Stories

Just under 3 hours of train journey from Geneva, and we reached the place to witness the real Switzerland. We reached by late noon, so after relaxing a while at our Bnb we headed out to explore what this beautiful town had to offer. Most of the places are confined between Interlaken west & east stations. We started from west (as we were staying here). Its advisable to walk through the town and absorb the beauty it has to offer, with Jungfrau standing tall on 1 side, harder kulm on other then lavish green parks with a stream of lake by the lanes of the road. This is a perfect setting for a dreamland. While you walk, you will see plenty of restaurants and cafes offering the best of various cuisines, and more so Indian. Things not to miss out are cute little ancient church, Casino where there is a bronze status of Yash Chopra, Casino Kursaal. One must try coffee sitting in any café with outdoor sitting and relishing the beauty of the town, which further gets enhanced by quality of coffee (read milk). Post having a long walk and visiting various shops we headed back to our Bnb, where we cooked our dinner using ready to eat which we got from India along with a local wine.

Day 2:

Next morning, we woke up to a clear sky, hence the decision was made to do the mountain excursion. We had planned for Schilthorn for our excursion. (we skipped jungfraujoch since it consumes an entire day, it’s way too crowded than schiltorn and is way more expensive). Schilthorn offers similar views and have more things to do, bit less crowded and is included in Swiss Pass. We took train from Ost station to Lauterbrunnen, from there we took trolley to Murren.

Murren is a village town worth exploring, which we did. The scenery in this region is stunning and there are no public roads to this place. Its here that we did our lunch after coming back from schilthorn at Hotel Alpenruh, which is overlooking the valley with lovely views and is just next to the cable car station. From Murren we took a cable car to Birg and from here another trolley to Schilthorn. And here we are, welcomed by a whiff of stupefying chilly air with 1-degree temp.

There is a 360degree rotating restaurant with 007 theme named Piz Gloria and is highly recommended to have a meal there and would be great if you can get a window seat. Its also called 007 peek. Step out on the terrace and there is brilliant view of swiss alps combined with Jungfrau. After enjoying the breath-taking view, we took trolley back to Birg. Here we headed directly towards the thrill walk, a must do experience, wherein we walked along the cliff with a transparent path. Post this we headed back to Murren, had lunch there and decided to go to Gimmelwald.

Gimmelwald

is a small traffic free village with a population of hardly 100. This lies in between Murren & Stechelberg in the Bernese Oberland. It has some really pretty self-service shops and beautiful pathways and chalets. As you get off the cable car, there is a small amusement park surrounded with breath-taking scenic views. This village should definitely be a part of any itinerary and should surely visit one of these self service shops. After an enjoyable evening stroll we headed back to the Bnb and retired for the day.

Day 3:

We woke up to a rainy day and the forecast predicated rains through the day in Interlaken and nearby village towns. But on checking, Bern was showing as clear weather. Hence, we decided to make a trip to Bern which was 47 min from the west by train. So, not having fixed plans help as you can head to a new destination depending on the weather and other forecast.

Bern, it might surprize you, is the capital of Switzerland. The Old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its 6 kms of arcades boasts of the longest weather-sheltered shopping promenades in Europe. There is a huge museum of Albert Einstein which has some unique offerings, then there is an extraordinary astronomical clock, Zytglogge, which offers a little show at stroke of every hour. Also there is a really nice Bear Garden, BarenPark. This capital has enough to keep you occupied for almost a day. Post having our lunch, we headed back to Interlaken. But since we had time at hand, enroute we diverted to St. Beatus Caves, which is small detour to Interlaken. On our way we made a quick coffee break stop at another small town Thun, and sipped coffee by the beautiful Lake Thun. From there we took a bus ride for 32 min to Beatushohlen. The bus ride was really nice with the views of Lake Thun and Alps on the background.

St. Beatus Caves is another hidden gem of Interlaken (Unterseen) which is worth a visit. It’s a cave hiking overlooking the lake and alps to accompany. There are few legends related to this cave, but this is completely safe to visit. The hike through waterfalls is really an experience. From here it was 15 min bus ride to our Bnb and we retired for the day.

Day 4:

Our last full day at Interlaken was Sunny and pleasant. Hence, this day we headed to explore few other hidden gems and village towns, Lauterbrunnen, Wilderswil, Grindelwald and Harder Kulm. 1st we headed to Lauterbrunnen which was a 30min train ride from Ost. And here we are at one of the most scenic and picturesque town of Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen’s 72 thundering waterfalls, secluded valleys and colourful alpine meadows make it a picture perfect destination. 2 of the famous waterfalls are, 300m high Staubbach falls and Glacial water lead Trummelbach falls. And it’s a must to visit both these. It has a lovely trail to hike towards Staubbach which is 10-15min from station. On the way are beautiful meadows and lovely cafes. From there it is another 30min walk to Trummelbach, but you can also take the bus, which is 5-8 min ride. After soaking up the beauty of this village town and having a cup of coffee, we headed toward Wilderswil which is enroute Grindelwald. Its also a small village town.

From here its 15min train ride with extremely breath taking views to Grindelwald. And as you near the mountain you are faced with this huge and towering mountain with snow covered peeks of Eiger Mountain. It’s a small mountain village, where in it is thrillingly pleasant to walk around or even do hiking. Also you can visit “First”, its another centre point of lot of adventure activities, 25min from Grindelwald. You will not regret a trip to First as you will experience literally few “First” experiences.

There multitude of activities which can be enjoyed at First. Activities included are :

• First Glider: is 800m long flight in form of zipline suspended by eagle like glider.

• First Flyer: is an 800m zip line where one travels almost at the rate of 84km/hr

• First Mountain Carts: are a mix of a go-cart and a sled, created specifically for snow-less paths.

• First Cliff Walk By Tissot: this is a metal walkway around the cliff. This is full of thrill and a section ends at a  point where you can have a panoramic view of surrounding mountains and the valley below.

• Trottibike Scooter

We had lunch at Bebbis in Grindelwald and then headed back to Interlaken. Since we were not rushing through the places, we didn’t leave enough time to visit Harder Kulm, though its open till 9PM, but we skipped this.

Since this was our last day, we headed to the local souvenir shop which is owned by an Indian and offers the best deals (probably in Switzerland, where we travelled). Post this a visit to Funky Chocolate Club is must for there lip smacking Strawberry Chocolate Fondue. You can also purchase some of the amazing handmade chocolates. After relaxing a bit with a cup of coffee, we came back to our Bnb freshened up and went out for dinner at 1 of the most famous local restaurant Baren. Then retired for the day.