History

1888 The most famous hotel pioneers of the penultimate century, Bucher and Durrer, built the first electrically operated funicular railway in 1888: Kehrsiten-Bürgenstock and the Grand Hotel «Bürgenstock».
Subsequently, they built the funicular railway and the Grand Hotel in Lugano, the Hotel Palace Luzern, the Grand Hotel Mediterrane in Genoa, and the legendary Hotel Semiramis in Cairo.

1907 But even the Glarnerland wanted a funicular railway with a Grand Hotel. The most renowned Glarner hotel of all time, the Bad Stachelberg in Linthal, sought a kind of summer residence for its pampered guests. The Linthal textile industrialist Bébie brought in the world-famous hotel pioneer Josef Durrer, who in 1907 built the Braunwaldbahn and at the same time the imposing Grand Hotel, today's Märchenhotel. This already had its own tennis court and an elevator in 1907.

1918 After the First World War, the Eastern European guests completely stopped coming - and Swiss people did not tend to spend holidays of this kind. Durrer printed English brochures. He simply renamed the grand building to Hotel Braunwald, and henceforth, the clientele was predominantly English.

1931 In this year, the winter season was introduced.

1936 the first classical music festival weeks in Switzerland were founded, which still take place today in the large festival hall of the Märchenhotel. In 1942, even the world-famous baritone Heinrich Schlusnus delighted the neatly groomed ears of the eager listeners.

1938 For the daring, there was a gliding camp in 1938. The folded gliders were brought via the Braunwaldbahn and cart to the tennis court, from where they were catapulted into the valley with a giant rubber slingshot.

1945 After the Second World War, tourists again blinked from the balconies into the sun. French brochures were printed, upon which special carriages from the „train de neige“ rattled directly from Paris to Linthal. And the name was changed to Hôtel Bellevue.

1972 once again, the Hôtel Bellevue faced collapse. No one had the courage and willingness to take risks to invest in the dilapidated building - until Fridolin Vogel, the grandfather of today's Märchenonkel, stepped in.

1977 In this year, a girl screamed so loudly in the dining room that her parents were almost embarrassed. The young hotelier Martin Vogel was able to defuse the awkward situation by promising to tell the child a fairy tale if she behaved nicely.
It did not stop at this one story, as the Märchenonkel has been telling an exciting fairy tale every day since then - even today…