explore it yourself:
The journey and accommodations:
We arrived by train from Lucerne on the afternoon of August 7th and stayed until the morning of August 10th. We arrived in and departed from Interlaken Ost Train Station.
Below is what AI recommended for accommodations:
1. Alplodge Interlaken
2. Hotel Blume / Hotel Crystal
3. Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof
4. Hotel Bären Interlaken
5. Balmers Hostel
We ended up selecting Balmers Hostel here as it was the most affordable option within a reasonable distance of the train station. We were very happy with this choice as Balmers Hostel ended up being a really nice accommodation for travelers like us who are looking to explore the surrounding areas during the day, then have activities to partake in during the evening hours. Balmers Hostel puts a lot of emphasis on creating a community feel for all of its guests with different free-to-join activities every night of the week. On Saturday, we joined the trivia night in the outdoor bar area which ended up being a lot of fun. The entire bar was filled with teams and the host did a great job of making it an engaging trivia experience with lots of fun challenges mixed in between the questions.
We had a private double room with a shared bathroom here and do have to note that the bedroom was extremely hot even with an air conditioning unit on the wall which did little to nothing to cool the room. Because of this, we ended up spending most of our time at the hostel down in the shared communal areas which were much cooler than our bedroom was. Despite this, we truly did love our stay here and would definitely come back in the future!
Note: * our additions to ai itinerary and exclusions are crossed out, also see our summary at the bottom.
Day 1: The Heart of Interlaken
Walk Interlaken & Höhematte Park
- Stroll down Höheweg, the main boulevard.
- After hopping off the train, we walked through this boulevard to get to our hostel, it’s definitely the liveliest area of town!
- Visit the historic Victoria Jungfrau Hotel (optional coffee stop inside).
- During the walk along Höheweg, we stopped to admire this hotel. The building itself is beautiful but the mountainous backdrop makes it stunning.
- Enjoy views of Jungfrau and watch paragliders landing.
- The large green space in the center of town is where the landings happen, we grabbed a bench here and could have watched for hours!
- Visit the
Kunsthaus Interlaken, small but vibrant local art museum. - Dinner at El Azteca*
- Walk the river front and watch people swim with the current.
Ride to Harder Kulm
- As noted previously, there is a never-ending list of peaks in Switzerland you have the option to ride up to for amazing views and each of them costs varying amounts of money. Due to this fact, we knew we were planning on riding up separate peaks on the following days so we decided to skip the Harder Kulm in Interlaken. Below is what AI recommended for a potential itinerary if you are interested in visiting Harder Kulm during your stay in Interlaken.
- Funicular to Harder Kulm (10 min ride)
- Eat at the panoramic restaurant or bring a picnic.
- Walk the Two Lakes Bridge for views over Lakes Thun & Brienz.
We reworked our itinerary for Day 2 because even with our Eurail pass (Which provides us a discount on cable car tickets) for these mountain trips the total was still around 100 USD for the two of us. Since we paid this for a separate Day 2 excursion we decided we should do something more budget friendly on day 3. Below is what we actually did and further below remains the itinerary AI initially recommended (Mount Rigi).
Day 2: Grindelwald
Grindelwald
- Train to Grindelwald
- From Interlaken, we learned that trains leave for Grindelwald every ~30 minutes so there are lots of options throughout the day.
- Upon arrival in Grindelwald, we stopped for a Gingerbread latte from Clubhaus* and it was amazing, the crepes also looked delicious too!
- From Interlaken, we learned that trains leave for Grindelwald every ~30 minutes so there are lots of options throughout the day.
- Take the cable car from Grindelwald to Pfingstegg* to ride toboggans
- We added this to our itinerary because tobogganing in Switzerland has always been a bucket list item for us and the ride to Pfingstegg was only about 5 minutes.
- Admittedly, of all the cable car rides in Grindelwald, Pfingstegg is the most kid-friendly spot but it was the only option with tobogganing in the region which absolutely lived up to everything we hoped it would be!
- We added this to our itinerary because tobogganing in Switzerland has always been a bucket list item for us and the ride to Pfingstegg was only about 5 minutes.
Alternative day 2: junfraujoch
Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe
- Train via Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch
- Gingerbread latte from Clubhaus*
- Scenic train journey to Europe’s highest train station.
- Walk through ice tunnels, visit Sphinx Observatory, and see Aletsch Glacier.
- Tip: Book early & check weather before
- Lunch at the summit or stop in Kleeine Scheidegg on the way down.
Shoppng & Relax
- Return to Interlaken via Lauterbrunnen
- Stroll the shops in Interlaken for Swiss knives, chocolate, and watches.
- Dinner at
- Little Thai* – Next door to Balmer’s Hostel where we were staying
- The Pad Thai here was fantastic and the Gaeng Ped Curry had so much flavor with a nice spicy kick to it!
- OR
Layaly Beirut - OR
Goldener Anker- Enjoy lakeside or garden seating. Try Swiss raclette or a Mediterranean mezze platter.
- Little Thai* – Next door to Balmer’s Hostel where we were staying
Day 3: Lauterbrunnen Valley & Murren
Visit Staubbach Falls
- Take an early train to Lauterbrunnen (20 mins)
- Much like heading to Grindelwald, there are trains leaving regularly from Interlaken Ost to get to Lauterbrunnen
- While strolling through town, we stopped for a Gingerbread latte from Airtime Cafe*, although it was expensive, it was delicious!
- Much like heading to Grindelwald, there are trains leaving regularly from Interlaken Ost to get to Lauterbrunnen
- Visit Staubbach Falls, a 300-meter waterfall right behind the village with a short uphill walk to a viewpoint.
- AI calls this a ‘short’ hike and although it doesn’t take very long, it was pretty steep and comes to an abrupt end without much of a view.
- Save your energy and choose another hike in the area in our opinion!
- AI calls this a ‘short’ hike and although it doesn’t take very long, it was pretty steep and comes to an abrupt end without much of a view.
Cable Car & Train to Mürren
- Via Grütschalp
- Note: If you have an Interrail/Eurail pass, you can take the entire route from Interlaken to Mürren for free, including the cable car ride. If you continue on from Mürren to Allmendhubel like we did, you will have to pay for this portion of the trip.
- Car-free alpine village with jaw-dropping views.
- Every direction you look, the view gets more amazing than the last! Be sure to take your time strolling around and enjoying the scenery here, we loved it.
- Hidden Gem: Visit
Blumental TrailorAllmendhubel Flower Trailfor alpine wildflowers in summer.- After riding the cable car from Mürren to Allmendhubel (7 CHF each), we started on the trailhead of the Flower Trail. Once again, the views down on the valley are so beautiful it’s hard to put into words.
- After some discussion, we decided to head along the Northface Trail* with the optional detour to include visiting Sprutz Waterfall*. This route ended up taking just about 3 hours from Allmendhubel and ending up back in Mürren but it was absolutely worth the trek! A majority of the trip was flat to descending (outside of the detour to Sprutz Waterfall), which made the hike less tiring. There are so many viewpoints along the trail that we just sat and admired. It was a lovely experience!
- After riding the cable car from Mürren to Allmendhubel (7 CHF each), we started on the trailhead of the Flower Trail. Once again, the views down on the valley are so beautiful it’s hard to put into words.
- Lunch in Mürren at Hotel Edelweiss with incredible terrace views.
- AI is correct on the incredible terrace views! We sat right along the edge and felt like we were floating amongst the mountains.
- The Edelweiss Burger is the perfect recovery meal after hiking the Northface Trail!
- AI is correct on the incredible terrace views! We sat right along the edge and felt like we were floating amongst the mountains.
We were exhausted after the hike so we skipped the below Trummelbach falls.
Visit Trümmelbach Falls
- Return to Lauterbrunnen & visit Trümmelbach Falls
- Inside-the-mountain waterfall system with ten glacier-fed falls.
- Short bus ride from the Lauterbrunnen station.
- Return to Interlaken for dinner
- Restaurant Laterne (authentic Swiss food).
- Optional: Drinks at Top o’Met Sky Lounge (Interlaken Metropole Hotel).
final thoughts:
Overall Rating: 1000/10
Would I go again? Without a doubt! Interlaken is the perfect home base to enjoy some of the most scenic areas in Switzerland!
Favorite moment:
Bailey’s favorite: It was so fun tobogganing in Grindelwald, the views were breathtaking and the city was so cute!
Parker’s favorite: Along the Northface Trail hike, there was a large green pasture where you could sit and simply look out at the mountains across the valley. This was my favorite excursion of our entire trip to this point.
Favorite meal:
Bailey’s favorite: The Pad Thai from Little Thai was really good.
Parker’s favorite: The burger from the Edelweiss Hotel after our hike was so tasty! It had bacon and a fried egg on top so it was very filling after hiking all day.
Any surprises? Similar to Lucerne, we were still surprised by how expensive all of Switzerland is. Meals out on the town were shockingly pricy at every single restaurant.
Anything we missed?
- AI also recommended Schynige Platte which looks awesome too.
- Hike lauterbrunnen-grutachalp-murren trail on AllTrails
- Iseltwald
- Via Ferrata Murren-Gimmelwald hike
Food spots AI recommended, but we didn’t have a chance to go: Panoramic Restaurant, Layaly Beirut, Goldener Anker, Restaurant Laterne, and Top o’Met Sky Lounge.
Average step count per day: 19,610 steps
How did ai do?
Nailed it: The choice of Balmers Hostel was another great suggestion and made our stay in Interlaken feel that much better. Additionally, it was nice that AI suggested heading up to Mürren because of the fact that it was free for us with our Interrail passes. However, we had to research that portion on our own as AI did not make it clear that the cable car ride to Mürren was included with our pass.
Needs work: Similar to our experience in Lucerne, AI again recommended traveling to over 3 different peaks via cable cars during our time in Interlaken without considering the fact this would add up to hundreds of dollars spent on the travel alone.
Also, we felt like visiting Staubbach Falls and hiking up to behind the waterfall was an unnecessary addition to the itinerary considering there was other hiking planned in the afternoon.
