The municipality is dependent on tourism, especially for winter sports. Lenk has accommodations for about 5000 guests, include 800 hotel beds. This is in a town of scarcely 2000. It is home to a ski resort, which operates on both sides of the valley in which it is located. Lenk is connected by rail to the town of Zweisimmen.
In 2010, the Swiss College of Hospitality Management (SHML), Switzerland's first Boutique Hotel Management College will open in Lenk. Courses are taught in English and include several undergraduate as well as a post-graduate and MBA degrees.
There also is a five star hotel called the Lenkerhof.
It lies in the Simmental valley of the Bernese Oberland. Lenk lies 80 km (50 mi) from Bern and 100 km (62 mi) from Montreux.
Lenk is the highest municipality in Simmental. The municipal area includes many mountains, the highest of which is the Wildstrubel (3,243 m (10,640 ft)). Somewhat below the Wildstrubel, by the Siebenbrunnen ("seven fountains") comes the Simme River, which gives Simmental ("Simme Valley") its name. A number of creeks flow into the Simme, and the Iffig Creek and the Iffigfall (its waterfall) are attractions for hikers.
The large municipality includes the cooperative farms (Bauerten) of Aegerten and Brand as well as the villages of Lenk, Gutenbrunnen, Ober- and Poschenried.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Obersimmental, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Obersimmental-Saanen.
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