Camping? In Switzerland?!?
If you’re anything like me, then you’ve followed up reading each of my Switzerland posts by scrolling through airbnb listings. Continuing the dream, as we do. So I don’t have to tell you that Switzerland? Expensive. Like, crazy expensive. Even food is so much more than it is in Italy (ibuprofen, though, is half the cost though there’s no pharmacy in Lauterbrunnen, so you have to go to the doctor’s office where the receptionist sells over-the-counter medications).
We can make the finances line up because of a multi-week discount and also we’d socked all that money away for a trip-around-the-world that has largely been, aside from a two-week trip to Puglia (Torre Chianca, Gallipoli, Alberobello, and Matera) and a one-week caper to Venice, mostly a trip-between-our-house-and-the-bakery. If not for the money we’ve been saving, I wouldn’t have thought a month in Switzerland could ever be feasible for us.
And that’s where it gets interesting. Because I believe that obstacles can push us towards more creative, dynamic thinking. So I urge you to not scoop Switzerland out of your bucket list because of cha-ching. Instead, seek out a budget option that doesn’t skimp on experience. Let that budget instead nudge you to a memorable, satisfying vacation.
Intrigued?
Of course you are.
Except you probably read the title of this post, so unless you have short-term memory loss, you already know what I’m going to pitch…
CAMPING!
Now, full disclosure. Historically, I hear the word camping and instantly think of lying in a straight-jacket of a sleeping bag while spiders taunt me by festooning webs in the corner that is no doubt weeping at the seams from where the outside cold meets all that breath trapped in the tent. Blech.
But camping can be something quite different—a small, snug base from which to launch yourself into all sorts of adventures.
This shouldn’t have been a complete surprise to me. After all, years ago, we wound up at a campground in Martha’s Vineyard when all the regular accommodations were… (watch as she staggers backward in shock at the price tag). When Keith first mentioned camping as an alternative to one of those sweet New England bungalows, I turned up my nose in the manner of people who prefer their beds to not be comparable to cardboard, thank you very much. Then Keith showed me a website of a pretty little lake with small cabins scattered all about. Cabins! Cabins are all together different. We wound up having a blast on Martha’s Vineyard… since we also didn’t want to pay to ferry our car over, we took buses and bikes all over the island for lobster rolls and platters of raw oysters. At night we’d cook our meal over the campfire and linger outside to watch the stars. Gabe lists it as one of his favorite vacations ever. This from a boy who tucked into some fiercely delicious buffalo tartare in a platform high in the bamboo forest of Laos.
So you see… camping can be marvelous.
And that Martha’s Vineyard camping experience has nothing on the options here in Switzerland. This little town of Lauterbrunnen has at least two campgrounds. One, Schuzenbach, is just a place to pitch your tent (or park your mobile home), plus a hostel.
The other is Camping Jungfrau, across the river from us. That’s the one I want to tell you about. I feel like I have a good sense of it, because when the path along the river gets icy, I cut through the campground to access the road for my daily walk. Also, the campground has a little grocery store that’s great when we run out of Ovaltine. And it’s where we ordered the most amazing Valentine’s Day dinner…but more on that later.
View of the campground from our side of the river.
Three things struck me about Camping Jungfrau that make it a place I think you should consider for your own trip to Switzerland.
One is the location. I mean, you’ve seen my photos, you know the view from this spot in Lauterbrunnen valley. It is, in a word, spectacular. Camping Jungfrau, being just across a covered bridge from us, enjoys the same astonishing views and sustaining sense of peace. Beyond the natural beauty, it’s also on a free bus line…the bus comes right into the campground and takes riders to the train station in the middle of Lauterbrunnen, a four minute ride. This means you can really get away with not renting a car (savings!)
Two is the amenities. Besides the shop and the restaurant which is reportedly a great spot for apres-ski once that’s possible again, there’s also a room to put your skis, a communal kitchen (which I remember from my hostel days as being a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world), plus a lounge with a fireplace and lots of seating for playing games and swapping stories. For kids, there is a small playground and a hill with a miniature tow rope to tug kids up the hill for learning to ski, sled, or snowboard. There’s also free wifi (I can’t speak to how good it is, I can tell you that apparently the limit in Switzerland in 10 mps for a line, which is not enough… if one person in our apartment is sending someone else in our house a photograph, everyone’s internet stalls).
Three is the community. That kitchen and lounge of course, but there are also fire pits stocked with wood for an impromptu gathering around the fire, and all the cabins have porches for guests to sit out on nice days (and in this part of Switzerland, nice days can even be had in February—yesterday I sat on the porch reading with just regular clothes, no sweater or jacket). I believe that this kind of experience serves to connect campers to the Alps at their feet, and also lends a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose among campers.
There are lots of different kinds of cabins (which makes for a vibrant space), ranging from pitches for mobile homes/caravans to super simple cubes (with heating!) that run about 70 Swiss francs/night for a double to a bungalow for 6 people for about 220 Swiss Francs. There are other options like a hostel, so do peruse the site if you are flexible in your notion of what constitutes a brilliant vacation. Also, you’ll want to pay attention to small surcharges for things like parking and also long-stay discounts, as well as events.
The cabins I’m enchanted with are the ones that I think are called the Eiger cabins. They are separated from each other by fences made of birch and when I peeked in and saw the beautifully made beds, so cozy and snug, I announced, “We need to come here when Gabe graduates high school.” Gabe did not take to this and pointed out a family sitting around a campfire, “See? Other families love their children!” But you know what I mean… a single room is sweet for a couple, suffocating when you add a third.
Those cabins are close to Camping Jungfrau’s restaurant and its about time I talked about Weidstubli. As you can imagine, it wouldn't actually occur to me to get excited about a campground restaurant. After all, wouldn’t that be limited to hot dogs and the packaged kind of hot chocolate?
Turns out, a decided no.
Our airbnb manual described Weidsubli as having good size portions and being the best restaurant in the village. Right now it’s all take out, of course, and the menu is limited to pizza and one “daily special” available Thursday-Sunday. When I went on line last week to investigate the weekend’s options, I found that they were doing a Valentine’s Day dinner. This was the menu:
Dreigangmenü:
Vorspeisenvariation für 2 zum Teile
Rindstatar | hausgebeizte Lachsforelle | getrüffeltes Blumenkohlmousse
Dazu eine 0.375 Fl Champagner Louis Roederer
***
Zweierlei Einzigartigs
Duo vom Kalb (Bäggli & Rücken) | Gratinherzli | Ofengemüse
Dazu eine Flasche Rotwein Optimo
***
Sweets for my sweet Valentine
Zweifarbiges Tobleronemousse | Waldbeersauce | Nusscrunch
Translation:
Three-course menu:
Starter:
beef tartare | home-pickled salmon trout | Truffled cauliflower mousse with a 0.375 bottle of Louis Roederer champagne
Main Course:
Two kinds of unique duo of veal (Bäggli & back) | Gratin heart | Oven vegetables with a bottle of red wine Optimo
Dessert:
Sweets for my sweet Valentine Two-colored Toblerone mousse | Wild berry sauce | Nut crunch
We had already elected to not celebrate Valentine’s Day, but this was too good to pass up. So Keith booked it for four people, but then we learned that it was only for people at the campground, because they bring it around to the cabins in courses. Keith asked might we pick it up? Of course! And then they knocked some francs off the total since we would’t be using their china.
My expectations leveled up… courses? China? This didn’t sound like an outfit that primarily specializes in wingdings.
On Valentine’s Day, we walked over the covered bridge, like a fairy tale. We took a stroll before dinner, past the waterfall (now ice), lit from below in a mystical way. We detoured through a graveyard because why not. Impatient now for our dinner, we circled back to the campground.
The people could not have been nicer as they handed us bag after bag of food and wine and champagne and finally two roses.
Yes, I’m sure everyone got roses and yes, I felt divinely special anyway.
We hustled home where we’d luckily had the presence of mind to prep the table. Keith popped open the champagne and poured it round while I set the bag of Toblerone mousse outside (reasoning it’s like a refrigerator out there after sunset) and served up the appetizers. We sat down, giddy at our beautiful first course, with its heart-shaped tartare and the dried wildflowers scattered over the truffled cauliflower mousse. The home-cured salmon trout, though, was the heavy favorite.
Not knowing what to expect from our main, since some of the words wouldn’t translate, I sighed aloud when I opened the first container to a cloud of savory steam. I think what didn’t translate must have been long-braised veal cheeks, which were served alongside what translated as veal back, but I think was loin. With this, the most stunning gratin I’ve ever had and roasted vegetables and a luscious brown sauce, akin to a demi-glace. I took my time, savoring every heady bite, complemented by Cuvee Optimo, an intriguing red Swiss wine.
You can imagine we were congratulating ourselves pretty thoroughly at this point. And that’s before we tucked into the Toblerone mousse resting gently on a tart wild berry compote with bright currants.
Perfect.
In non-COVID times, I can totally see staying at Camping Jungfrau just so I can save enough money to give it back to them at the restaurant. Why not consider the same?