwise from the gondola: climb first, finish at the lake for a swim and lunch.
Approximate profile.
From the top station above Kandersteg, follow signs for the Heuberg panorama trail rather than the broad path to the lake. It climbs steadily through larch and pasture along the northern side of the valley.
Benches on a grassy shoulder look down on the whole lake, its colour changing from emerald to turquoise with the light, with the Blüemlisalp and its waterfalls rising beyond. This is the photograph; take your time.
The path continues to the alp huts of Oberbärgli, then descends steeply, with a few exposed sections protected by cables, past Unterbärgli towards the eastern end of the lake. Watch your footing on the rocky steps.
Walk back along the northern shore to the inns at the western end, where rowing boats can be hired in summer, then follow the broad path back to the gondola. The summer toboggan run near the top station is a fast way to finish if you have children.
Kandersteg is about 50 minutes from Interlaken by train, changing at Spiez. The gondola station is a 15-minute walk or short bus ride from Kandersteg station. You can also walk up from the village to the lake in about 1.5 hours instead of taking the gondola.
A small, impossibly blue spring-fed pool in the forest below Kandersteg, a short bus ride towards Frutigen. There is an entrance fee, a restaurant and glass-bottomed boats. A gentle end to the day.
Fifty minutes from the gondola to a mirror under the Faulhorn.
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The great ridge walk over the Faulhorn above Lake Brienz.
Under 1,800 metres of rock and ice, from Eigergletscher to Alpiglen.
Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, with the Eiger growing ahead.
The Northface Trail and the old mule path down to the valley.
Funicular up for sunset over the lakes, forest path down to Interlaken.
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