For those thinking of visiting Fribourg here is a discount link to an icy winter wonderland

http://www.railaway.ch/english/enjoy...e-ice-palaces/

Thank you! Pity I did not know about it earlier.
We actually visited Fribourg two weeks ago and woke up on Sunday morning - the whole town looked actually like Snow wonderland...
Soo beautiful!

Has anyone been to this Ice village yet?
I am wondering if it's worth travelling all the way from Zuerich... but I also like Fribourg itself so we might combine the two.

I know of someone who took a group there just a couple of weeks ago. They said it was absolutely stunning and absolutely worthwhile visiting, especially towards the evening when the lights are on.

According to the "Railaway" page, the discount offer expired on 31 Jan 09

Still interested to hear whether it's worth visiting though - looks interesting!

Here's the website:
http://www.eispalaeste.ch/
(French or German only)

We've decided to head over to canton Neuchatel for a bit of snowshoeing this afternoon and a visit to the ice palaces tonight. Seems that it's best to view the sculptures after it gets dark. I saw on the website, http://www.schwarzsee.ch/en/navpage-...FR-176725.html that it's possible to buy some sausages to cook on the barbeque, but was hoping that someone could recommend a good restaurant in the Schwarzee area or on the way back to canton Vaud.

Thanks for the replies. We're thinking of going there tomorrow, apparently they are open during the holidays.

Can anyone give an indication of how much time we should allocate for the ice palaces? Would 2hrs be sufficient or not?

Wakey,

From what we could see from the outside of the Ice Palaces yesterday, two hours should be enough for a visit. The sculptures are in a valley next to a stream, so I was happy that I was still wearing my jacket, gloves, hat, etc. from snowshoeing. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of changing out of my hiking boots and wish that I would have left them on because the parking lot was a bit muddy and slushy. After peeking through the openings in the wooden barricade, we decided not to go in because we were really hungry. I think that it's worth a visit, especially if you have children. The lights were just coming on as we were leaving and I would have really liked to see it after dark.

According to the site (http://www.schwarzsee.ch/en/navpage-...FR-176725.html), they should be open tomorrow:
Admission fee
Mid-December until the beginning of March (depending on temperatures)
Wednesdays to Sundays: 2pm - 9pm
Open daily from December 25, 2008 to January 4, 2009
and February 23 to March 1, 2009.

Ok, update! We went there on Monday and quite enjoyed it, but in my opinion it is not worth traveling all the way from Zuerich just for the ice palaces.

We spent the day in Bern & Fribourg, and arrived at the palaces around 17h. It took about 30mins to see everything, but we wanted to wait until it got dark. This took about an hour and it was getting pretty cold by then. However, it was worth the wait, as it really was much more magical with the lights on. We left at 19h.

I would recommend others not to come before 18h, but if you are using public transport, please note that the last bus back to Fribourg leaves at 19:10h.

Yes, it would.
I wish you a good time!
And don't forget to try walking on the ice, if the lake is still frozen, it's an amazing experience ! Don't go too far, though !