The woodcarving workshops
A living craft since the nineteenth century, with genuine shops.
André Schild — CC BY 2.5 · JoachimKohler-HB — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jag9889 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · marsupium photography — CC BY-SA 2.0
Yes, and Brienz is the right place: buy from the workshops and specialist shops in the village where you can watch the carver work — genuine pieces are signed and expensive, but the price reflects real hours of handwork. Avoid the cheap "bears" in tourist souvenir shops in Interlaken, most of which are imported. Small original pieces are available at reasonable prices.
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Brienz sits on the northern shore of turquoise Lake Brienz and is **Switzerland's capital of woodcarving**: since the nineteenth century its people have specialised in carving, and it holds the country's only woodcarving school along with family workshops still at work and shops selling original pieces — from the famous bears to wall clocks. A rare authenticity amid mountain tourism. The village itself is a row of traditional wooden houses with flowered balconies along the quay, and from it departs the **Brienz–Rothorn steam railway** (1892) — the last regularly operating steam rack railway in Switzerland, climbing a full hour under steam to a summit at 2,244 metres with a view over the lake and the Alps. It also has a violin-making workshop, the Giessbach Falls opposite across the water, and the Ballenberg museum on the hill above. Free to wander, and far quieter than Interlaken — an excellent alternative base for a stay.
A living craft since the nineteenth century, with genuine shops.
An hour under steam to 2,244 metres above the lake.
A traditional row with flowered balconies on the water.
3855 Brienz, Bern