Interlaken – the perfect starting point for winter activities

Win­ter hol­i­days are love­ly – idyl­lic moun­tain vil­lages, pleas­ant atmos­phere, peace­ful land­scapes. For many, win­ter is the most pop­u­lar time of year and every­one is drawn to the slopes in droves. But what oppor­tu­ni­ties for fun in the snow are there in Switzer­land for non-skiers like me? The Inter­lak­en tourist region offers a wide range of win­ter activ­i­ties. Inter­lak­en Youth Hos­tel is the best start­ing point for expe­ri­enc­ing them. Let’s go!

Overnight stay at the youth hostel in an ideal location

It’s super prac­ti­cal – the youth hos­tel is locat­ed right next to Inter­lak­en Ost rail­way sta­tion and, com­pared to oth­er accom­mo­da­tion, is quite afford­able. From here, both trains and bus­es run to var­i­ous ski resorts, towns and ports for boat tours.

Romantic Interlaken

A few steps from the youth hos­tel, I’m picked up by a car­riage. Wrapped in cosy blan­kets, Ahmed and his horse Nao­ki take me on an hour-long ride through win­try Inter­lak­en. The three of us are def­i­nite­ly turn­ing heads. The oth­er tourists wave to us as we ride by. I enjoy the long, sprawl­ing vil­lage and all its facets with a sense of com­fort and romance. A great tip: Voegeli Rid­ing School – Inter­lak­en – Car­riage oper­a­tions – Horse board­ing – Horse trade

Relaxing, mystical and delicious

At the port in Inter­lak­en West, I board the Schilthorn, a cruise ship from BLS. It’s about a two-hour trip to Thun. I take a seat in the gallery, where I enjoy a superb view thanks to the huge win­dows. For lunch, I treat myself to a tasty sal­ad and a deli­cious lentil soup. Thanks to the fog, the back­drop appears mys­ti­cal. I have sel­dom expe­ri­enced such a calm­ing atmos­phere as on this win­ter boat tour.

Arriv­ing in the medieval town of Thun, I stroll leisure­ly through the old town and enjoy the old half-tim­bered hous­es, the cas­tle and the lit­tle shops before tak­ing the direct train back to the youth hos­tel.

Now it’s time for some action

Right at the sta­tion, six oth­er tourists and I are picked up by Eddi, and we head up into the moun­tains. First with a minibus, then with a nos­tal­gic cable car. The view of the clear star­ry sky and the illu­mi­nat­ed val­ley at an alti­tude of 1,500 metres are sim­ply breath­tak­ing. But the best is yet to come: Night sledg­ing. Geared up with a head­lamp and a sledge, we get some tips for the three-kilo­me­tre descent. And then it’s time: Full speed ahead! We start with a bit of space between us so that every­one can go at their own pace. It has me scream­ing and shout­ing. At the bot­tom of the hill, we are all hap­py smiles. Wow, that was fun!

I then get to know the oth­er adven­tur­ers bet­ter over an appe­tiz­ing fon­due. The group is very inter­na­tion­al, mak­ing our dis­cus­sions all the more excit­ing. Exhaust­ed and hap­py, I fall into bed. What a great day!

Winter joy and sunshine on the Niederhorn

I can’t wait. Very ear­ly and rein­vig­o­rat­ed thanks to the sump­tu­ous break­fast buf­fet, it’s time to set off. I take the bus to Beat­en­berg sta­tion. The jour­ney alone was worth it. Up you go through the sea of fog. The clouds in the val­ley above Lake Thun, which I was sail­ing under yes­ter­day, look mag­i­cal from above.

The aer­i­al cable­way takes you up the Nieder­horn to almost 2,000 metres in 20 min­utes. I am greet­ed by the sun and a mag­nif­i­cent view of the moun­tains and the dense sea of fog.

I hike at a leisure­ly pace on the groomed hik­ing trails and enjoy the won­der­ful atmos­phere under a blue sky. It’s strik­ing that there are so few peo­ple out and about. Here and there there’s some­one sledg­ing or ski­ing, but oth­er­wise it’s desert­ed. Have I dis­cov­ered an insid­er tip?

On arrival in Inter­lak­en, I enjoy a typ­i­cal Swiss lunch at Restau­rant Stadthaus: Raclette rösti, yuu­u­um. I pass on dessert, and there’s a very good rea­son for that.

Funky Chocolate Club

Just a few min­utes’ walk from the restau­rant, I arrive at my per­son­al par­adise. I am greet­ed with a sign: Choco­late + me = hap­py. This is just the place for me. In an excit­ing 75-minute work­shop, choco­lati­er Olivia tells me and my once again inter­na­tion­al group every­thing there is to know about Swiss choco­late pro­duc­tion. I cre­ate my own edi­tion, a gift for a loved one. And yes, you can snack on the side all the while. 😉

Definitely «until next time»

It’s a leisure­ly jour­ney along the Aare Riv­er to the youth hos­tel, where I left my lug­gage. It’s time to say good­bye. But one thing I know for sure: Inter­lak­en – I’ll be back! There’s so much to expe­ri­ence out­side of win­ter sports, and two days sim­ply aren’t enough!

My summary:

Inter­lak­en and the region are def­i­nite­ly worth­while even in win­ter. There are so many var­ied activ­i­ties. The des­ti­na­tion reg­u­lar­ly offers spe­cials in win­ter where you can pur­chase activ­i­ties and moun­tain rail­way tick­ets at reduced prices – I can rec­om­mend this to every­one! This year’s cam­paign is called the Win­ter Deal

For me, the inter­na­tion­al exchange was also very valu­able, with Ahmed from Cairo, Eddie from North India, Olivia from Poland and many oth­er new acquain­tances from all over the world!

Even more winter magic

We reveal our favourite places in the moun­tains.

Find out more here