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Gantrischseeli

A short hike to a peaceful lake in the middle of a natural preserve.

Gantrischseeli

The Gantrischsee (lake Gantrisch) is a small mountain lake 1580 meters (5200 ft) above sea level with a surface area of 9000 sqm (100000 sqft). It’s accessible by a 20 minute hike starting from Restaurant untere Gantrischhütte, where there are also plenty of parking lots available (they are only scarce on beautiful summer days). The lake is a perfect place for a peaceful pick nick!

Elevation profile of the hike (generated using XC Trails)

Höhenprofil Gantrischseeli

Getting there

By car: The Restaurant untere Gantrischhütte is a 35 minute drive away. Drive through Schwarzenburg, Milken, Riffenmatt and Schwarzenbühl. In winter, this route is blocked due to a ski lift. You will have to take the alternative route via Rüti and Gurnigel. This road is also blocked if there’s a lot of snow.

Public transport: The Restaurant untere Gantrischhütte is some 75 minutes away. Go by train (S6) to Schwarzenburg then take Postauto (bus) 323. The buses leave only once or twice per day, so the best connection is leaving Lanzenhäusern 10.05 (11.12 arrival at stop “Gurnigel, Gantrischhütte”), and leaves again 16.22 (17.51 arrival in Lanzenhäusern).

 

Ice skating rink Schwarzwasser

Skating and ice hockey one train stop away

Only one train station towards Bern, there’s the Schwarzwasserbrücke. It’s a bridge spanning a canyonesque valley 65m above ground. Built in 1882, it made the journey from Bern to Schwarzenburg much easier than having to go into the steep valley dug by the river Schwarzwasser.
Next to the bridge there’s not much to see, but what’s there is worth paying a visit. Apart from the Restaurant Schwarzwasserbrücke, a traditional Swiss countryside restaurant, there’s an ice skating rink built in 1997.

The entry fee including skate rental is 10.- for grown ups, and 6.- for children. There are also trainings and games of our local ice hockey team, the EHC Schwarzenburg. The team is not playing in the national league, though. If you want to visit a bigger game, you could visit one of the SC Bern, in the largest stadium on the continent, where 16’500 people can be spectators.

Further information by the town of Köniz.
Link to the web page of the EHC Schwarzenburg, has also information about the rink.
Link to the Naturpark Gantrisch page about the rink.

Ski lifts

Skiing in the area

If you’re coming to Switzerland in winter, you will quickly start to notice all the people carrying skis and snowboards. In the stations, in the road, on the cars. We’re keen skiers and that’s why we will have ski lifts nearby, no matter where you are.

So it’s no surprise that also near to Lanzenhäusern, you can find a few ski lifts. Although not part of the high mountain ranges of the Swiss alps, the area has a few small mountains and plenty of hills, where you can have a day’s worth of fun. Should you be a regular skier, you might want to head to the Bernese Oberland. You can reach it between 90 minutes and two hours, where the slopes will be much longer and higher in variety. Still, also for the regular skier, some of the local ski lifts are a whole lot of fun.

To make it easier to gain an overview, here’s a table summarizing the local ski lifts:

Ski lifts

An overview over the local ski lifts. We expanded the information of the Naturpark Gantrisch, translated it and added imperial units.

The ski lift Selital is accessible by a direct bus from Schwarzenburg (one train station away) in winter time (end of December to February).

For further information, it’s best to visit either the website of the Naturpark Gantrisch or the sites of the ski lifts: Kaisereggbahnen Schwarzsee, SchneeSelital, Skilifte Gantrisch Gurnigel, Skilift Gurnigel Bad, Skilift Ottenleue, Beginner’s lift in Riffenmatt.

Activities

On these pages you will find ideas what to visit and where to go in our local nature park, the Naturpark Gantrisch. It is named after a local mountaintop, the Gantrisch, whose shape is a distinctive mark in the landscape of our area.

To keep it organized, we categorize the articles, so you may click on the categories and find all associated ideas. We’re still updating these pages, so they will expand in number.

A wide variety of activities and informations about museums and the like can also be found on the website of the Naturparks Gantrisch, we highly recommend paying it a visit. There, the articles are not translated to English, unfortunately, but just use an automated translator and you’re hopefully good to go.

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