Swiss Alps : A window on the world and the warmth of a fire await romantics at several cozy hotels after sharing the beauty of an Alpine high.

Get out the alpenhorn, maestro, it’s one of those rare Sundays we devote to romantics.

With the Alps as a backdrop, make it the theme from “The High and the Mighty.” And excuse us if we get a trifle carried away. It’s difficult not to become emotional in a setting that takes in Alpine meadows with magnificent peaks and clouds and the melody of cowbells ringing beside waterfalls that tumble eternally into valleys so distant they appear illusory.

Only the other day a chairlift carried couples above Grindelwald, through an overcast so thick the visibility was cut to zero. For 25 minutes the world was gray, silent and wet, so that the couples and the lift were lost in swirling mists that seemed to envelop the entire mountain.

Then quite suddenly, like a swimmer surfacing from the ocean, the lift swept through the overcast to reveal the Wetterhorns, the Eiter and the Jungfrau, mountains rising overhead in heavens so blue the eyes ached.

While couples gathered on the deck of a warming hut, filling their souls with the sight, sunlight glinted off a glacier whose ice matched the blue of the heavens.

No matter how Grindelwald has been burlesqued with its tawdry souvenir shops and high-rise hotels, the scene above the village remains untouched and serene and worth noting for reference in any lover’s notebook. Just as the trip to a second Alpine range northeast of Brienz provides memories to be resurrected long after the moment of enchantment has passed into the winter of one’s life.

From Brienz we drove to a warming hut and a lift near the Engstlensee, a lake that was deserted on this particular weekday, save for a lone fisherman, and afterward a second lift delivered us to the Jochpass and beyond to still another lake, the Trubsee, and another warming hut where couples gathered in a world so silent a whisper seems alarming.

Earlier, as the lift moved up a ridge and down to the Trubsee, there was the occasional symphony of cowbells and the whisper of the wind as it funneled off peaks that towered overhead. Riding the chairlift back to the hut and our car, I watched the lake grow smaller and then disappear altogether. We were floating above the timberline where small furry animals peered up as we slipped beyond a pass and were lost once more in the grayness of clouds.

For romantics who enjoy such aloneness, and provided their heads remain in the heavens after returning to earth, shouldn’t there be a cozy hotel to return to for a drink, a fireplace and one of those Alpine views that sets the soul to smoldering? Obviously, the answer is yes, and I have just the place in mind, a castle-like hotel whose lights glow warmly on the shore opposite the village of Brienz, a shelter that’s hidden on a woodsy hillside with a waterfall that spills behind the hotel like thunder in the heavens.

It is possible to drive around the lake to the hotel from Brienz, but romantics choose the steamer that delivers them to a dock framed by a forest beside a funny little funicular that in turn delivers them uphill to the ancient hotel with its Old World Charm, turn-of-the-century bedroom suites, priceless antiques, high ceilings and chamber music.

As we made our entrance the notes of a Mozart classic drifted from the oak-paneled bar into the lounge with its antiques and Persian carpets. The melody of the flute and a classical guitar continued while drinks were served.

The Grandhotel Giessbach is a classic. Cradled in a park-like forest with the Giessbach Falls tumbling off more than a dozen cliffs and ledges beside it, it is a rare and romantic discovery. Spotlighted at night--both hotel and falls--the scene has been captured on canvas by hundreds of artists.

The Grandhotel Giessbach has provided shelter to emperors and kings (before the war aristocrats stayed on for months at a time) and in more recent years to hopeless romantics. More than a century old, the hotel rises like a feudal castle on 50 forested acres.

Having survived two world wars, it was targeted for demolition in 1979 when Swiss ecologist Franz Weber enlisted a nation to save it. To date more than 7 million Swiss francs have been donated, along with precious antiques seldom seen outside a museum. Another 20 rooms still are to be renovated and there are plans to add 25 others.

Presiding over the Giessbach is Weber’s brother-in-law, Fritz Kreis, who welcomes guests from dozens of nations. Only recently the sister of Japan’s Emperor Hirohito was a visitor, as was actor Peter Strauss.

Baths at the Giessbach are immense, the bedrooms are enormous and the attraction is romance. After checking out last summer, one young couple requested the same room for the same date next summer--a la Alan Alda in “Same Time Next Year.” Weddings are held regularly at the Giessbach, and rooms for honeymooners are booked months in advance.

In the lobby an immense clock from an old church tower ticks away the hours, books are stacked on shelves in the lounge and cherubs stare down from ceilings surrounded by an ornate frieze. Baroque dancers perform occasionally and chamber music is played in the lounge.

For such romantic pleasure the guest pays 100-130 francs, the costlier room providing a view of the falls.

Beyond the hotel there’s a swimming pool and horses and paths that lead to the forest. An even steeper climb leads to Huhnertal Glacier and the Faulhorn Hotel, which can be reached only by foot and which, due to the harsh winter weather, operates only during summer. From the Faulhorn it’s a 4 1/2-hour hike down the mountainside to Grindelwald.

Back in the village of Brienz, Kaspar Fotsch and his wife Heidi operate another lair for lovers, the Lindenhof Brienz, which has been welcoming guests for nearly a century. One may snooze in a hayloft, an Alpine hut, Grandmother’s Room or the Railroad Room with scenes of the Alps pictured in Pullman-like windows.

Fotsch’s latest notion is to install a tub beside a window to enable honeymooners to enjoy Lake Brienz while lazing in their bath water. In still another room a blacksmith’s bellows makes do as a coffee table while antique trunks serve as other tables. The Lindenhof Brienz features an open fireplace, beamed ceilings, antique baby carriages and a sun deck with a view of the lake, this for 33-69 francs a night.

Kaspar and Heidi Fotsch also preside over one of Brienz’s leading restaurants, growing their own herbs, vegetables and berries. Known for their desserts, there’s one outrageous mixture of honey, nuts, pears, raspberries and ice cream done up in a puff pastry that few can resist.

Wedged between Interlaken and Meiringen, Brienz is a woodcarvers’ village, its lake lined with inns and coffeehouses. Stringed instruments are turned out at a violin-making school and visitors ride a cogwheel train to Brienzer Rothorn for an enchanting view of the lake and the Bernese Alps.

Others do excursions to Ballenberg, an outdoor museum featuring farmhouses, craft displays and a bakery that turns out pastries that send the calorie counter into dizzying spins.

Couples go boating on Lake Brienz (Switzerland’s cleanest) or motor up to the romantic Bellvue restaurant on the Axalp for another of those bewitching views of Brienz.

For his culinary skills, Bellvue chef-owner Andre Dreier scooped up gold medals in international competition at Salzburg, Florence, London and Lake Como. What’s more, his flambes have won him world championships on three occasions. Dreier turns out dishes from France, Hungary, Switzerland, England, Russia, Spain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United States and China. In addition, he provides rooms for romantics seeking solitude at his mountain retreat.

A scant 15 minutes by train from Brienz, the village of Meiringen bids welcome to other romantics who check in at the venerable Hotel du Sauvage (circa 1880) and the Sherlock Holmes with its huge poster of Holmes, who is renowned hereabouts for a cliffhanging tussle with the villain, Dr. Moriarty, at Meiringen’s breathtaking Reichenbach Falls.

Above Meiringen, meadows spread across the mountainsides like a velvet carpet, and waterfalls and streams flow from Alpine peaks. Snug inns face pastures with the familiar melody of cowbells. And in the morning, villagers line up at the bakeries for oven-hot strudel, Linzer torts, meringue cookies and nut bread.

Families have lived for generations in these obscure villages, their roots deep, their ambitions simple. Barely 60 miles from Zurich, their villages are laced with hiking trails and trout-filled streams, and in springtime the mountainsides are carpeted with mile upon mile of wildflowers.

Young or old, the memory lingers.

Note: Travel Tips, Page 3, offers details today on special bargains in Switzerland. For other information, contact the Swiss National Tourist Office, 250 Stockton St., San Francisco 94108, or dial (415) 362-2260.