Oberhofen Things to Do

4 more images

Sommersaal is one of the first halls that you will walk through, when taking the path through the museum inside of Schloss Oberhofen. The furniture is made in the style of the so-called "Louis-quinze" and was taken from the townhall of Bern and reconstructed in Oberhofen in 1955, including the precious woodcarvings that decorate the walls. These woodcarvings made of ebony were made by Friedrich Funk in 1753.

4 more images

In the Saloon Napoleon III you may see portraits of the family of Count von Pourtales, who used to spend their summer-vacations in Schloss Oberhofen during the 19th century. Oberhofen is certainly a good place for a day-excursion, but I think for a longer vacation, especially when you want to explore the area around Brienzersee & Thunersee and the Jungfrau-region it would be better to search for a hotel closer to Interlaken. For a vacation far away from the tourist-streams and for people, who have seen enough of the touristy places, Oberhofen might be a perfect place to stay though.

4 more images

Turmzimmer shows a great neo-gothic interior dating back to 1850, and it includes 12 precious wainscottings explaining the history of Schloss Oberhofen in a way that reminded me a lot of the medieval books with great ornamentic letters and beautiful decorations. There are precious furniture and stucco-works as well in that hall, whose windows are facing the large park and the Thunersee. Don't oversee that great coats of arms above the wainscottings : all of them are made by woodcarvings !

3 more images

The Medieval Room dates back to the 16th century and next to it you will see the prison, that was used between 1652 and 1798. The furniture dates back to the gothic and renaissance. This hall is quite spartanic in comparison with the other halls of the palace, but it is interesting to see how the beginnings of the castle looked like. Take a closer look at the construction of the wooden ceiling, dating back hundreds of years already.
In this hall you may also see the bell of a church in Hilterfingen and the "finger" of the church-clock. When you click on my last picture, you will see it is a real finger, showing the right time !!

4 more images

Many of the rooms that you may see in Schloss Oberhofen are furnished and decorated with works of art, that were taken from other castles in Switzerland .In the "Empirezimmer" you may see the precious furniture of Anna Feodorowna, the russian High-countess, born as Princess of Saxen-Coburg-Saalfeld (1781-1860). She lived in Elfenau Estate near Bern between 1813 and 1838 and later at the "Chatelet de la Boissiere" close to Genf / Geneve.
Another one of the rooms is dedicated for toys of the children of weathly parents - see my last 3 pictures !

4 more images

The Turkish smoking-saloon / Tuerkischer Rauchsalon was built in 1855 at the highest floor of the big tower in the centre of the castle. This saloon looks quite impressive with precious ornate woodcarvings at the walls and the ceiling, lovely furniture, sofas etc. Saloons like that were found in many palaces of kings and rich merchants of that time. I remember a similar room in Schloss Linderhof in Bavaria (a palace of mad King Ludwig II)
My main picture looks a lot lighter, when you enlarge it !

4 more images

Scharnachthalsaal is quite a strange name, but it goes back to the noble family von Scharnachthal, who lived here in Oberhofen in medieval times and plenty of helebards, iron-armories, flags and swords dating back to their time are shown in that hall. Take a closer look at the precious wooden ceiling !
The castle of Oberhofen was first built as a watercastle in the 12th century, but totally reconstructed in the 19th century.

3 more images

Another highlight and one of the oldest parts of the palace that had almost not been changed over the centuries is the small chapel of Schloss Oberhofen with some remains of great frescos. In my last picture you may see some interesting wooden sculptures, Holy Joseph riding a horse. It was obviously used for processions, otherwise the wooden wheels would not make sense.