The Kemmeriboden-Bad-Merängg

25 February 2022

The Kemmeriboden-Bad (also called Bedli or Schybebad, Schybe meaning shadow in Berner dialect) is located on the banks of the River Emme, on the edge of the Emmental in the canton of Bern. The land was used as a forestry area until 1794.

The healing springs were already known a century before that. In 1794, the owner opened the first spa hotel, a Gastwirtschaft with a bath. A new owner took over the hotel in 1834. It was the beginning of the dynasty of today’s owner Reto Invernizzi.

Between 1878 and 1900, the hotel was renovated and extended to reflect its present state. The large house, the Bauernhaus or Wirtshaus, was completed in 1880. The Chässpycher and the Kegelhüsi were built in 1898 and 1900. Meanwhile, a farm remained connected to the complex. It supplied the kitchen with fresh milk, eggs, meat and other products for the restaurant.

Many celebrities, poets, writers, politicians and business people found their way to the complex. The first generator to produce electricity was completed in 1916. Not only did the Spanish flu wreak havoc on the owners’ family in 1918-1920, but the covered wooden bridge also collapsed three times to the swirling waters of the usually calm Emme.

1939 was an important year for the hotel. Just before the Second World War outbreak on 3 September 1939, the hotel served the Kemmeriboden-Bad-Merängge (Nidli in Bern dialect) for the first time, a desert now nationally and internationally famous.

The following significant changes occurred in 1990 with a hydroelectric power station for electricity, a park and several other buildings.

In 2008, the next project took shape: the annual construction of an igloo made of homemade snow in December. The igloo has been extended over the years and now has five rooms, a restaurant for about guests and a separate room for fondue. The igloo only begins to melt around mid-March if the weather gods allow it.

The place is an ideal starting point for hikes to the Entlebuch and Emmental, and Postauto stops here.

(Source and further information: www. kemmeriboden.ch).