Caution
This is a review based on my visit in September 2000. It has been a decade since and I can only guess that things would have got better.
Hospitality
Having known it was a family-run establishment, we felt a bit uneasy about knocking the door as we disembarked in Interlaken West at 9:45 PM. Five minutes later, as we walked into Hotel Rugenpark, the nice old lady at the desk simply said smilingly, "Have been expecting you". To my shock, instead of asking for an ID or a credit card, she handed us room keys and directed us upstairs.
The subsequent mornings, she was very helpful in guiding us to where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. The silent touch of hospitality was the set of umbrellas kept at the entrance for the guests to use. Can’t be more thoughtful than that!
Access, ambiance and decor
Five minutes walk from Interlaken West Station, which is well-connected to major cities. Wooden floors were a bit creaky and made noise every time I put a foot forward (a miracle considering my not-so-menacing bulk). A book-lover myself, I could only gape at wonder at the book-shelves on every landing - not that we had time to browse through, but just in case were snowed in on a September afternoon!
Room had a South-facing window with a view to, hold your breath, Mt. Blanc, the tallest peak in all of Alps and Europe.
Food
Only breakfast. I don’t remember much of it (not a bread-and-butter person), except that fat cat of the household made its ubiquitous presence on the table napkins (OK, just as a 2D drawing, not the cat itself).
Will I go there again?
If we go to Switzerland again, we can’t think of anywhere else we would want to stay. You may want to go here first: rugenpark.ch/.