Restaurant in Dallenwil, Switzerland
Alpine Stübli Format
Das Stübli beim Kreuz is a Stübli-format dining room in Dallenwil, a small village in central Switzerland's Engelberg valley. Sparse public data means you should call ahead to confirm hours, pricing, and menu before booking. Best suited to travellers already passing through the valley rather than those making a dedicated dining detour.
Das Stübli beim Kreuz sits at Stettlistrasse 3 in Dallenwil, a small village in the Nidwalden canton of central Switzerland. The venue data available is sparse, which means booking with full confidence requires a direct approach: contact the property before you commit. That said, the Stübli format in Swiss German-speaking Switzerland typically signals a cosy, wood-panelled room with a focused menu rooted in regional cooking, and Dallenwil's position in the lower Engelberg valley puts it within reach of serious alpine scenery. If you are travelling through central Switzerland and want a meal that feels local rather than hotel-polished, this is worth investigating. If you need confirmed tasting-menu architecture, price certainty, or dietary flexibility before booking, read the FAQ section below first.
The name itself is instructive. Stübli is the diminutive of Stube, the warm communal room of a traditional Swiss inn, and beim Kreuz places it at or beside a Kreuz (Cross) establishment, a pairing common in central Switzerland where a main restaurant and a more intimate Stübli room operate under the same roof. This structural detail matters for your booking decision: a Stübli typically seats fewer covers than the main dining room, which affects both atmosphere and availability. Expect a room that rewards quiet conversation over group celebration, and expect to book ahead rather than walk in.
Dallenwil itself is a village rather than a destination town. There is no dense dining scene here to fall back on if this venue is closed or full, which makes advance planning non-negotiable. The closest comparable dining density is in Stans, the cantonal capital a short drive away. If your itinerary is flexible, timing a visit for a weekday lunch or an early-week dinner gives you the leading chance of securing a table without significant lead time. Weekend evenings in Swiss village restaurants fill quickly with local regulars, and those tables tend to be held informally rather than through online reservation systems.
For context on how this fits into the broader Swiss fine-dining picture, the central Switzerland region is not where you find the country's highest-decorated kitchens — those are concentrated in Graubünden (Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau), the Rhine valley (Memories in Bad Ragaz), and Basel (Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl). What central Switzerland offers instead is grounded, seasonal alpine cooking in settings that larger destination restaurants cannot replicate. Das Stübli beim Kreuz fits that profile more convincingly than it fits a tasting-menu destination profile.
Central Switzerland's valley villages shift character sharply with the seasons. Summer and early autumn (July through October) bring the clearest conditions and the most coherent reason to be in Dallenwil, with the surrounding Engelberg valley at its most accessible. Winter visits are viable but depend heavily on whether you are combining dining with skiing at Engelberg, roughly 20 kilometres up the valley. A midweek visit in any season reduces competition for tables and tends to produce a quieter, more relaxed room. Avoid arriving without a reservation on any Friday or Saturday evening.
If you are planning a full trip around this area, Pearl's local guides cover the wider picture: our full Dallenwil restaurants guide, Dallenwil hotels, Dallenwil bars, Dallenwil wineries, and Dallenwil experiences. For Swiss fine dining at a higher decoration level, Maison Wenger in Le Noirmont, Einstein Gourmet in Sankt Gallen, and Mammertsberg in Freidorf are worth considering as alternative anchors for a Switzerland dining trip. If alpine dining in a resort context appeals, Da Vittorio in St. Moritz and La Table du Valrose in Rougemont both deliver a more confirmed fine-dining proposition. For international reference points on what committed tasting-menu experiences look like, Le Bernardin in New York City and Lazy Bear in San Francisco set a useful benchmark. Closer to home in Switzerland, Hotel de Ville Crissier remains one of the country's most important dining addresses.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Das Stübli beim Kreuz | Easy | — | |||
| Schloss Schauenstein | Modern European, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Memories | Modern Swiss | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star | Unknown | — |
| focus ATELIER | Modern Swiss, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Taverne zum Schäfli | Swiss, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Magdalena | Alpine-Vegetarian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
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