Spiez Tourist Attractions
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The picturesquely situated town of Spiez (pop. 10,500) is a popular health and water sports resort (sailing school), and it is also an important junction for the roads and mountain railroads into the Kandertal and Simmental.
Local Museum
From an intersection in the upper part of Spiez near the parish church (1907) a street runs down to the medieval castle, delightfully situated in a cove. It has a massive 12th C. keep and fine buildings added in the 14th-18th C. This noble estate which, in the time of the kings of Neuchâtel, bore the title of the "Golden Court on the Wendelsee", was for centuries owned by the Erlach family. Today the castle is the headquarters of the municipal council. It also houses a museum and drawing and reception rooms of the 13th-18th C., including Renaissance paneled rooms and an Early-Baroque hall). Popular concerts are held here. The neighboring little 11th C. church has three Romanesque apses and fine Gothic frescoes.An attractive path leads along the lake from Spiez to Faulensee (30 minutes).
Niesen
At the west end of Spiez turn off the lakeside road to Thun into road 11 (on left), which climbs, with a fine view of the Niesen (2,367 m/7,766ft), to Spiezwiler (652 m/2,139ft), where the Kandertal road goes off on the left via Mülenen (7km/4mi; funicular up the Niesen) to Kandersteg and Adelboden. Road 11 continues straight ahead and then curves down to enter the valley of the Kander, which it crosses (to the left a view of the Blümisalp, 3,671 m/12,045ft). It then continues through wooded country to Wimmis.
