Wiehnachtswäg: Enjoy the magic of the Christmas Story

When I recently read about an opening of the Christmas Path in Aeschi bei Spiez on Facebook, I immediately made an imaginary note in my mind that we must definitely visit it before Christmas. I am glad that we have managed it and after today’s visit, I can say that we will happily include the “Wiehnachtswäg” in our pre-Christmas traditions.

Getting there

Aeschi bei Spiez is a 40-minute drive on the A6 motorway from Bern. After you take the exit Aeschi, the road full of twists and turns leads directly to this charming village. You have to drive almost to the end of the village to get to the Haltenstrasse parking lot, which is specially set up for “Wiehnachtswäg” (metered, daily from 7 am to 7 pm, 1CHF/hour).

You can also use public transport to get here: yellow bus called Postauto (line 62), stop Aeschi b. Spiez, Wachthubel.

The Wiehnachtswäg was opened on November 26th and is open for visitors until January 7th. (2018/19: The Christmas path is open from Saturday, 01 December 2018 until Sunday, 06 January 2019.)

Wiehnachtswäg

From the parking lot, follow the road you’ve come to the parking lot. The path (and turns to each hut) is marked not only by signposts but also by lanterns. However, they are rather for decoration, so I recommend taking the torch (even better headlamps to have your hands free).

Each of the six stops tells part of the Christmas story from the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary to the visit of the Three Kings. Even though the Christmas story is only in German, I think the scenes are pretty clear thanks to the nicely crafted almost life-sized sculptures.

In addition to the static scenes, children can also meet live animals.

There is a little restaurant on the path, which is open from Wednesdays to Sundays. At the end of the path you will find “Käthi’s Wiehnachtswäg-Kiosk” with drinks and snacks to take away.

Before we got inside to listen to the repertoire of the Gospel choir from Interlaken (the calendar of other – mostly weekend – events you can find here), the children were delighted to see the house of the Samichlous (St.Nicholas).

The path is free of charge, but at the last stop, there is the money box for voluntary contributions.

My impressions

• Although the place is located “only” at 1000meters a.s.l., at the time of our visit there was a good layer of snow here. Fortunately, we didn´t have to use the snow chains because the roads (including the parking lot) were well-maintained.
• I recommend dressing properly.
• The Wiehnachtswäg is well-maintained, and I think it could be doable with the stroller. However, I recommend taking a sledge. The last few tens of meters back to the car park go down the hill and the children enjoyed sledding in the dark 🙂

• Just as it is stated on the webpage of the Aeschi Tourist Office, going through all the stops took us roughly an hour. It’s up to you how long you stay.
• It is a shame I couldn´t capture the crushing snow underfoot and millions of stars above us. It was really a magical evening!