When the train runs alongside Lake Thun, in the canton of Bern (Switzerland), and the snow-capped peaks stand out in the background, the alpine adventure becomes clearer. In Lauterbrunnen, you have to board a cable car for an ascent up the mountainside. Then, through the windows of the little red train climbing through the forest, imposing massifs parade until we arrive at Mürren.
This preserved village, whose history dates back to the 13th century, is hidden at an altitude of 1,650 meters at the foot of the Schilthorn. In this paradise for hikers, mountaineers and skiers, popular with good society since the end of the 19th centurye century, cars were banned – apart from golf carts in a handful of hotels – and wooden sleds were popular in winter.
The electric cart ensuring the transfer of guests from the Drei Berge (“three mountains”) is dark green, like the color that adorns the old Hotel Bellevue. This 1907 establishment, so called because of its breathtaking view of the star peaks of the region, the Jungfrau, the Eiger and the Mönch, is reinventing itself, with a new name, under the leadership of Ramdane Touhami.
Passionate about the mountains, the whimsical businessman dreamed of purchasing a hotel there. With a pine green facade and red and white herringbone shutters, the building houses nineteen rooms, a table with a Japanese chef, a cheese restaurant, a sushi bar, a hot chocolate kiosk in winter and ice cream in summer, and a otaku bar, a themed café dedicated to the film Punishmentby Clint Eastwood, filmed in the region.
Ramdane Touhami, a lover of history, design and cinema, designed the decoration as a tribute to the region. He brought his mountain-themed collections to Mürren – posters, paintings on wood, photographs, etc. – and found local objects, ceramics from Thun and grimacing carnival masks (the Tschäggättä of the Lötschental).
The warm appearance of the existing woodwork was reinforced by the addition of custom-designed wooden elements. Its teams recreated Swiss coats of arms from documents from the 16th centurye century, designed carpets with bears or pennants with the names of summits, and had fun with the emblem of the canton of Bern to imagine that of the Drei Berge, with a bear who is sometimes a skier, sometimes a hiker. As in Wes Anderson’s films, meticulous reconstruction work is at work.
The comfort of a palace
But the very cinematic decor of the Drei Berge evokes more the strange atmosphere of a lodge in Twin Peaks – a tufted tapestry inspired by the hotel sign from the series hangs at the entrance. The motley selection of vintage design humanizes the place. Particularly in the spacious lobby, equipped with an old-fashioned counter on the pediment of which “Drei Berge Hotel Rezeption” is written in gold letters, old skis hanging from the ceiling, and a Swiss flag carpet bordered with coats of arms and of edelweiss. It is the heart of the hotel, with its family chalet lounge-games room feel, its Martin Visser seats reupholstered in cheerful colors and the music broadcast by large JBL 4350 monitor speakers. This large room opens onto a terrace, ideal in good weather.
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