Wasserngrat chairlift and Bergrestaurant

Wasserngrat is lunch at the top of a lift: a 6-minute chairlift ride from Bissen above Gstaad ends at the Bergrestaurant Wasserngrat, where the summer menu lists Fondue Moitié-Moitié at CHF 29 a head and wine by the 10 cl glass from CHF 8. GaultMillau's POP guide lists it and calls the menu "bodenständig-gut". It is also the finish of the 10.9 km ridge hike from Leiterli, a stop on the Gstaad palace wine trail.

The ride takes about 6 minutes. At the top, lunch is à la carte. The house fondue is a moitié-moitié, the Fribourg blend of Gruyère AOP and Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP in equal parts, and the house says its fondue comes from Moléson near Gruyères. Kirsch costs CHF 8 extra; meringue with double cream is CHF 6 a piece. There are up to 160 seats inside. The story goes that whoever drops bread in the pot buys the table a round.

Go between mid-December and mid-March, when the chairlift runs daily from 09:00 to 16:30 and the restaurant opens every day, or in late summer, when both run only Thursday to Sunday from the end of July to the beginning of September. The restaurant's 2026 summer season ran 30.07. to 30.08. In spring, early summer and autumn both are closed. Skip the ridge in rain, fog or snow.

Summer lift fares for adults are CHF 20 one way and CHF 30 return; children aged 6 to 15 pay CHF 12 and 17. In winter a single ride costs CHF 20 and a 4-hour card CHF 59. The Magic Pass is valid; in summer the GA, Halbtax and Gstaad Card are not. Fondue costs CHF 29 per person, for two or more. Groups under three need no booking. The valley station phone, +41 33 748 96 72, answers only during operating hours.

The door is the Wasserngrat valley station at Scheidbachstrasse 2 in Bissen, 2,181 m in a straight line from Gstaad station. PostBus line 182 towards Turbach leaves from Gstaad station and stops at "Gstaad, Wasserngratbahn", right at the lift; overnight guests in the Gstaad region ride buses free from the first night. Parking at the valley station is free by day. In winter a signposted 5.99 km walk links the valley station and Gstaad station in about 1:15 h.

Wasserngrat is a chairlift and mountain restaurant above Gstaad in the Bernese Oberland: a 4-seat chairlift climbs 663 m from Bissen to the Bergrestaurant Wasserngrat at about 1,920 m. Wasserngrat 2000 AG runs the lift; the brothers Nik and Simon Buchs run the restaurant. In winter it is a small ski area of three slopes, and in late summer the start or finish of ridge hikes.

Chairlift rides to the Wasserngrat began in April 1946, the tourist office says. Two Von Roll chairlifts then ran in a chain from the edge of Gstaad; in 1993 they were converted to two-seat cabins, and in summer 1999 Garaventa built today's 4-seat chairlift on a different line. The Buchs brothers came from Glacier 3000, where they took over the Refuge l'Espace in 2001; in 2018 the local paper counted their thirteenth Wasserngrat winter.

The fondue wine is on the list, but by the bottle: one Fendant, the Valais name for Chasselas, from Domaine La Rodeline (2022, 53), and Vaud Chasselas such as Féchy La Colombe from Laura Paccot (2024, 53). Fribourg's tourist office pairs moitié-moitié with a Chasselas du Vully, and the list carries the Cru de l'Hôpital from the Vully (2024, 54). The house says bottles are replaced only if corked.