Switzerland · Bernese Oberland
Interlaken
The gateway to the Jungfrau region: two lakes, one huge meadow, and trains that climb from the valley floor to the highest railway station in Europe.
Interlaken sits on the flat strip between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz that gave the town its name, with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau standing at the head of the valley behind it. It is less a destination in itself than the base for one: the railway to the Jungfraujoch, the highest station in Europe, starts here, and so do the lines into the valleys under those peaks. The town itself is a busy, unashamedly touristy grid of hotels and watch shops around one enormous meadow, and paragliders land on it all afternoon.
Suggested stay
3–5 days
Language
German, French, Italian
Currency
CHF
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Interlaken
The skyline the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau line up at the head of the valley, and the funicular above town puts all three in one view in twenty minutes.
The railways a century-old web of cog trains, funiculars and cable cars reaches glaciers, ridges and car-free villages, so the high country is open to anyone who can climb aboard.
Adventure base tandem paragliders launch off the shoulder above the lakes and land on the town meadow all afternoon, and the gorges and rivers behind carry the canyoning and rafting.
Two lakes Thun and Brienz are meltwater turquoise, with steamers calling at castle villages on one and a waterfall hotel on the other.
Best time to visit
Apr, Sep-Oct
14-19° days
46.685° N, 7.859° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Zurich
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Weather & when to go to Interlaken
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Apr, Sep-Oct
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Interlaken
December to February are cold and often grey down on the valley floor, and they are also when the skiing above Grindelwald, Wengen and Mürren is at its best. April is pleasant in town but the awkward gap up high: lifts closing, trails still under snow, several mountain railways shut for servicing. July and August are hot and very crowded.
Top things to do in Interlaken
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Jungfraujoch - the highest railway station in Europe
scenic nature wildlife 👍 PopularThe Jungfrau railway tunnels up inside the Eiger and the Mönch to a station on the col between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, with windows blasted into the north face on the way. At the top there is a viewing terrace over the Aletsch glacier, an ice palace cut into it, and thin air that catches people out. Weather at the top decides whether it is worth going at all.
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Harder Kulm - the funicular above town
scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedA steep little funicular climbs from Interlaken Ost to a ridge above the rooftops, where a viewing platform juts out over the drop. From it you see both lakes, the town on its strip between them, and the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau lined up behind. The cheapest, quickest way to understand the geography, and best in the last hour of light.
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Paragliding over the Höhematte
adventure 👍 PopularTandem flights launch off the slopes above Beatenberg and spiral down over the two lakes to land on the town meadow, which is why there is a canopy in the sky above Interlaken most fine afternoons. No experience needed, flights run year-round and the pilots call it off when the wind is wrong.
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Schynige Platte - the cog railway and the Panoramaweg
hiking scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedAn open-sided vintage train grinds up from Wilderswil to a ridge at around two thousand metres, where an alpine botanical garden sits beside the terminus. The Panoramaweg loop walks the crest with the whole Jungfrau massif on one side and the lakes on the other. The line runs in the summer half of the year only.
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Lauterbrunnen valley - Staubbach and the Trümmelbach falls
scenic nature wildlife 👍 PopularA flat-floored trench with vertical walls and seventy-odd waterfalls, the Staubbach dropping almost three hundred metres past the village church. The Trümmelbach is the strange one: ten glacier-fed falls carved inside the mountain, reached by a lift into the rock and walkways in the spray. Half an hour from Interlaken Ost by train.
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Grindelwald First - the cliff walk and the ridge trail
hiking adventureA gondola out of Grindelwald climbs to a shoulder facing the Eiger north wall, where a walkway bolted to the cliff runs out to a platform over the void. From the top station the trail to Bachalpsee reaches a lake that mirrors the Wetterhorn, and the way down can be ridden on a mountain cart or a zipline.
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Schilthorn and Piz Gloria - the revolving summit
scenic culture artsCable cars stack up from the valley through car-free Mürren to a summit with a revolving restaurant that played the villain's lair in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The view takes in the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau head-on across the valley, and the film connection is worked hard the whole way up.
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Lake Brienz - Giessbach falls and the steamer
scenic nature wildlifeThe smaller, greener and wilder of the two lakes, with almost no development on its far shore. Steamers from Interlaken Ost call at Giessbach, where a funicular lifts you to a grand hotel set beside a staircase of falls, and at Iseltwald and Brienz further along.
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St Beatus Caves - the gorge above Lake Thun
nature wildlife historyA lit passage follows an underground river back into the cliff above the lake shore, past flowstone chambers and a waterfall that bursts out of the rock face. The saint of the name is said to have driven a dragon out of it. Cool and dry, which makes it the standard wet-day fallback.
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Canyoning and rafting in the Lütschine gorges
adventureThe rivers coming out of the Jungfrau valleys are the reason Interlaken became Switzerland's thrill-sports town: abseiling and sliding down the narrow gorges behind Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, rafting the grey glacier water, plus skydiving over the lakes. Everything runs through licensed operators and the water is cold whatever the month.
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Ski the Jungfrau region - Kleine Scheidegg, Wengen and Mürren
snow adventureInterlaken is not a ski town itself, but the trains from Ost run into three linked areas above it: Grindelwald and Wengen either side of Kleine Scheidegg, and Mürren on its terrace opposite. Long cruising runs under the Eiger, the Lauberhorn descent, and a lift network you reach by railway rather than by car.
Best areas to stay in Interlaken
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Höheweg and the Höhematte
First-time visitors $$$Grand hotel promenade beside the meadow
Explore hotels in Höheweg and the Höhematte →
Interlaken Ost
Early starters $$Practical end by the mountain trains
Explore hotels in Interlaken Ost →
Unterseen
Character seekers $$Quiet medieval old town over the Aare
Explore hotels in Unterseen →
Matten bei Interlaken
Budget and adventure $Backpacker village at the valley mouth
Explore hotels in Matten bei Interlaken →
Bönigen
Lakeside stays $Lakeside village on Lake Brienz
Explore hotels in Bönigen →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Interlaken
Getting to & around Interlaken
Getting there
Almost everyone comes by train. Interlaken has two stations, West and Ost, on the lines from Bern and Lucerne, and every mountain railway leaves from Ost.
Flight
Zurich Airport (ZRH)
Zurich's airport has a railway station under the terminal, and Interlaken Ost is a little over two hours away with one change, usually at Bern. Geneva is a similar run from the other end of the country. Nothing closer is worth flying into, and no airport bus is needed.
Train
Interlaken Ost and Interlaken West
Roughly hourly from Bern in about fifty minutes and from Lucerne in around two hours. The Lucerne run crosses the Brünig pass on a cog line and is a scenic route in its own right.
Train
Interlaken Ost, via Zweisimmen and Spiez
The GoldenPass route from Montreux and Lake Geneva climbs through the Pays-d'Enhaut and the Simmental. Slower than going via Bern, and the point is the window.
Ferry
Piers at Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost
Lake steamers run up Lake Thun from Thun to the West pier and along Lake Brienz to the Ost pier, so you can arrive on the water instead of the rails. Reduced sailings in winter.
Drive
Town car parks and hotel garages
About an hour from Bern on the motorway through Thun, or over the Brünig from Lucerne. The Grimsel, Susten and Furka passes east of here close for the winter.
Getting around
Walking
The town is tiny. Ost to West along the Höheweg takes about twenty minutes, and that walk passes most of what there is.
Free
Train
The workhorse. Frequent departures from Ost into the Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys, and along both lake shores.
TBC
Bus
Local buses link the two stations with Matten, Unterseen, Wilderswil, Bönigen and up to Beatenberg.
TBC
Boat
Steamers and motor vessels serve Lake Thun from the West pier and Lake Brienz from the Ost pier, on a thinner winter timetable.
TBC
Bike
Hire and e-bike stands around both stations. Flat riding along the Aare and both lake shores, steep everywhere else.
TBC
Funicular and cable car
The Harderbahn climbs from Interlaken Ost to the ridge above town, and a funicular lifts from the Lake Thun shore up to Beatenberg.
TBC
Day trips from Interlaken
Jungfraujoch
Full dayHigh alpine railway
The set-piece excursion, up through Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and then inside the Eiger to the col below the Jungfrau. Glacier views, an ice palace and a lot of company. Check the summit webcam before committing, because in cloud you pay for a tunnel.
Getting there
train
About 2 hr each way by train from Interlaken Ost
Lauterbrunnen, Mürren and the Schilthorn
Full dayWaterfall valley
The valley of seventy waterfalls, then up to car-free Mürren on its terrace and on to the revolving summit at Piz Gloria. Trümmelbach's falls inside the rock make the best stop on the way back down.
Getting there
train
20 min by train, then cable car and mountain railway
Grindelwald and First
Full dayGlacier village
The other valley, spread on a shelf under the Eiger north wall. The First gondola reaches the cliff walk and the trail to Bachalpsee, and the descent can be ridden down on carts and a zipline if the walking is done.
Getting there
train
35 min by train, then gondola
Thun and the Lake Thun castles
Half dayCastle town
A hilltop keep over a covered wooden bridge and a shopping street with raised pavements on the shop roofs. The slow way there is the steamer, which calls at the lakeside castles of Oberhofen and Spiez on the way.
Getting there
train | ferry
25 min by train, or a few hours by lake steamer
Brienz and Ballenberg
Full dayOpen-air museum
A woodcarving village at the far end of the green lake, with a steam cog railway up the Rothorn behind it and Ballenberg above, where a hundred old farmhouses from every canton have been re-erected in a working landscape.
Getting there
train | ferry
20 min by train or 1 hr 15 min by boat
Bern
Full dayCapital old town
Six kilometres of arcades, a clock tower with a mechanical parade, the Aare looping around a sandstone peninsula and locals floating down it in summer. A UNESCO-listed old town that stays a working city rather than a showpiece.
Getting there
train
About 50 min by train
A little history of Interlaken
The town is named after what stood here first. Augustinian canons founded a monastery on the strip between the two lakes in the 1130s, described in Latin as inter lacus, and the settlement grew around its lands and its ferry rights. Bern took control of the Oberland in the fourteenth century, and when the city turned Protestant in 1528 the monastery was dissolved; its buildings, still standing by the Aare, became the seat of the local administration.
Tourism arrived with the Romantics. Byron and a stream of writers and painters came for the Staubbach and the Jungfrau, the first hotels rose along the Höheweg facing the mountain, and in the 1860s a group of citizens bought the meadow in front of them to stop it being built on. Railways did the rest, first into the town and then up the mountains, ending with the tunnel to the Jungfraujoch. In the last few decades the same valleys have drawn adventure operators and Indian film crews, and Interlaken now sells the Alps to the world in several languages at once.
Augustinian canons found a monastery between the lakes; the Latin inter lacus becomes Interlaken.
Bern adopts the Reformation and dissolves the monastery; its buildings pass to the state and the Oberland revolts.
Byron tours the Oberland; Staubbach and the Jungfrau feed Manfred and the Romantic circuit takes hold.
A group of citizens buys the Höhematte to keep it unbuilt, preserving the view of the Jungfrau from the Höheweg.
The Bödeli railway reaches Interlaken, ending the age of arriving by lake steamer and carriage.
The Schynige Platte cog railway and the Wengernalp line open on either side of the valley.
The Harderbahn funicular opens to the ridge above the town.
The Jungfrau railway reaches the Jungfraujoch after sixteen years of tunnelling, the highest station in Europe.
The Jungfrau-Aletsch region is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / J
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+41
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
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FAQs about Interlaken
▸ When is the best time to visit Interlaken?
April brings clear valley weather, and September and October are the pick: settled air, autumn colour on the slopes and the mountain railways still running. June to August is warm, green and busiest. December to February are cold and grey in town, and they are the months the skiing above the valley is at its best.
▸ How many days do you need in Interlaken?
Three to five. Each big excursion eats a day, and mountain weather means you want spare days to move things around. Two nights forces you to gamble on one clear window for the Jungfraujoch; five lets you take the lakes, a valley and a long ridge walk as well.
▸ Should you stay in Interlaken or up in Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen?
Interlaken has the transport, the shops, the nightlife and both lakes, and it is where to be if you want variety. The valley villages put you under the peaks with quieter evenings and a shorter morning run to the lifts, at the cost of everything else. Many people split the trip between the two.
▸ Is the Jungfraujoch worth it?
On a clear day it is remarkable, and it is the most expensive thing most visitors do here. In cloud you have bought a long tunnel ride, so check the summit camera on the morning. Harder Kulm, Schynige Platte, First and the Schilthorn all give you the massif for much less effort and outlay.
▸ Do you need a car?
No, and it is often a liability. Trains, buses and boats reach everything, several of the best villages are car-free, and parking in town is tight and paid. A car only earns its place for the alpine passes east of here in summer, or for reaching a remote chalet.
▸ Can you paraglide with no experience?
Yes. Tandem flights with a licensed pilot are the standard way people fly here, they run through the year, and you need no training. Flights are called off in the wrong wind or cloud, so book early in your stay and leave a fallback day rather than pinning it to your last morning.
▸ Is Interlaken expensive?
Yes, even by Swiss standards, because it is a resort town where the mountain railways are a large cost on top of the usual ones. The cheap moves are self-catering from a supermarket, walking rather than riding where the trail is good, and a regional pass if you plan several lift days.
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