A private nature park lake near Kandersteg so transparent you can count the trout — literally, since you can eat one caught right there. Combine the free eastern-France stay with a short Swiss hop for one of the most photographed small lakes in the country.
Blausee ("Blue Lake") is a small private nature park lake near Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland — deep teal-turquoise, so still and clear that you can see every rock and every trout on the bottom, even in bright sun. It's genuinely one of the most photographed small lakes in Switzerland, and it earns it: no motors, no crowds of the Oeschinensee scale, and a real trout farm on site whose fish supply the lakeside restaurant. It sits only about 6 km from Kandersteg — the same base town as the Oeschinensee trip — so the two are easy to combine into one longer Bernese Oberland run rather than two separate drives from France.
Meudon-la-Forêt → Kandersteg is about 590–600 km (Paris–Kandersteg is ~591 km / ~7h05 door to door via Beaune, Basel and Bern), and Blausee is a further 6 km up the valley from Kandersteg. Using the free Besançon or Belfort stay as a waypoint cuts the remaining Swiss leg to roughly 215–225 km / ~2h20–2h40 (Besançon–Kandersteg is ~217 km), so the trip splits cleanly into two comfortable driving days rather than one 7-hour slog.
Drive out after work, arrive late evening. Free night at the stay in Besançon/Belfort.
Full remote workday from the free stay. No drive today.
Drive out Friday evening or early Saturday. Base yourself in Kandersteg — same valley used for the Oeschinensee sibling trip. Settle in, grocery run in the village.
Short drive up to the Blausee nature park (parking CHF 5 for four hours). Entry is CHF 11 per adult, and in summer that ticket includes a ride in the glass-bottomed rowing boat — the best way to actually appreciate how clear the water is. Walk the short loop trail around the lake: barely 1 km, flat wooden boardwalks and gravel paths, roughly 20–30 minutes at an easy pace — genuinely one of the most family-friendly, low-effort short walks in the region, nothing like the climb up to Oeschinensee.
Bring the bike (front wheel off, stored inside per usual) for an easy spin on the flatter valley roads back toward Kandersteg village if you want more than the short lake loop — this isn't a mountain-bike destination, it's a stroll-and-swim-view stop, not a swimmable lake (it's a protected, cold spring-fed nature reserve — no swimming allowed).
If this is a standalone weekend, drive straight back, splitting the return at Besançon/Belfort again if timing allows. If combining with Oeschinensee, that's a short cable-car-plus-hike day from the same Kandersteg base before heading home.
| Category | How it's calculated | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss vignette | One sticker, valid 14 months — reusable for future Swiss trips | CHF 40 (≈ €43) |
| Tolls (France) | Mostly A6/A36 sections, Meudon↔Besançon/Belfort legs | ≈ €35–45 |
| Charging | ~1,200–1,250 km round trip, Superchargers en route | ≈ €95–110 |
| Campsite (1–2 nights, Rendez-vous Kandersteg) | Adult + car + tent pitch + tourist tax, ≈CHF 33–40/night | ≈ €35–75 |
| Blausee entry + parking | CHF 11 entry + CHF 5 parking (4h) | ≈ €17 |
| Trout dinner splurge | On-site restaurant, real fresh trout | ≈ CHF 30+ (€32+) |
| Groceries (self-cooked) | Swiss supermarket prices are noticeably higher than French — budget up | ≈ €25–35 |
| Total (standalone weekend, one paid night) | ≈ €240–280 | |