Getting around Interlaken

Interlaken is not a place you tour. It is a place you leave every morning and come back to every evening, and the whole business of getting around here follows from one piece of geography: the town sits on a flat strip of land between Lake Thun on one side and Lake Brienz on the other, with the valleys of the Bernese Oberland opening up behind it. The name says as much — between the lakes. Once you hold that picture, the two stations stop being confusing.

Interlaken Ost is the eastern station, at the Lake Brienz end. It is the one that faces the mountains. The trains that run up the valley towards Grindelwald and towards Lauterbrunnen leave from here, and so do the boats that work Lake Brienz — the turquoise one, the one the kayaks go out on. If your day is Grindelwald, the glacier canyon, Mount First or the cable-car villages above the valley floor, Ost is almost always your station.

Interlaken West is the western station, at the Lake Thun end, closer to the older shopping streets. The Lake Thun boats leave from the pier beside it. Lake Thun is the larger, softer lake, with castles and villages around its shore, and it is the half of the $51 day pass that runs through the whole year.

Between the two stations, Interlaken is compact. The two are a short hop apart on the same railway line and the walk from one to the other crosses the middle of town past the Höhematte meadow, which is the open green field where the paragliders come down. Most travellers end up doing that walk several times without planning to, because the town is genuinely that small.

Here is the part that saves people the most trouble, and it has nothing to do with timetables. Of the thirteen trips on this site, some collect you and some expect you to arrive under your own steam, and the listing says which in plain words. $222, $122 and $296 all name transport in their inclusions — the sledding and the bungee days include the gondola ticket as well. $190 describes a short drive from the base in Interlaken, where the changing rooms and hot showers are. On the other side, $89 is a round-trip gondola ticket from the valley station in Grindelwald, $26 is an entrance ticket to the canyon in Grindelwald, and $209 flies from Mürren — on those three, the travelling to the start is yours to arrange, and that is what the station and the valley train are for. We do not print train times or train fares anywhere on this site, because they are not in the listings and an invented number is worse than none.

Every day out of Interlaken points one of four ways, and each direction has its own way of getting you there. Sorting the thirteen listings this way is more useful than sorting them by price, because it tells you which station to stand at.

Up. The mountain days start at Interlaken Ost and carry on by train and cable car. $89 is the gondola from the valley station in Grindelwald up to Mount First, and the ticket is a round trip with access to the First Cliff Walk, the walkway pinned to the rock at the top station; from there the path to Bachalpsee begins. It is the most reviewed mountain ticket on this site, 854 ratings at 4.7, and it is valid for the day rather than for a fixed departure, so it forgives a late start. $209 starts higher still, in Mürren above the Lauterbrunnen valley, reached by the valley train and the cable cars that climb the cliff.

On the water. This is the direction the town is built for, and the one ticket that covers it is $51: a boat day pass with Lake Thun in the fare all year and Lake Brienz added from the beginning of April until mid-October. The Thun boats leave from the pier by Interlaken West, the Brienz boats from the pier by Interlaken Ost, and with the pass in your pocket the day becomes a matter of stepping on and off at whichever village looks worth an hour. It is the lowest full-day fare on the site and it holds 4.1 across 208 reviews — the lowest rating here, and worth reading honestly: it is a transport ticket rather than a guided day, so what you get out of it is exactly as good as the plan you bring to it. The guided water days are different animals. $147 is a fast run on Lake Brienz with a skipper, life jacket and splash jacket, past the Giessbach Falls, 403 reviews at 4.7. $142 paddles the turquoise water past Ringgenberg Castle in a small group with a coach, 265 reviews at 4.9.

Down into the gorge. The rock underneath the valleys is the part most visitors never see, and three listings go into it. $190 is our top pick: three hours working down a local gorge with all the equipment and professional guides in the fare, starting from the base in Interlaken with changing rooms and hot showers, 219 reviews at 4.9. $26 is the entrance ticket to the Glacier Canyon at Grindelwald, a walk through rock galleries and tunnels with a spiderweb platform strung across the gap, suitable for all ages and wheelchair accessible according to the listing. $172 takes the same canyon and turns it into a swing, with the harness, helmet and instructors included, 429 reviews at 4.9.

Into the air. Interlaken is one of the places where flying is an ordinary afternoon rather than an expedition, and the numbers here are the largest on the site. $222 is the tandem flight above town with a qualified pilot, equipment and transport in the fare — 2,580 reviews at 4.9, more than a third of everything written about the thirteen trips on this page. $209 is the flight over the Lauterbrunnen cliffs and waterfalls from Mürren, up to twenty minutes in the air by its own description, and it holds a 5.0 across 367 reviews. $296 rides the Stockhorn gondola over the Stockensee and includes transportation and the gondola ticket in the fare, 130 reviews at 4.9.

Winter reshuffles the map rather than shutting it. $172 puts an afternoon on the beginner slopes at Bodmi in Grindelwald with two and a half hours of instruction, a bilingual instructor and ski, boots and helmet rental. $122 goes up after dark with transportation, gondola ticket, sled and guide included. $172 goes out on Lake Brienz in a sealed expedition drysuit with neoprene boots, in a small group, 281 reviews at 4.9. The table below has all thirteen with the fare, the length and what the listing includes.

If you want one ticket that moves you all day: $51. The boat day pass is the closest thing on this site to a transport pass, and it is honest about its limits: Lake Thun through the year, Lake Brienz from the beginning of April until mid-October, as the inclusions state. Board at the pier by Interlaken West for Thun or the pier by Interlaken Ost for Brienz, and the shoreline villages become stops rather than destinations. 208 reviews at 4.1.

If you want the fullest day for the money: $190. Three hours down a local gorge with every piece of equipment, professional guides, changing rooms and hot showers at the Interlaken base, rated 4.9 across 219 reviews. It is the day people describe afterwards in the most detail, and the travelling is a short drive rather than a morning of connections.

If your day is Grindelwald: $89 is the ticket to hold. Round trip gondola from the valley station, the First Cliff Walk at the top and the path towards Bachalpsee, valid across the day rather than tied to one departure, 854 reviews at 4.7. Pair it with $26 at the bottom of the same valley and the day covers the view from above and the rock galleries below in one trip out from Interlaken Ost.

If you have a single afternoon: $147. Fifty minutes on Lake Brienz with the skipper, the splash jacket and the Giessbach Falls, 403 reviews at 4.7 — the shortest way to get out of town and back with something to show for it.

If you want the flight: $222 carries transport in the fare, so the stations do not enter into it; it is the most reviewed listing on this site and nothing else comes close, 2,580 ratings at 4.9. $209 asks you to get yourself up to Mürren first, and rewards it with the Lauterbrunnen cliffs and waterfalls underneath you and a 5.0 across 367 reviews.