Interlaken

While many walked through the streets of the small town, I decided to head along the river and came across this beautiful view of Lake Brienz.

The Swiss penchant for efficient mobility is evident in the thousands of miles of biking, hiking, canoeing and even roller blading trails crisscrossing the country. Combined with the flexibility of a Swiss Pass, a special ticket that grants you virtually unlimited access to the country’s network of trains, buses and boats, these routes mean there’s almost no place in Switzerland that you can’t access easily. Special racks on some buses and special cars in some trains even let you bring a bike along with you on your ride. In Interlaken, you can rent an electric bike (with a 26-volt motor that gives you an extra boost with each pedal stroke) at the Interlaken West train station (about 49 francs a day) and then ride out on the Berner Oberland Route along the quieter northern shore of Lake Thun to Thun; along the way you’ll have great views of the lake and sweeping, quiet forests. To learn more about train travel in Switzerland—as well as special multi-destination packages like the Swiss Pass and Swiss Peak Pass—visit myswitzerland.com/rail.

Stepping onto this wood-and-steel viewing platform—suspended at almost 4,500 feet from the Interlaken peak of Harder Kulm—can be a dizzying experience. But the vantage point it offers is well worth a touch of vertigo: you’ll have panoramic sightlines over the blue lakes of Thun and Brienz, as well as the iconic Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains. If you’re hungry, stop for lunch at the adjacent restaurant that looks like a miniature castle. For more information about sightseeing in Jungfrau and Interlaken, visit myswitzerland.com.

If there’s anything that Interlaken-based metal-worker Barbara Kiener loves more than bending iron to create gorgeous sculptures, it’s visiting with people interested in what she does. Swing by her “Stilwärk and Kulturgarage” studio at Harderstrasse 25, and you’ll likely find that she’s set tables outside with free coffee encouraging folks to linger. Look for iron roses and paintings that she also makes, showing mountains made out of words. Her sister, Simona, runs an adjacent shop showcasing furniture and items that have a cool, retro-antiquey feel gained by “making old things look older,” as Simona says. For more information about the artists and artisans of Jungfrau and Interlaken, visit myswitzerland.com.

Though the Swiss are better known for their many wine varietals than they are for their beers, the country has some great microbreweries if you know where to look. Several of these can be found in Interlaken. One, Brasserie 17, for example, just a few minutes’ walk from the Interlaken West train station, serves more than 20 different types of beer in a Victorian-style bar with live music in the evenings. Meanwhile, in the small hamlet of Unterseen celebrity chef René Schudel (who had his own TV show about cooking in extreme places—like North Face of the Eiger), cooks deceptively simple, but delicious dishes; don’t miss his hot dog with house-made ketchup. For more information about restaurants and bars in Jungfrau and Interlaken, visit myswitzerland.com.

Interlaken is an outdoor adventurers dream! I ran into this beauty on a hike through the alps.

I will never forget the color of the glacier water that makes up the rivers and lakes surrounding Interlaken.

Doesn’t it look like we’re photoshopped onto a postcard? What you can’t see are the tiny people in the sky, because everywhere you look, there are any number of paragliders at a time! We had just finished canyoning in the mountains, and then ate traditional rosti and wienerschniztel, before heading back to our hostel. We were studying abroad in Innsbruck, Austria for the summer and Interlaken was our favorite vacation we took. It’s the outdoor adventure capital of Europe, and I absolutely can’t wait to go back. Canyoning, hiking, backpacking, skiing, kayaking, bungee jumping, base jumping, and more!

Not only is Interlaken, in Switzerland‘s Jungfrau Region, very easy on the eyes thanks to stunning panoramic mountain views, but it is also the country’s adrenalin capitol, serving as the launch point to winter adventure that makes this destination memorable and thrilling. It starts with a place called Vertical Rush where you can free fall the way a base jumper does to feel the same thrill before catching slack and lowering slowly to the ground. But also includes opportunities for everything from skydiving to paragliding and heli-skiing. And beyond pure adrenalin thrills, you can escape to remote parts of nature and go snowshoeing through a snow-covered forest to see views of the Alps you have to work for. Come evening, rent a pair of skates and head to Magic Ice, which connects several ice rinks with snaky routes in a festive atmosphere. https://vimeo.com/154154685

With so many mountains and gravity-fueled ways to play, the Interlaken and Jungfrau regions offer myriad ways to zoom through the picture-perfect scenery. Some of these adventure activities may be unlike anything you’ve heard of back home. Take the First Flyer, for example. Something like a cross between a chairlift and a zipline, the First Flyer features more than 2,600-feet of cables suspended up to 150 feet off the ground that riders can strap into via a harness. Push off and away you’ll go for a rapid ride down from First, an area above Grindelwald station, to Schreckfeld station. If you like your feet closer to the ground, you can alternatively spend an afternoon zipping down well marked mountain paths on a ‘trottibike,’ a beefy scooter of sorts that you can rent at the First Railway station. For a high-speed thrill, you can bike back down to Grindelwald—a steep enough pitch that you may hit 50 mph. For the best flight routes to Jungfrau and Interlaken, visit swiss.com.

If you visit Interlaken at the end of June, you’ll be treated to a trucker and country music festival that’s been going strong here for two decades. Held at the military airport just outside of town, the festival brings upwards of 40 music acts, including American bands like the Bellamy Brothers as well as European acts like Rednex and Big Dig. Expect lots of big hats, belt buckles and line dancing workshops as well as more than 1,000 big rigs lining the runways. Giddy up! For the best flight routes to Jungfrau and Interlaken, visit swiss.com.