The original Hotel Alpenruh was built in 1900 on the site of today’s Schilthorn Cableway station in Mürren. A fire razed it to the ground in 1919. The adjacent building, which served at staff accommodation, escaped the fire and was subsequently extended and converted into a 30-bed hotel; the same building is still in use today. The cuisine was homespun – there was no à-la-carte restaurant and all the guests booked full board, as was customary at the time.
In 1912, the Allmendhubel Funicular transported its first passengers from Mürren to the popular excursion mountain.
Daredevil English guests practised a variety of up-and-coming winter sports in and around Mürren and the bobsleigh was particularly popular. A run had been built from the Allmendhubel to Mürren. However, the craze came to an abrupt halt in 1930 when an accident left one man dead and many seriously injured. The bob run was reactivated only one more time – in the winter of 1968/69, as a film location in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Italian internees were billeted at the hotel during the Second World War, among them the future world champion skier Zeno Colò. One of their duties was to prepare the ski slopes, an arduous task which was completed with shovels and on skis. Mürren thus gained a reputation as a ski resort with perfectly groomed pistes.

Ernst Feuz, a Mürren native and former managing director of a Swiss department store chain, was the driving force behind the Schilthorn Cableway project of the 1950s. His vision for an aerial cableway to the Schilthorn peak began to take shape in the following years. The newly established Schilthorn Cableway Ltd. purchased the entire property, including the Hotel Alpenruh buildings, from the Jung family in order to build the Mürren cableway terminus.
Ernst Feuz’s brother Walter took over the management of the hotel and the building underwent renovation. The dining room and the à-la-carte restaurant were relocated two floors up. This meant that they were now on the same level as the Schilthorn Cableway terminus, allowing guests significantly easier access. Most of the hotel bedrooms were also fitted with en-suite bathrooms.
The hotel underwent further extensive renovation in 1985, when the bed capacity was increased to 52.

A great deal has changed in the last hundred years, but much has stayed the same – guests come to enjoy the magnificent views of the Bernese Oberland’s famous peaks, but also to savour the tranquillity and laid-back, natural authenticity of Mürren with its typical wooden chalets and narrow streets. In summer, leisurely walks and hikes through lush flower-carpeted Alpine meadows with peacefully grazing cattle beckon. And in winter, snow sports are the star attraction, with excellently prepared slopes and all the benefits of an enchanting snow-covered landscape.

Mürren circa 1912

1900
Construction starts on the main building

1919
A fire razes the property to the ground

1939 – 1945
The property serves as an internment camp

1985
The number of rooms is increased