Globe Countries Cities Dispatches About Get the App
Switzerland

Things to do in Interlaken

Interlaken sits on the flat alluvial strip between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, the name meaning simply between the lakes. It began as an Augustinian monastery in the twelfth century and became one of the first mass tourist towns in the Alps after Byron and the Romantic painters made the Jungfrau view famous. The town is organised around the Hoeheweg, a promenade laid along the open meadow of the Hoehematte, kept free of buildings by a nineteenth century civic purchase so the mountain view survives. It is the transport hub rather than the scenic prize of the region, the point where trains, lake steamers and the mountain railways all meet.

6 places on record

Things to do

6

  1. Harder Kulm

    Viewpoint · 1.5 hr

    The one viewpoint that shows why Interlaken is called what it is: both lakes and the Jungfrau in a single frame.

  2. Höhematte

    Landmark · 30 min

    A nineteenth century civic decision to buy a view, and the reason central Interlaken still has one.

  3. Lake Thun and Lake Brienz Steamers

    Lake · 3 hr

    The region's oldest form of transport, and still the only way to see the two lakes from the water.

  4. Schynige Platte

    Railway · 4 hr

    A Victorian rack railway that ends in an alpine garden with the whole Jungfrau wall behind it.

  5. St. Beatus Caves

    Cave · 1.5 hr

    A kilometre of lit river cave under a cliff, with the length of Lake Thun waiting outside the door.

  6. Unterseen Old Town

    Landmark · 30 min

    The one part of greater Interlaken that predates tourism, five minutes from the promenade.

Basemap Meridian · data © OpenStreetMap
All of Switzerland
Meridian Dispatch for iPhone

Plan the trip.
Keep the journal.

Every other travel app asks you to start logging. Meridian Dispatch opens with years of your travel already written, from the photographs you already took.

Download on the App Store