Interlaken: Red Deer Rut Tour with Sunset Fondue

For two weeks a year, this valley roars. Walk up, eat fondue outside on a working alpine farm as the sun leaves the ridge, and listen to red deer calling across the Justistal.
In late September the red deer move into the Justistal to rut, twenty minutes from Interlaken, and the stags start calling. The valley has a wall of rock on either side, the Sigriswiler and the Gueggis ridges, so the sound travels. If you know elk bugling from the Rockies, this is its European cousin, deeper and rougher.

We leave Interlaken at 16:00 and drive up the valley. From there it is a walk of thirty minutes to an hour at an easy pace, on a path, in daylight, carrying nothing.

At the top, Daniela has been farming since May and making cheese every single day of it. She keeps a table for us on her terrace, outside, facing the valley. Other people eat there too, walkers and farmers from the valley, and that is the point: you are not booking a private dining room, you are sitting down where the valley eats.

The sun leaves the ridge around half past six, while you are at the table. The valley turns cold and blue within minutes. Then we walk back down in the last of the light, which is when the stags are loudest, and we are back in Interlaken by 20:00.

We bring binoculars. The deer stay on the slopes across the valley, so hearing them is close to certain in these two weeks, and seeing them is never guaranteed. If they stay quiet you still have the walk, the ridge at sunset and the fondue.

To guarantee availability book as soon as possible. Early booking is worth consideration especially if you planning the trip during high season like public holidays or weekends.

This excursion you can cancel with no cost up to 24 hours before the start of the trip. If you cancel it after 24 hours or not show up on the excursion you will still be charged the full price of the activity. Being late on pick-up or departure will be considered as not showing up.