Mürren
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Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. It is not reachable by public road and is 1,650 m above sea level. It features a view of the three mountains Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Tourism is popular through the summer and winter. Mürren has a population of just 450, but 2,000 hotel beds.
Mürren has its own school and two churches, one Reformed and one Roman Catholic.
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[edit] Transport
A series of four cable cars, known as the Luftseilbahn Stechelberg-Mürren-Schilthorn (LSMS), provides transportation from Mürren downhill to Gimmelwald and Stechelberg, and uphill to the summit of the Schilthorn and the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria. This was the principal filming location for the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Mürren is also connected to Lauterbrunnen by the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren, which consists of a narrow gauge railway and a connecting aerial tramway. Mürren is also the lower terminus of the Allmendhubelbahn funicular.
[edit] Recreation
There are a total of 52km of ski runs with 14 ski lifts (4 cable cars, 6 chair lifts, 2 railways and 2 drag lifts). There is also off-piste skiing, but guiding is often needed and should be used. Although there is good skiing, a popular activity is sledding (sledging). There are many paths that are used for sledding including a route from Mürren to Gimmelwald (once in Gimmelwald, you can follow the short path through the village and take a cable-car back to Mürren) and from Gimmeln to Mürren that are used solely for hiking and sledding. The "bobrun" (which was a bobsleigh track) is also used for sledding and hiking but is also a well used ski run, often used by the ski school.
Within the village there is a large sports centre with a 25m swimming pool, squash courts and a sports hall. There is a large skating rink which is sometimes used for curling competitions as well as a specific curling rink that in the summer is a tennis court. In the summer there are also tennis courts near to the sportschalet.
[edit] Politics
Mürren is situated within the canton of Bern, in the district of Interlaken and belongs to the political commune of Lauterbrunnen, together with the districts of Wengen, Isenfluh, Gimmelwald, Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen. Also, the Kirchgemeinde covers the entire valley.
[edit] History
Mürren has its roots as a farming village however it has grown in size and wealth due to tourism in both the summer and winter. Tourism and winter sports have been an important part of Mürren's past, as in 1911 the first British winter tourists arrived and in 1922 the Kandahar ski club was set up here. In 1928 the Inferno ski race was set up and remains till this day. The Inferno is the longest (15.8km) and largest amateur ski race in the world.
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