Food tour

Shortly after starting on the Untergrenchenberg, you can enjoy the sublime alpine panoramic view and the beech forest of the Bettlachstock UNESCO World Heritage Site from the Wandfluh lookout point. After a short but steep descent, you’ll soon reach Bettlachberg mountain. Like pearls on a string, one mountain inn follows after another. Upon reaching Hasenmatt (1,445 m), you cross the highest point in the canton of Solothurn.

Weissenstein mountain has the German for ‘white’ in its name because the ridge stretching between the mountains Balmberg and Bettlachberg has a coat of light limestone from the Upper Malm – also known as the white Jura. This youngest sediment layer was deposited 161 to 145 million years ago at the bottom of what was then an expanding sea. However, the Swiss Jura fold mountains did not form until much later – 10 to 2 million years ago as a late consequence of the Alps forming. The completely preserved folded peaks are characteristic of the Solothurn Jura Mountains, which form the mountain ranges running approximately east to west. This is why the term ‘Faltenjura’ (folded Jura) is also used here, in contrast to the mostly unfolded ‘Tafeljura’ (table Jura) in the north-west and north-east of the country, which is part of the south-west German and French Scarplands.