Wispile/Gsteig/Lauenensee Hiking
 

Anyone familiar with this area of Switzerland? Anyone gone on hikes in this area?

I've done the hike over Trüttlisbergpass from Lenk-Launen and over Chrinepass Launen-Gsteig in a day (about 8.5 hrs) as part of the Swiss Alps pass route I completed. The area is wonderful and definitely worthwhile. In fact I plan on going back in a few weeks to explore more of this wonderful area.

I would be based out of Gstaad.. So i'm looking for a roundtrip hike that wont take long (less than 3-4 hours)....

another question:

are you familiar with the cable car lifts and how they work on the hiking tours?

The walk from Lauenen back to Gstaad is nice and 3 hours max. You take the little postal minibus from Gstaad station to Lauenen.

I'm not too sure about your question regarding cable cars and chairlifts - hikers can certainly take take them up & walk down or vice versa.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Yes it does help.. I'm trying to figure out prices for the lifts just for one day and trying to understand how they work along with the hiking trails..

I've got one day in Gstaad to explore and figured a nice hike in the mountains would be a good and Wispile or Gsteig were some options, unless other spots are better/prettier...

We took the Wispile chairlift earlier this month and I think the fare was about 25 swiss francs. We got a small discount with our rail pass. There seemed to be plenty of hiking from the top of the chair lift, although we didn't go far. In one spot there were half a dozen hammocks with a wonderful view. You could also rent a sort of bike that you stood up on to ride down the mountain. There was a nice lodge at the top also with a restaurant that included a terrace. We probably spent 3 hours walking to the Wispile lift, riding the lift up, looking around, having tea and apple strudel, riding back down and walking back to town. You clould easily spend more than that as there were several trails.

Bevk: You took the chairlift from Gstaad to Wispile?

Rayoflight, we walked from Gstaad to the bottom of the Wispile chair lift. It was maybe a mile from the information center downtown to the lift. By the way, the information center was helpful in directing us to the lift - they have good maps - and they could also probably give you ideas for other hikes and activities. They are, however, closed over the lunch hour for an hour and a half so try to avoid that time.

Did you by chance spend anytime in Gstaad walking around? If so, what all did you do there? I'll be there towards the end of july...
thanks so much for all the info! its a big help!

We were only in Gstaad for about six hours so didn't have time to do a lot of exploring, but we did walk around a bit. We walked up to the imposing Palace Hotel, perched on a hill high above the town for lunch, but it didn?t open until June 15 for the summer season. We took the wanderweg (trail) back down to town and had lunch outside the Roessi Hotel, the oldest one in Gstaad. Gstaad is in the German speaking part of Switzerland. We both had salad with local cheese and dried sausage and rosti with biere and bread. Most of the stores were closed because it was a holiday, but there is a nice pedestrian-only shopping/eating area.

Check out hike descriptions here:
http://www.gstaad.ch/en/info/sport-f...-cat.htm?cat=2

Here is the description from the top of the Wilspile gondola, along the ridge down to Launensee, catch postbus back to Gstaad (32 min., runs every hour at :40 past, last bus 17:40, cost full price 14.20sfr. one way)
http://www.gstaad.ch/en/info/sport-f...ail.htm?id=745
bus and trains schedules here: http://www.rail.ch/pv/index_e.htm
This is the route I would do in order to maximize time and distance, rather than a roundtrip hike. total time about 4hrs. (incl. transport).

Wilspile cable car: http://www.wispile.ch/de/frame/framedeexp.htm
cost: 20sfr. one way/26sfr. roundtrip

here is a fantastic deal that will probably save you money even on a short visit:
http://www.gstaad.ch/en/home/gstaad_easyaccess_card.htm