The Region

Skiing Areas

Events

Art & Culture

The best-loved and most important museums in Luzern:

  • Kunstmuseum Luzern - www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
  • Sammlung Rosengart - www.rosengart.ch
    a private collection including works by Klee, Miró and Picasso
  • Swiss Museum of Transport - www.verkehrshaus.ch
    an exciting interactive museum experience showing the development of transport on land, over water and in the air. The most visited museum in Switzerland!
  • Richard Wagner Museum - www.richard-wagner-museum.ch
    the composer’s residence at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne – a beautiful country manor that is well worth a visit
  • Glacier Garden - www.gletschergarten.ch
    park and museum where you can learn about glaciers and the geological history of the Alps including a modern interactive landscape relief of central Switzerland

Theatre and Music

There are numerous theatre, cabaret and jazz venues to be found in and around Lucerne, and nearby in Obwalden and Nidwalden. Here are some addresses:

  • Lucerne Theatre - www.luzernertheater.ch
    The Lucerne Theatre is the only professional theatre in Central Switzerland and stages performances in the three main sectors of opera, drama and ballet, as well as fringe programmes.
  • Luzerner Kleintheater - www.kleintheater.ch
    The Luzerner Kleintheater stages guest performances of comedy, theatre and music, including a children’s programme, literature events and interdisciplinary art projects.

In the immediate vicinity of Wilen/Sarnen, the „Theatermacherei“, housed in a former disco at the Hotel BELVOIR in Sachseln, is one of the most original small venues around. Here you can experience drama and cabaret of a professional standard – very, very Swiss, with plenty of humour. Have a look here: www.theatermacherei.ch andwww.alptheater.ch

If you are interested in theatre in Sarnen, consult the Theatre Society website: www.theater-sarnen.ch

Other venues:

Jazz and other music venues in the vicinity:

  • Muffi’s Nachtrestaurant, at the Gasthaus zum Landenberg in Sarnen - www.muffis.ch
    THE haunt for night owls in Sarnen, Open Air Bar in summer, an excellent restaurant ‘Pappalappa’ on the first floor, live bands on stage in the Nachtrestaurant.
  • Hotel Krone in Giswil - www.krone-giswil.ch
    varied music and fringe programme. The hotel also houses Obwalden’s ARTOTHEK.
  • Backstube Stans - www.backstubestans.blogspot.de
    „the culture cellar at Engelberger Straße 6“: - regular live music in a real treasure trove of a cellar stuffed full of art, antiques and oddities. Also flea markets, readings and excellent coffee!
  • Hotel Krone in Sarnen - www.krone-sarnen.ch
    hosts various events (e.g. in the cellar venue ‘freeheit’) – the most important events in Sarnen are listed on the Website

Dining out

In walking distance from the house

  • Hotel Wilerbad - www.wilerbad.ch
    We highly recommend the Thai food at the ‘Taptim Thai’. Bruno Odermatt, the former hotel director, met the talented chef, Thitisak ‘Max’ Srikaew, in Thailand and persuaded him to move to Switzerland. The hotel restaurant offers international and Swiss cuisine. In summer, you can eat on the pleasant terrace with its view of the surrounding mountains.

In Sarnen

(ca. 3.5–5 km from the house)

  • Mühle Sarnen - www.muehlesarnen.ch
    Small organic restaurant with a garden, run by chef–proprietor Jakob Berger.
  • Gasthaus Peterhof - www.hotelpeterhof.ch
    A family-run hotel at the foot of Sarnen’s main church, St Peter & Paul. Moritz and Irene Rogger offer lovingly presented traditional Swiss cooking. Fish is a speciality, and the sauces are delicious! An excellent choice for all those who appreciate a warm welcome, down-to-earth home cooking, cultivated surroundings and good value for money.
  • Restaurant Jordan/Pizzeria Giordano - www.restaurant-jordan.ch
    Two extremely family-friendly Italian restaurants, with a secluded garden shaded by chestnut trees. Opposite the ‘Jordan’ is the ‘Giordano’, with its wood-fired pizza oven and table top grills. There is a small playground nearby.
  • Restaurant Pappalappa im Landenberger - www.muffis.ch/pappalappa
    The Pappalappa can be found on the first floor of the Gasthaus zum Landenberg in Sarnen (built 1547), and impresses with its stylishly renovated and carefully modernized premises. In this historic, elegant ambience, you can enjoy classical and regional dishes, such as game from local forests, Kernser nüdeli and Obwaldener beef. The up-and-coming chef can already boast 13 Gault Millau points, and his ambitious cooking and sophisticated presentation suggest he can look forward to more in the future. The young, pleasant and attentive staff create a relaxed atmosphere.

In the surrounding area

  • Landgasthof Zollhaus on Lake Sarnenwww.zollhaus-sachseln.ch

    The perfect destination for everyone who enjoys a lie-in, or for satisfying those sudden hunger pangs outside normal meal times! Open every day (except Wednesdays and Thursdays) from 8:30 am until 10 pm or ‘until the last guest goes home’…

    You can enjoy the set menu for under CHF 20.00 – fish- and meat-lovers will appreciate the home-style cooking and the well-filled plates of delicious, freshly prepared regional produce just as much as those who just want a salad, or rösti with fried egg. We particularly recommend their fish dishes (caught in local Swiss lakes, though unfortunately no longer in Lake Sarnen). Afternoon coffee, cake and ice cream are also available, and hard to resist. When the weather is fine, you can enjoy all this on the spacious terrace – take in the view over the lake while the kids amuse themselves in the little playground. The ‘Zollhaus’ has its own landing stage.

    This informal country inn, with its friendly and welcoming landlady, Heidi, offers great value for money and is the perfect place to relax and fill up on hearty home cooking.

  • Hotel Bahnhof Giswil - www.bahnhofgiswil.ch
    A smart, roomy and family-friendly restaurant with several dining areas: the Dorfbeiz ‘Fumoir’ (smokers’ room), frequented by locals; an elegant gourmet dining room, and a garden with covered terrace. There is a small playground and a playroom in the hotel. Regular events, such as barbecues, are also held.
  • Restaurant Alpenblick St. Niklausen - www.restaurantalpenblick.ch
    Run with a very personal touch by the proprietors Lucia und Rolf Anderhalden, the Alpehnblick also has a ‘Beiz’ (with simple, hearty dishes) and a Gourmet-Stüberl with excellent haut cuisine.

Insider tip for gourmets

If you want to experience something out of the ordinary and don’t mind a longer drive, then head for the village of Escholzmatt which belongs to the region of ‘Entlebuch’ (Kanton Luzern), and visit the ‘Hexer’ (sorcerer)!

Here at the Gasthaus Rössli (www.stefanwiesner.ch) you can experience the ‘avant-garde and archaic natural cuisine’ of an exceptional chef, who presents themed menus as whole-evening culinary events. Happily, the ‘Rössli’ also has rooms, so you don’t have to drive back the same evening.