What could be nicer than seeing mountain fires blazing on August 1st, the Swiss national holiday. (In Switzerland it is customary to light a fire in the mountains on this day.) And from where can you see them better than from a mountain? For example, from the 2,362-meter high Niesen, which stands on Lake Thun.

After a rather rainy morning, the sky brightened as we drove in the late afternoon to Mülenen, where the valley station of the Niesenbahn is located. We bought the ticket, which also included dinner in the summit restaurant. In half an hour, the funicular covered the height difference from 690 to almost 2,400 meters.

Once at the top we walked to the viewing platform from where you have a magnificent view of Lake Thun and Brienz and the mountains. We looked at the lowland, at rivers and lakes, at valleys or at snow-covered peaks like the Eiger and the Jungfrau Joch. If the view is very clear, you can see all the way to Mont Blanc and France from up here. The visibility wasn’t that good that day; but we were overwhelmed by the view.

After «climbing the Niesen» we deserved dinner, which was served in the beautiful mountain restaurant. At 10:30 pm we took the train down to the valley and back to Kandersteg in pouring rain. But that didn’t bother us because we had seen the fires before the rain started!

PS: If you want to know more about the Niesen and the Niesen Railway, read here.