The traditional Bären restaurant in the village of Gsteig.

Taking out the cheese

Saanen Mustard

Traditional crafts

Learn about our traditions!

Traditional craftsmanship in the holiday region Gstaad is very complex and has mostly grown historically. The most obvious of these is our regulated building method. But skills are also passed on from generation to generation in other areas, thus promoting regional traditions.

In the foreground you can see the Hotel Bären in Gsteig. This is a very old wooden chalet with red geraniums in front of the windows and old drawings on the front. In the background the church of Gsteig is visible. — Gsteig Bären and church

On the right is a dark old chalet with a green garden in front. On the left is the church of Saanen. — 16ieme in Saanen

The front of an old chalet is visible. There are coloured inscriptions and ornaments in different colours. On the balcony railing are white, purple and pink flowers. — painted front of a chalet

Architecture in the region

Just as the skyscrapers are part of New York, the typical chalet architecture also characterises the holiday region Gstaad.Since the 1950s, the law has stipulated that the typical character of the region must be preserved. In addition to many originally preserved chalets, the new building projects also remain true to the traditional chalet architecture. Only wooden buildings and panelling in this style are permitted.

Village tours of Gstaad or Saanen can be booked through Guides Gstaad-Saanenland and Explora Gstaad. A free guided tour of the village of Gstaad takes place every Friday at 10.00 am. More information or direct bookings are available at the link below.

Explora Gstaad

Guides Gstaad-Saanenland

Book - Village Tours in Gstaad or Saanen

Paper-cut silhouettes

Hans Jakob Hauswirth (1809 - 1871) was the first to create the Saanen silhouette with black paper on a white background. Today, a number of regional artists have developed into silhouette specialists. Each has their own style - but they are all united by their love of detail. The various motifs can now also be found on cups, plates, cars and even as tattoos. Silhouettes can be bought in the Hausweberei-Heimatwerk in Saanen and in the atelier black/white in Zweisimmen. The Restaurant Hüsy in Blankenburg has its own gallery and exhibits historical and contemporary silhouettes throughout the year. The «Swiss Centre for Silhouettes» opened its doors in Château-d'Oex in 2022. Here, the history of paper cutting is impressively told and shown.

Heimatwerk Saanen

Restaurant Hüsy Galerie in Blankenburg

Swiss paper cutting centre

More about Alpine craftsmanship

More about the tradition of paper cutting

A folded paper-cut silhouette lies on a table with a pair of scissors. You can see cut-out trees and cows. — Paper-cut Silhouette emerges

A round paper-cut silhouette is in process - the lower half is already cut out with cows and trees. You can see the small, pointed scissors. — half paper-cut silhouette

Black‑and‑white paper cut showing houses, fir trees, animals and mountains in a symmetrical alpine scene. — Papercut art by Regina Martin

A part of an old chalet front with old writings is visible. Red, light blue and white ornaments are painted between the writings. The wood is very old. — Painted front of a chalet

A dark chalet and a small barn stand in a colourful flower meadow. The chalet has two balconies on the sides, leading to the garden in the middle. — Chalet in the green

The Obersimmental chalet trail

The Obersimmental House Trail is a themed trail that leads through the entire Obersimmental and offers marvellous views of magnificent carpentry. The brochure is available from Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus.

Traditional cheese making on the alp

The milk is warmed in a cheese vat and mixed with the rennet and the fatty syrup culture at the right temperature. The milk now needs to rest for half an hour. The cheese mass is cut into grains with a harp (curd) as soon as the milk is thick enough. Then stir constantly with the mixer until the mixture is heated to 52 degrees. Now the cheese mass is "fished" out of the whey with a cloth and pressed into the cheese moulds, pressed and turned at increasingly longer intervals during the first hour. In the evening, the cheese is turned one last time before it is placed in a salt bath for 24 hours in the morning and later rubbed with salt water in the cellar every day.

After six months, the cheese is ready for consumption as alpine cheese. After two to three years of storage, it becomes a sliced cheese.

cheese, glorious cheese

The mountain farmer traditionally makes cheese over an open fire in the alpine hut. — Cheese pot on an open fire at Alp Matti

The two cheesemakers stand in front of the cheese vat, still holding the full cheesecloth over the vat. They are waiting for the whey to run out. — Taking out the cheese

Young woman making cheese in a large copper vessel. — Cheese production at Alp Turnel

Countless fresh cheese wheels lie on ten wooden shelves. You can see seven rows - so there are about 70 cheeses in this picture. — Cheese storage

Two people lift a cloth with cheese inside into a large cauldron. — Traditional cheese making in the alp.

A large cheese vat is full of cheese. The mixture is stirred with a wooden shovel. — Stirring cheese

On a traditional wooden table with grooves for the whey to drain off, there are many small containers with fresh cheese in them. — Small fresh cheese

In a cobbled narrow alley of Saanen, old wooden chalets stand on both sides. On the left side are green shutters and above the roofs you can see the blue sky. — back alley

The village of Saanen on an early autumn morning. The church is already in sunlight, while the village is still in shadow. In the background you can see Giferspitz and Wasserngrat in autumnal brown tones. — Saanen village and church

The road leads between wooden chalets. — The promenade of the village Saanen.

A small path leads past wooden chalets and green gardens. — Pretty chalet village in the Saanenland.

Audioguided Tour

The village of Saanen, the historical heart of the Saanenland, owes its unique character to its narrow streets and lanes, lined with old timber houses . The Church of Saint Maurice, dating back to the 15th century is also an impressive building. Tradition, a rich heritage of craftsmanship, and history all lend the village its particular charm.

For this purpose, we offer an audio guide tour with 28 stops through the history and architecture of the historically significant chalet village of Saanen.

Village tour

Playlist with all the texts

Regional ceramics for everyday use

In the Saanen pottery, where ceramics are still made by hand, a small work of art is created from a piece of clay. The various subjects and models will delight young and old alike!

Clay crockery on the table. A cup is white at the top and brown at the bottom with a white chicken running across it. Next to it is a bowl of muesli. It is completely white with a fine brown line in the centre. The bottom of the bowl is brown and there is a white/black spotted chicken on it. The normal plate is painted 2/3 white and 1/3 brown. There is a white/black spotted chicken in the brown part. The soup plate is white, except for the brown rim. A black and a white/black spotted chicken run along the edge of the plate. — Crockery made of clay

An owl is made of clay. It has a white belly and a white face. The feathers and head are brown. It has black spherical eyes and looks at you in a friendly way. — Animal made of clay

A man is making a Saanen sledge with a drill. The sledge is on the workbench and almost finished. — Sledge builder

The sledge maker saws the sledge timbers with a machine. He wears a noise protector. — Sledge maker with machine

The sledge builder burns the name of the sledge into the wood with a hot iron. The sledge lies on its back. — Building a sledge

Saanen sledge

The Raaflaub family from Grund produced the first Saanen sledges for the winter of 1920/1921. From 1968, Walter Raaflaub took over this craft from his father and built countless sledges until his 91st birthday. Now it is mainly Andreas Kolly and Mathias von Siebenthal, together with Patric Seewer, who produce the somewhat deeper and wider Saanen wooden sledges. While Andreas Kolly's sledges are original Saanen sledges, Mathias and Patric use plastic runners (instead of iron) to improve the gliding properties.

Contact the two manufacturers at:
wissiflueh@gmx.ch (von Siebenthal Mathias)
andreas.kolly@bluewin.ch (Andreas Kolly)

book

Saanen bells

In the past, bells were used to protect against evil spirits. Today, farmers need them above all on the alpine pastures. They can locate missing cows by the sound of the bells. For this purpose, the cows are decorated with bells as they move up and down the mountain pastures.

The famous Schopfer/von Siebenthal bells were cast in the Saanenland from 1819 to 1964. These are still used in the alpine economy today. High prices are paid for these popular bells today. Saanen bells are therefore a success story. There is a varied exhibition of local and regional bells in the Saanen Landscape Museum.