Products: Enjoyment for all
Swiss parks offer a year-round range of exquisite food products, high-quality consumer items and original handicrafts. Fairs and other promotional events such as ‘Genuss’ (‘enjoyment’) (‘The Best of the Region’), the ‘Gourmet Week’ (in September) and special events in the parks on ‘Park Day’ (every year on 24th May) are ideal opportunities to explore the culinary and cultural diversity of the parks.
Guided enjoyment
In the parks themselves, guided walks bring an educational element to the pleasure experience. In Jura Park Aargau, for example, wine walks take place on two weekends in the year. The Jura Vaudois Park runs mushroom excursions led by a mycologist, and between June and September the Diemtigtal Nature Park invites visitors to ‘discovery days’ on five alpine meadows, with overnight stays. In this way, visitors come into close contact with locals and learn about the production, manufacturing processes and origins of the products.
Markets, cottages and “Gourmet Roads”
Each year, the Gantrisch, Thal and Binntal Nature Parks organise a market where locals and visitors can purchase regional products from the local communes, such as cheese, sausage, dried meat, vegetables, tea and baked goods. A whole ‘Gourmet Road’ has been established by the Jura Park Aargau. Stretching 179 kilometres, the road leads visitors to numerous producers and restaurants. The Gantrisch Park has come up with an original idea, so-called ‘Gantrisch Hüsli’ (Gantrisch cottages) in numerous shops in the region, including in Bern, which sell local products such as Vreneli cheese, Drachenhörnli (‘dragon macaroni’), the legendary Christmas biscuits and painted Easter eggs.
An overview of Gourmet Weeks, markets and park products can be found on the homepage of the Swiss Parks Network.
