The Tullmann Travels

Gimmelwald honesty shops, mountain hostel brews, and alpine path back to Mürren.

📅 July 11, 2025

Friday morning began with breakfast on the balcony, followed by a scenic walk through Mürren to Liv Café, a cozy coffee shop tucked into town. We ordered flat whites and a slice of chocolate cake, then sat outside in the crisp, clean mountain air. Jonas and I played a quick round of chess on the café’s giant outdoor board—he’s starting to think several moves ahead.

After our slow start, we made our way to Allmendhubel, Jonas’s favorite place in Switzerland. We rode the short funicular up the steep hill, took photos at the Allmendhubel sign, and let the day unfold.

As always, Jonas dove into the Flower Park—a nature-inspired playground carved into the alpine hillside. His favorite spots are the water flow maze and zip line, but he also spent time crawling through the underground tunnels and testing every wooden bridge he could find. He played until he was flushed and grinning.

Afterward, we headed back to Mürren and took the cable car a short way down to Gimmelwald, a quiet, car-free farming village perched on the cliffs below. A playground greeted us right outside the station, and Jonas took full advantage before we wandered up the sloping path into the heart of the village.

Our destination: the Mountain Hostel, home to the Schwarz Mönch Brewery and the famous Honesty Shop. The brewery produces a rich dark beer popular throughout the region, and the shop is exactly what it sounds like—a tiny store run on the honor system. There’s no cashier, just shelves of crafts, postcards, drinks, and souvenirs, a payment box, and a slip where you write down what you took. It’s quiet, simple, and built on trust.

We continued our walk through the village, stopping at a public water spigot to fill our bottles with fresh mountain water—cold, clear, and better than anything from the fridge. Gimmelwald is full of these surprises: honesty farm fridges tucked into barns, garages, or roadside huts, selling everything from cheese and sausage to milk and eggs. You simply take what you need and leave your money behind.

Jonas wandered ahead of us, playful and curious. He was intrigued by the honesty fridges, and in between sips of cold water and steps up steep roads, he found ways to make us laugh—like sneakily tickling us with a stray stalk of wheat. He keeps fun at the forefront of every day and helps keep us young.

Returning to Gimmelwald felt nostalgic. We had visited before, but this time, it struck us differently—quieter, slower, more meaningful. There’s something about walking through a community built on trust that’s deeply inspiring. It’s as if there’s an unspoken agreement: If you’ve made it all the way here, you didn’t come to steal.

We looped back to the Mountain Hostel and ordered ice cream while Jonas played at the playground one last time. Eventually, we caught the cable car back up to Mürren.

Dinner that night was homemade: roasted sausage and potatoes from Coop. Simple, filling, and the perfect end to a full day of fresh air and quiet wonder.