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All Switzerland Wasserauen Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli

Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli

This 170-year-old Swiss guesthouse built into the side of a mountain is best accessed by a cable car.

Wasserauen, Switzerland

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Abi Inman
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Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli   Ilirjan Rrumbullaku
Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli   Pawel Biernacki
Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli   Rowena Waack
Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli   George Bremer
A sign at the path to and from the guesthouse indicating that children should be carefully watched along the path   gied / Atlas Obscura User
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About

This gorgeous guesthouse and restaurant is quite literally built into a cliff, and its back wall is made up of the rock itself. 

Its precarious perch makes it difficult to get to, and it's only accessible after a steep hike along a mountain path or via cable car (the piano in the living room was brought in by helicopter). It's been around for 170 years, and was originally a home for farmers; the guestbook goes back to 1940.

Open from May through November, the guesthouse uses only rainwater, and there are no showers. Weekends often bring in rowdy groups of Swiss hikers and live music that plays late into the night. It's run by Claudia and Beny Knechtle-Wyss and their five children, plus it's home to 35 sheep, 20 rabbits, 5 chickens, 3 pigs, a donkey, and a dog.

The guesthouse (which no longer accepts guests and is now only a restaurant) is also just a short distance down the path from the Wildkirchli caves, which were inhabited by Neanderthals as far back as 40,000 years ago.  The caves later became the site of a hermitage.

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Take the Wasserauen-Ebenalp cable car. It costs 27 CHF per person for a roundtrip.

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AbiInman

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lsokolow, Martin, gied

  • lsokolow
  • Martin
  • gied

Published

May 16, 2018

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  • http://www.aescher-ai.ch/aescher-en.html
Berggasthaus Aescher Wildkirchli
9057 Weissbad
Wasserauen
Switzerland
47.283251, 9.411698
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