Hotel Alpenblick Berne is a quaint 1890ies red brick building in a residential area, three tram stops from famous Zytglogge clock tower in the city’s center. Renovated six years ago with a keen eye to detail and a feel for modern coziness, the hotel boasts many innovative features.

Professional beekeeping on the hotel’s rooftop

The comforts of the fifty-three light flooded guest rooms plus one fantastic penthouse apartment go without saying. But be sure to see the five bee hives with 40,000 bees each on the rooftop! Installed for ecological reasons to protect bees, their activity can be viewed from the safety behind glass. A jar of the bees’ honey produced from surrounding Linden trees is presented as a gift to every guest who books directly with the hotel.

Or ask for Alpenblick’s coffee grounds which are processed into an all-natural, delectably scented facial mask!

And not to forget the cozy library area, spaciously spreading over an entire floor with windows to either side, equally appealing to families and the business traveller. It is so popular with guests that a second such room is in the planning.

The popular hotel library.

Hotel Alpenblick Feel and Features

General Manager Robert Kneubühler smiles slyly when he hints at further innovations currently under way. He meets me over breakfast in the sunny brunch area where black-and-white photos of the first successful Eigernorth wall climb are prominently gracing the walls. Was there a special reason that this theme was chosen during renovations? “When Alpenblick was built in the late nineteen hundreds, guests could actually see the mountains from the hotel. Residential build-up over the years encumbered that view and my team and I thought mountaineering an appropriate theme,” explains the manager. Robert contacted the son of one of the original expeditions’ 1938 mountaineer, Anderl Heckmair, who delighted in the idea of dramatic pictures of the team’s climb featured on the hotel’s walls. He happily provided the photographs.

General Manager Robert Kneubühler and his team

More interesting pictures adorn the walls throughout the hotel which were obtained from the city of Berne’s archives. When Freddie Knie Senior visited, he was enchanted by pictures of olden days Swiss National Circus Knie rolling into town with animals looking out of moving wagons and clowns and ballerinas dancing in the streets. Does the hotel get many famous guests I ask. The congenial manager smiles and answers modestly: “there have been some prominent guests, but every guest is treated as a guest in this house.” I believe him.

The full-serve restaurant features a delightful outdoor eating patio and is clearly a locals’ favourite. On Friday evening, a gaggle of army officers from the nearby music training center have their end-of-week drink, smoke and chat while I enjoy a delicious dinner.

As in so many of the established hotels in Switzerland, the guest room windows are all equipped with roll-down shutters plus curtains which effectively block out light. This feature alone is worth the money in my  opinion as I seem to sleep better and longer this way. A further plus is  the hotel garage as no-where else this close to town is parking available. Public transportation is a five minutes walk from the hotel.

Hotel Alpenblick Berne is a pleasant experience I can heartily recommend for a delightful and satisfying stay if these are some of the features you are looking for during your next trip to the charming and beautiful capital city of Switzerland.

Please let me know your experience if you stay at the Hotel Alpenblick Berne and say hello to General Manager Robert Kneubühler for me! You can leave your comment below.