Things to Do in Interlaken - Top Attractions, Hidden Gems & Must-See Sights

Every town needs a hill you can see from everywhere, and for Interlaken that hill is the Harder Kulm. At 1,321 meters, it sits directly north of town and looks straight down at the two lakes on either side. The funicular from Interlaken Ost takes about eight minutes. The view at the top is the one they put on every postcard: Lake Thun to the west, Lake Brienz to the east, and the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau lined up in a row behind them.

The restaurant terrace at the summit has the best Interlaken attractions view you'll find without spending a full day hiking. There's a suspension bridge over a wooded ravine that most visitors skip once they see the main panorama platform. Don't. It puts you out over the forest canopy and changes the whole perspective. Morning is quieter than afternoon, and the light on the mountains before 10 AM is better than anything you'll see later.

The Harder Kulm technically belongs to the Emmental Alps rather than the high Bernese Oberland, which means it gets less snow and stays open from April through November.

The Jungfraujoch is Europe's highest railway station at 3,454 meters, and getting there from Interlaken takes just over two hours by train. The route goes up through Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, switches to a rack railway at Kleine Scheidegg, then tunnels directly through the Eiger to emerge at the saddle between the Mönch and Jungfrau. Around one million people make this trip each year. On a clear day, the Aletsch Glacier stretches away below you for 23 kilometers.

The price is steep - CHF 234 return from Interlaken - and crowds can be punishing in July and August. But nothing else in the Bernese Oberland puts you at altitude this easily, and the high-alpine environment at the summit is genuinely different from anything lower down. The air is thin enough that some people feel it. There are tunnels to walk through, an ice palace carved inside the glacier, and an outdoor platform where the wind cuts off the snowfield cold regardless of the month.

As one of the defining Interlaken attractions, the Jungfraujoch rewards careful planning above all else. Weather matters enormously up here. A cloudy day means visibility of about ten meters and a very expensive train ride. Check the live webcam on the Jungfrau website before you commit to the fare.

Lake Brienz is the eastern of Interlaken's two lakes and the one that looks, from the right angle, almost artificially blue. The color comes from glacial meltwater carrying fine rock particles that scatter light at a specific wavelength - the same turquoise you see in alpine rivers when the glacier is active. The lake is about 14 kilometers long and almost 260 meters deep, with walls that drop steeply from the shoreline without any real shallows.

The town of Brienz at the far end is worth the trip. It has been a center of woodcarving for centuries and the surrounding hillsides are covered in forests that feed the craft. The steam paddle steamer still runs on the lake in summer, connecting Interlaken with Brienz and stopping at small villages along the southern shore. It's slower than the train but gives you the lake from water level, which is a different experience entirely.

For places to visit in Interlaken that don't require a cable car ticket or a mountain train, the lake shore is the obvious answer. The path from Interlaken Ost along the northern bank is mostly flat and uncrowded on weekday mornings. The Giessbach waterfall, which cascades directly into the lake near the midpoint, has one of the more dramatic settings of any waterfall in the region.

Lake Thun sits west of Interlaken and stretches for about 18 kilometers toward the city of Thun. It's wider and warmer than Lake Brienz, with a friendlier shoreline - actual swimming beaches, shallow coves, and small harbors where the local boats come in. The Bernese Oberland hills on both sides drop more gently here than on the Brienz side, giving the lake a softer, more pastoral look. On clear days the Niesen pyramid and the snow-capped peaks of the Blümlisalp reflect off the water.

Boats run the full length of the lake from Interlaken West, stopping at Spiez, Oberhofen, and eventually Thun. Oberhofen Castle, right on the waterfront with its distinctive tower, is the most photogenic stop along the route. The town of Spiez has a medieval castle of its own and a harbor that's genuinely pleasant for an afternoon.

Swimming is free anywhere along the public shore. The water temperature in summer reaches around 22 degrees Celsius near the surface - cold by Mediterranean standards, perfectly fine by Swiss standards. Locals use the lake heavily from June through August.

The Schynige Platte sits at 1,967 meters on a ridge that runs roughly parallel to the south shore of Lake Brienz, and from the top you get one of the few places in the region where you can see both lakes simultaneously. To the left, Lake Brienz. To the right, the Grindelwald valley with the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau arranged behind it. The name means 'shining plate' in old German, a reference to the slate rock face below the ridge that reflects light intensely when wet.

The rack railway from Wilderswil, just south of Interlaken, opened in 1893 and the wooden train cars still creak and groan their way up the mountain in the same deliberate fashion. The journey takes about 52 minutes. It runs only from mid-June to late October when the weather permits. At the summit there's a small botanical alpine garden with several hundred plant species arranged in their natural communities - the kind of thing that sounds dry but is actually charming once you're up there with the flowers at eye level and a clear view in every direction.

For sightseeing in Interlaken that feels less commercial than Jungfraujoch, the Schynige Platte is a good alternative. The crowds are thinner and the hiking trails from the summit are genuinely excellent.

The Heimwehfluh is the low hill at the western end of Interlaken, reached by a small funicular from near the Interlaken West station. The funicular first opened in 1906 and still runs with the same unhurried mechanical charm it presumably always had. At 670 meters, this is not exactly alpine - more like the forested viewpoint that every Swiss town of any size has managed to make into a pleasant half-day out.

From the top you get a solid panorama over the Höhematte meadow and the town, with the mountains lined up behind. There's a restaurant, a model railway layout that's been up there for decades, and a bobsled run that winds down through the trees. The bobsled is not thrilling by theme park standards, but it's the kind of low-key, slightly old-fashioned attraction that the Swiss do well. Kids like it. Adults are mostly entertained rather than bored.

The Heimwehfluh is an easy Interlaken attraction for half a morning, particularly useful when the weather is mixed and the higher mountains are in cloud. It's also good for families with young children who can't manage a full mountain day. The funicular return costs CHF 14 and the visit is comfortably done in two hours.

The Höheweg is the broad promenade that runs through the center of Interlaken, connecting the two train stations - Interlaken West to the west and Interlaken Ost to the east. It's about 1.5 kilometers long and lined with grand hotels, shops, and the open meadow of the Höhematte on the south side. The Jungfrau is directly framed at the eastern end of the boulevard when the weather is clear, which makes for an unlikely urban-alpine view.

The street was developed in the 19th century when Interlaken became one of the first truly international tourist destinations in the Alps. The large hotels along the Höheweg, some of them dating to the 1870s and 1880s, were built to accommodate an aristocratic clientele arriving by train from across Europe. A few retain their original Belle Époque facades. The whole boulevard has a slightly faded grandeur to it that is actually quite appealing once you stop comparing it to what it must have looked like at peak Victorian swagger.

For first-time visitors figuring out the layout of Interlaken, walking the full length of the Höheweg is the most efficient orientation. You'll understand the town's geography in 20 minutes. In the evening when the tour groups thin out and the light softens, it's a genuinely pleasant place to be.

Lauterbrunnen is a valley cut so deeply into the rock that the cliff walls on either side rise nearly 300 meters straight up, with waterfalls dropping off the edges. There are 72 of them by official count, though you'd be hard pressed to find them all. The most visible is the Staubbach, which tumbles off the cliff face above the village and disperses into mist before it reaches the ground. The valley floor is meadow and river, flanked by these vertical limestone walls. It is, in geological terms, a textbook hanging valley carved by glaciers.

The village itself is small and quiet. Most visitors arrive on the train from Interlaken and keep moving - up to Wengen or Mürren by cable car, or continuing by rack railway toward Kleine Scheidegg and the Jungfraujoch. That transit function defines the place more than anything else. The buildings along the main street are a mix of old Bernese farmhouses and tourist infrastructure, neither overwhelmingly charming nor particularly ugly.

Lauterbrunnen is one of the top places to visit near Interlaken, and it earns that status mainly through geography rather than anything man-made. Early morning, before 9 AM, the valley gets its best light. The waterfalls catch the sun while the floor is still in shadow. Come then if you can.

The Männlichen is a long ridge at 2,342 meters above the Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys, and it has arguably the best unobstructed view of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau from any point accessible by cable car in the region. The three peaks are directly in front of you at roughly eye level, close enough that you can see the individual ridgelines without binoculars. From the Grindelwald side, the gondola that goes up was at one point the longest gondola lift in the world when it opened.

The summit area is a broad, walkable plateau rather than a sharp peak, which makes it comfortable for a variety of people. The Royal Walk, a gentle 30-minute circular path marked with special paving, runs around the ridge. There are also longer connections toward Kleine Scheidegg. In winter the ski area here has over 100 kilometers of marked runs shared with Kleine Scheidegg. In summer the same terrain becomes hiking ground with a very different atmosphere.

The Männlichen is one of the Interlaken attractions that gets overlooked by people focused on the Jungfraujoch - it costs less (CHF 62 return from Grindelwald) and the weather window for good visibility is somewhat easier to hit because you're lower. It's not 3,000 meters and glaciers, but the view of those peaks from this angle is hard to beat.

The Niederhorn sits at 1,963 meters and looks out over Lake Thun in a way that most of the mountain viewpoints near Interlaken can't match - you're directly above the water, and the lake fills a large part of the view below you. It's considered the local mountain of Beatenberg, the village you pass through on the way up, rather than an Interlaken peak in the strict sense. But from Interlaken the cable car from Beatenbucht on the lakeshore is the most convenient way up.

The summit has less infrastructure than the more commercial peaks - a restaurant and terrace, a few hiking trail markers, and a lot of open ridge walking. Marmots are common enough here that you're likely to hear them if not see them. The Gemmenalp, a high pasture on the ridge below the summit, is where cows graze in summer and the alp farmers still make cheese the old way. You can sometimes buy it directly.

For places to visit in Interlaken that feel quieter than Harder Kulm or Männlichen, the Niederhorn is the honest answer. The crowds are thinner, the atmosphere is less organized, and the view of Lake Thun from this angle is different from anything you get further east.

Schloss Schadau is a 19th-century castle on the edge of Lake Thun at the point where the Aare river flows out from the western end. It sits in Schadaupark, a large English-style garden that has been publicly accessible since 1925 when the city of Thun bought the property. The castle itself is a neo-Gothic affair built in the 1840s, with towers and steep rooflines reflected in the lake. It's about 20 kilometers west of Interlaken by train or boat.

The park is the reason most people come. It's well-maintained, free to enter, and gets relatively few tourists compared to the mountain sites near Interlaken. Mature trees, lawns running down to the water, and a clear view across the lake toward the Stockhorn. The Thun Panorama, a large circular painting from 1814 depicting the surrounding landscape in remarkable detail, is housed in a round building within the park - it's one of the better-preserved examples of this type of 19th-century panorama art in Switzerland.

Schloss Schadau is easily combined with a trip to Thun itself, which has its own well-preserved old town and castle on the hill above. The boat from Interlaken West stops at Thun, making the whole excursion doable in a half-day.

The Trümmelbachfälle are ten waterfalls inside a mountain. The stream drains the glaciers of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau - a catchment area of 23 square kilometers, half of it ice and snow - and carries up to 20,000 liters of water per second through a crack in the rock that's so narrow the upper falls never see daylight. They're listed in the national inventory of natural monuments of Switzerland and sit within the UNESCO Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Area.

A system of tunnels, stairs, and a funicular inside the mountain has made the falls accessible since 1913. You walk through the rock to reach them, which already feels unusual before you get to the actual falls. The sound builds as you go higher. By the time you reach the upper levels, the noise and spray from the water are constant, and you're looking at something that operates at a scale that's hard to register - 20,200 tons of sediment moving through this narrow gorge every year.

Of all the sightseeing options near Interlaken, Trümmelbach is the one that most consistently surprises people. The setting is unlike anything above ground. It's also open from April to November only, so the timing matters. The entry fee is CHF 15.

Unterseen is technically its own municipality, separated from Interlaken by the Aare river, though for practical purposes it's the western continuation of the same town. The old town center has a distinctly different character from the Höheweg boulevard - narrower streets, timber-framed houses that date to the 17th and 18th centuries, and a small market square that hasn't changed much in layout since medieval times. The local heritage protection designation covers the historic core.

The Stadtkirche Unterseen, the old parish church, sits at the edge of a small hill above the market square. From the churchyard you get a view over the rooftops and across to the Jungfrau that's genuinely nice and completely free. The tourist office building on the square is in a 17th-century house that was once the town hall. The whole area takes about an hour to walk through properly.

Unterseen is the place to find quieter streets and older architecture while staying within easy walking distance of Interlaken's train stations and hotels. The Wednesday and Saturday morning market on the square is worth timing your visit around.

The Aare River flows through the heart of the town, connecting Lake Brienz with Lake Thun. Its water has a distinct turquoise color that is especially bright on sunny days. Walking along the riverbanks is one of the most relaxing places to visit in Interlaken for both locals and travelers. The paths are flat and well-paved, making them perfect for a morning stroll or a bike ride.

As you walk along the river, you will pass by several historic bridges and traditional wooden houses. The banks are lined with many trees and benches where you can sit and watch the local boats go by. In the summer, the water is cool and refreshing, and some areas are popular for swimming or river rafting. The river is a quiet part of the town, away from the busy main shopping streets and the large hotels. It is a good place to see the natural landscape of the region.

The paths along the river are free to use at any time of the day or night. You can start your walk at the Interlaken West train station and follow the water all the way to the lake. Most of the route is shaded by old trees, which is very pleasant during the hot summer months. It takes about forty minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other along the water. It is a simple way to enjoy the scenery of the Bernese Oberland.

Merligen is a small village on the right (north) shore of Lake Thun, sitting at 568 meters on an alluvial fan deposited by the Grönbach stream at the mouth of the Justis Valley. About 500 people live here. It's 20 minutes by boat from Interlaken West and a different world from the busy tourist infrastructure of the main town. The lakefront has a small harbor, a beach area for swimming, and views straight across the water to the Niesen pyramid and the Stockhorn range.

The Justis Valley that opens up behind the village is a hidden gem among the hidden gems near Interlaken. It's a high alpine valley with no vehicle access - you walk or come by horse-drawn carriage in summer - used seasonally for cattle grazing. The alp farmers who take cattle up in June and bring them back in September are continuing a practice centuries old. The valley has no overnight accommodation to speak of and no official tourist infrastructure.

Merligen itself is useful as a quiet base or a half-day escape. The boat ride from Interlaken is relaxing rather than merely functional, and the village gives you a sense of what Lake Thun life looks like when it's not organized around alpine tourism.

The Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge is a narrow canyon cut through limestone below the Rosenlaui Glacier in the Hasli Valley, about an hour's drive from Interlaken toward Meiringen. A secured path of 573 meters, blasted into the rock face with several tunnels and a height difference of 155 meters, takes you through the gorge from bottom to top. It's part of the UNESCO Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Area. The gorge closes between October and May.

What makes it different from the more famous gorges in the region is how raw it feels. The rock walls are close together, polished by glacial meltwater, and the path hugs the cliff in places where there's genuinely not much space. The water comes from the glacier above and runs ice-cold even in summer. You hear it before you see it, and the sound builds as you climb. There's no funicular or elevator - you use your legs and the path the workers blasted into the cliff in the early 20th century.

For off-the-beaten-path Interlaken area experiences, Rosenlaui is as good as it gets. It receives a fraction of the visitors that Trümmelbachfälle does, partly because it requires a bit more effort to reach. The drive up the Hasli Valley from Meiringen is itself worth doing for the landscape.

Ballenberg Open-Air Museum is a large historic park in Hofstetten, just a short drive from the city. It was founded in 1978 and covers 66 hectares of land. It is one of the most interesting Interlaken attractions for those who like to see how the Swiss lived in the past. The museum features over 100 original historic buildings that were moved here from all parts of Switzerland. Each building is a real piece of history that shows different architectural styles.

Inside the park, you will find farmhouses, barns, and workshops from several centuries. You can see how people made cheese, baked bread, and did woodcarving in the traditional way. There are also many farm animals, such as cows and goats, living in the museum's pastures. The staff often gives demonstrations of old crafts like lace making and blacksmithing. It is a large and well-maintained site that is easy to navigate on foot or by horse-drawn carriage.

The museum is open daily from April until the end of October, usually until 17:00. Tickets are relatively expensive, but they cover the entire day of exploring the park. Most visitors spend at least four or five hours here because there is so much to see. There are several restaurants and picnic areas located throughout the grounds. It is a good place to learn about the rural history and the culture of the Swiss Alps.

The Kunsthaus Interlaken is a small contemporary art space in a historic building in the center of Interlaken, near the Interlaken Ost station. It runs a rotating program of exhibitions focused on artists connected to the eastern Bernese Oberland and the broader Alpine region. The building has a particular history - it's an 18th-century structure that has served various functions over the centuries and now operates as an exhibition space and cultural center.

The programming tends toward regional contemporary work rather than blockbuster shows, which keeps it from competing directly with Bern or Zurich but also makes it relevant to what's actually happening in the visual arts in this part of Switzerland. The entrance is free, which lowers the risk of visiting considerably. Hours are limited: closed Monday and Tuesday, open afternoons Wednesday through Saturday and Sunday mornings through 5 PM.

For visitors spending more than a day or two in Interlaken and looking for something indoors that isn't a mountain experience, the Kunsthaus is worth an hour. It's one of the few Interlaken attractions that engages with contemporary Swiss culture rather than natural landscape, and for that reason it feels distinct from almost everything else on offer in the region.

Brienz has been producing carved wood objects for export since the 18th century, and at one point in the 19th century it was the main supplier of carved Swiss souvenirs to the entire European tourist industry. The Swiss Woodcarving Museum in Brienz collects and displays the history of this craft - tools, finished objects spanning several hundred years, and documentation of how the industry grew from cottage production to a more organized commercial trade.

The museum is small and modest by major institution standards, but the collection is specific and well-curated. You'll see the full range of what Brienz carvers made: bears, chamois, human figures, decorative panels, furniture elements, and the nativity scenes that became a specialty. The craftsmanship in the older pieces is remarkable - this was skilled work, not mass production, even at the height of the tourist trade. CHF 8 entry is reasonable for what it covers.

Brienz itself, a 20-minute train ride from Interlaken on the eastern shore of Lake Brienz, is still home to a school of woodcarving where students come from across Switzerland and internationally to train. The town's main street has workshops where you can watch carvers at work. For visitors interested in Swiss craft traditions, Brienz plus this museum makes one of the more satisfying half-day excursions from Interlaken.