Oeschinensee Lake is a gorgeous mountain lake west of Interlaken. In winter, this lake freezes and you can often walk on the ice on a designated path. You can reach the lake with a gondola ride and 30 min walk on a snowy path, no snowshoes required.
On the ice, they prepare an “Ice Walk” loop, with sticks in the ice indicating the safe areas for walking. Ice skating is usually allowed, but you’ll need to bring your own equipment as there are no rentals on site.
Keep reading to learn how to visit this Ice Walk…
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| Region: | Bernese Oberland, Switzerland |
| Address: | Kandersteg-Oeschinensee gondola Öschistrasse 50, 3718 Kandersteg CH |
| By car: | Metered parking next to cable car station: 46°29’49.7″N 7°40’55.8″E 40 mins from Interlaken, 1hr from Bern, 2hr from Zurich |
| By train: | Train station: Kandersteg then bus or 10 min walk to cable car 1hr30 from Interlaken or Bern, 2hr20 from Zurich HB |
| Trail: | 3.8 km round trip to lake |
| Time: | 30 mins to the lake, same back |
| Difficulty: | easy |
| Condition: | groomed snow on winter trail, prepared path on ice |
| Elevation: | lake at 1583m |
| Open: | mid December to mid March • status of Ice Walk |
| Cost 2025: | gondola: Adult CHF 32, Child CHF 15 discount with Swiss Travel Pass, GA, Half Fare |
| Extras: | restaurants at gondola station and lake |
| More info: | Oeschinensee.ch • webcam • weather |
Opening times
Winter season at Oeschinensee is December to mid March. During this time, the gondola runs daily 9:00 -17:00. Check current opening times.
The Ice Walk on the lake is usually possible from early January through mid March. If temps are too warm, the ice walk may not be safe enough for walking. They monitor the thickness of the ice and post the status on the “Ice Walk” on their website and interactive map on site.
Gallery
Trail description
Below is the winter map for Oeschinensee. Trail 7 leads directly to the lake. Trail 10 is the Ice Walk on the frozen lake. You can walk back to the gondola the same way you came on Trail 7. Or do a counterclockwise loop back on Trail 8.
On our visit, we took the snowshoe trail (dotted pink line) from the valley station to the lake. Then we returned on the groomed winter trail 7 to the gondola and rode down the mountain.
Trail map
The trail map below shows the groomed winter trail from the top of the Kandersteg gondola, leading down to the lake.
See trail map on Komoot • SchweizMobil
Trail conditions
The snow on this path is usually groomed with machines, making it possible to walk on the trail with regular hiking boots. No snowshoes required.
However, depending on temperatures and snow conditions, the snow may be in poor conditions, icy or wet and slushy. Check trail status here.
Best to have waterproof shoes and bring traction cleats and hiking sticks.
Snowshoe alternative
If you want more fitness, you can skip the gondola and hike up to the lake on a snowshoe trail. We did this on our last visit and really enjoyed views and calorie burning on the way up.
Snowshoe trail: moderate • 2h30 5.2 km • 480m up • See trail map
When we went, there had been warm temperatures for awhile. So there wasn’t snow on about the first hour of the trail. But when we reach the ski hills, we did need the snowshoes for the rest of the trail to the lake. The snowshoe trail was nicer than I expected, but not my favorite snowshoe in Switzerland.
How to get there
Oeschinensee is located near Kandersteg, west of Interlaken. The gondola station is located at Öschistrasse 50, 3718 Kandersteg CH.
By public transport
Take the train to the Kandersteg, Bahnhof station. From Interlaken, it takes 1h12 with one change in Spiez. This connection runs hourly. See train schedule to Kandersteg on SBB.ch.
From the Kandersteg train station, it’s about 15 min walk to the gondola station as shown on the map below (see on Google maps). It’s easy to find. Simply follow the signs or the other people walking there.
By car
Drive to Kandersteg and follow signs to the Oeschinensee cable car (Oeschistrasse 50, 3718 Kandersteg). From the main road through the village, you will turn onto a narrow road leading towards the mountains.
There are multiple parking lots next to the gondola station, so don’t worry if they look full. Don’t forget to pay for the parking!!!
Tickets
You’ll need a round trip gondola ticket to reach the trail. You can purchase tickets at the cable car stations. You can also purchase via the SBB Mobile app, then scan the QR code at the cable car turnstile.
In 2025, this costs CHF 34/adult. Children under 6 and those with SBB Junior Card ride free.
Discount with Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Half Fare Card, and GA.
What to wear
You should wear waterproof winter boots with good tread. We found hiking sticks helpful in keeping our balance. If you have traction cleats, I would bring them in case of icy conditions on the trail.
Since there was a lot of water on the lake when we went, we were very happy to have very waterproof boots, otherwise our feet would have been soaked.
We were warm from hiking to the lake. But after just a couple minutes walking on the ice, we got really cold and wished we had put on our gloves, which were in our backpacks on the lakeshore.
Photo story of trail
Hike to the lake
Here’s the top of the Kandersteg gondola. It was foggy here, but clear near the lake.
Follow the blue signs with “direkter Weg (20 Minuten)”
You’ll also see some pink signs pointing to the lake.
The path has mountains on both sides.
A nice forest as well.
Here you can see the groomed snow on the trail and the poles on either side.
Sometimes you cross the ski piste, so watch out for skiers!
If you brought a sled, only part of the trail is downhill. Look for these purple sled signs. Walkers and sledders share the same path.
Ice Walk
Here’s the first view of the lake. I’m standing next to the restaurant taking this pic.
Check the ice walk status on this sign near the lake. It indicates where is safe to walk.
They put poles in the ice to indicate the boundaries of the ice walk.
The ice on the edges made for cool sculptures.
We had a bit of a hard time getting onto the ice. The ice slopes downwards and was very slippery when we were there. So we fell a couple times until we reached the flat part. My hiking sticks were a little helpful on the ice.
For this pic, we had walked very slowly about 20 mins into the center of the lake. Very surreal.
Looking back at where we entered the ice, near the restaurant.
Those ladies were ice skating. I was super jealous!
Most of the lake was in the shade. Only these peaks illuminated.
Restaurant at the lake
This Berghotel Oeschinensee restaurant is usually open during winter season.
The terrace has a nice view of the lake. The signs show that they have vegetarian and vegan options on their menu.
They have a self-service restaurant. You can order the hot dishes at the counter.
We had the lamb stew and spätzli plate, delicious!
They have cozy, warm indoor seating but we sat outside so we could be closer to the view.
On the way back, we hiked on the groomed winter trail. But we kept our snowshoes on so we didn’t have to carry them.
