Mürren is a small village that sits perched up on a hill overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley, at the base of the Schilthorn, which is just shy of 3000 metres by 30 metres. The Schilthorn, of course, rose to fame when it featured in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with the tragically untalented George Lazenby in the role of the ruthless James Bond (we all know that Sean Connery was the best Bond every – and no, that is not a point of discussion) and the fabulous Diana Rigg as the Bond girl.

Location – Mürren

The journey to Mürren from the low lands is quite spectacular, and there are multiple options available. From Berne you take the train to Interlaken Ost, and change there to a train headed for Lauterbrunnnen. And then from there, you have three options. You can either take the cable car up from Lauterbrunnen, just opposite the railway station, to Grütschalp. From there you transfer to a mountain railway that will take you to Mürren BLM station. The rail station sits at the base of a promontory that the hotel is perched on. Alternatively, you can take the bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg, and then a cable car up to Mürren from there. Once you reach the top, it’s another ten minutes on foot from the cable car station to the Palace Hotel at the other side of the village.

Check-in at the Palace Mürren & Staff

Two days before I’m expected at the hotel, I receive an email from The Palace inviting me to check in online. Check-in at the hotel is open until 23h00. If you’re arriving after that, you need to advise the hotel in advance and they’ll prepare an online key which will allow you to access the building and your room even if reception is already closed. By the time I reach the hotel, it’s just gone 22h30. On Friday’s my lectures run on until 18h25, so I couldn’t make it to arrive any earlier.

The staff at the hotel are really great. The young Hungarian lady at check-in welcomes me to the hotel and tells me I should have called ahead and they would have picked me up at the station. However, seeing as I’m only travelling with hand luggage, there really was no need for that. The staff at the hotel are genuinely friendly and forthcoming. They’re keen to accommodate their guests and any requests they may have.

Superior Room with Valley View

I’ve booked a superior room with a view of the valley for my stay here in Mürren. When I arrive, it’s obviously pitch dark already, so I can only hope the view is what it is promised to be on the hotel website. In any case, in the middle of the room is an elegant wooden desk which backs up against the television facing towards the bed and serves to bisect the room into a living and a sleeping area. In the living area there’s a comfortable grey sofa and an armchair set around a coffee table. What I really like about the hotel is that they’ve gone with some rather bold colours and wallpaper.

The bed is a large king with an excellent, firm mattress. Moreover, it has amazingly light and fluffy duvets that just make you want to burrow in and stay there until the spring. The pattern on the headboard is rather bold, as you can see, and even though I wouldn’t want something like that at home, I do think it works rather well as an ensemble with the rest of the room.

The toilet and bathroom are separate. The former is just be the entrance to the room, on the right, whereas the latter leads off from the bedroom. It features a spacious walk in shower that scores highly on the Knight of Malta shower test. The pressure from the rainforest nozzle is simply divine. The temperature control is not bad, and the spillage is outstanding in that there is none. Not a single drop goes astray, keeping the area around the shower perfectly dry. The cosmetics are by a brand I’m not familiar with. It says on the bottles that it’s the scent if ginger and lemon. Whatever it is, the smell is rather nice.

The next morning it’s still dark when I arrive downstairs for breakfast just after seven. However, by the time I return to my room a bit over an hour later, it’s light outside and I get to appreciate the view from my room. It’s also only then that I realise that I even have a small balcony. It’s already cooled down considerable when I visit the hotel, with the night time temperatures hovering around freezing point, but it’s still a very nice view, even if you can’t stay out on the balcony for very long.

The Palace Mürren Superior Room Amenities

The amenities at the hotel are not bad. On the armchair when I arrive is a tote bag with two pairs of slippers and bathrobes. The hotel has its own spa area. In addition, it is connected on the first floor to the public sports centre next door. Hotel guests have complimentary access to all the facilities, including the indoor pool and the weight room. There’s also a DeLonghi coffee machine with coffee pads of Basler Café, which is very nice. In the fridge there are small tubs of cream as well as two large bottles of water. There are also plenty of Ronnefeldt teas.

Dining at the Palace Hotel Mürren

The Palace Hotel Mürren has a bar opposite reception, by the entrance to the hotel, and a restaurant looking out towards the valley at the back of the building. This is also where they serve breakfast in the mornings from seven onwards. The dining hall is very grand. Apparently, the entire hotel was only reopened in 2025 after undergoing a complete refurbishment. And I think they’ve done a really good job in retaining the fin de siècle atmosphere of the dining hall.

The breakfast is just lovely. There’s a huge selection to choose from, including a very nice variety of local cheese. There’s also a choice of hot dishes, things like scrambled egg, bacon, and veal sausages. In addition, it is possible to order pancakes and omelettes from the menu. I have the omelette with racelette cheese on my first day at the hotel, which is just lovely and oozing with melted cheese.

I also have dinner at the hotel one night during my stay. In addition to the à la carte menu, they also do a three or five course tasting menu, both of which are also available as a vegetarian option. The food is very well prepared and delicately balanced. It is, in the sum of all things, a nice and well paced meal.

Amuse Bouche

Mascarpone cream with grilled sage and matcha powder.

Starter

Salad of root vegetables with a hazelnut hollondaise.

Soup

Mushroom broth with pickled mushrooms and ravioles.

First Entrée

Saffron risotto with balsamico and fresh pumpkin.

Second Entrée

Fresh pasta with truffle and cream.

Dessert

A variation of chocolate, cardamom, mocha, and cream.

Conclusion

Mürren is a lovely village high up in the Bernese Oberland and the Jungfrau region. Its location, perched up on a mountain overlooking the valley below, has its advantages – for example the fact that it’s a car free zone. Despite the appeal of the spectacular scenery, it also seems to be less busy than other places in the Jungfrau region like Kleine Scheidegg or Lauterbrunnen. Which is not to suggest that Mürren is quiet, but certainly quieter.

I greatly enjoy my stay at The Palace Mürren hotel, which is, I think, a very well managed property. The staff I encountered during this visit were just lovely and so helpful, and I enjoyed the ease with which they interacted with guests. There were quite a few families with children staying in the hotel, and the staff were great, managing them and keeping them occupied. I stayed in room 301, which is a superior room and twice the size of the other rooms on my floor, judging by the floor map.I thought the vibrant colour and the wallpaper were just great, and I think they went well with the overall feel of the hotel, which strikes a balance between modernity and the old world charm of the original, fin de siècle building. I’m not sure how well the design will age, though. But time will tell, and I’m certainly planning on returning here sooner rather than later.