It's not often in the modern age that expectations are exceeded. I visited this hotel, just for a cup of coffee on a snowy day last winter, it's rustic charm was instant then and for the last year I have been counting the days to return to stay. I was'nt disappointed.

Kandersteg lies at the southern most and highest point in the Kander valley, the road stops here, the mountains have drawn Picasso, Twain and Wordsworthalike sat in a crucible amidst the towering peaks and at the heart of it all is the Chalet Hotel Adler which for some bizarre reason best known to the Swiss only has three stars. It should have more.

Every last detail from the eggs left warming for you each morning, to the pristine white gowns reflect first class personal sevice and a desire to make welcome and provide wellness for their guests. A family run hotel, rightly and proudly the place to be in town.

The wooden chlalet style rooms give you the impression that you have indeed found your very own 'mountain hideaway' Le Bon longed for, the versatile and varied collection of public rooms downstairs, all framed with chocolate box views remind you that you are sharing your mountain experience with like minded cogniscienti. This is a gorgeous hotel in a setting that will make you want to return forever more to belong again.

Five stars all the way.

Despite the quite bad reviews here on tripadvisor we decided to spend the weekend at Chalet Adler. All in all, you have to remember that this is a 3-Star Hotel in Switzerland, so why on earth are people expecting the world?! At first glance it appears clean, with rustic alpine decoration and loads of tacky decoration which appears to be thrown together willy nilly. Expect lots of hearts and rose pedals. To drive the whirlpool out onto the balcony was a good laugh, although it didn't work properly and we had to push it out partially... well, it made us laugh, anyway. the whole construction is very makeshift, e.g. fitted with a lot of duct tape. not sure about the safety regulations the was no side pane, but only some plastic sheeting attached. i would definitely recommend rooms on the 3rd floor, or at least 2nd, as the hotel is on the main street in the middle of the village. we saw a couple of rooms with whirlpools going onto the balcony right over the outside sitting area of the restaurant... there was a tiny plate with one (1!) tangerine and a few grape, which were clearly past their sell by date. Breakfast was served in our room, and there again, the cheese and cold meat was clearly prepared the previous night, with some tired looking parsley. the bread and croissants were freshly baked and still warm though. they even have decent tea, which is quite rare in Switzerland. we also had 90mins private sauna or steam bath within our arrangement, which was nice. however, i found that the receptioist could have told us to reserve early, as i am sure we were the first to arrive on the day. we only had rubbish times to choose from. she was quite peculiar anyway, looking at us everytime we came to reception as thoug she's never seen us before. she wasn't rude, but also not particularly helpful. the other chap at reception was far better, sadly he was only there from time to time. the swimming pool was quite nice, too. it was clean but the water only 20 °C - decidedly too cold when it's snowing outside!
the resautrant and bar was nicer looking than on the pictures on their homepage, and the staff really friendly and attentive. the 4 course meal for dinner was far better than anticipated, nicely presented and of high standard.
Taking into account the 3 stars the hotel i sporting, all the downfalls are bearable, and the whirlpool definitely a great feature.

the stay was great, it was very relaxing in the wellness area. it has a great variety of food. we will visit the adler again.

The hotel itself is very charming and nice for a couple travelling. It was not at all appropriate for young children. The location is fabulous, but the hotel is quite dated. The pool is also dated and the tiles were slippery, very dangerous for the children. The staff was not very accomodating to our small ones, especially at dinner time. If you have family, try Hotel Doldenhorn (spelling?) which is much more appropriate for children for the same value.