Interlaken in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Interlaken covers 13 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Interlaken rewards a detour.

The Interlaken route at a glance

Day 1

Day 1 covers 7 stops over about 32 km as the crow flies, from Höhematte to Kursaal. ≈ 32 km between stops, straight line

Morning

1. Höhematte: The great open meadow in the middle of Interlaken, kept forever unbuilt by a 19th-century agreement so that the view across the grass to the snowy Jungfrau stays open for all. 0.6 km to the next stop
2. Unterseen: Interlaken's neighbouring old town across the Aare, founded in 1279, with an arcaded town hall square, a medieval church tower and a name that, like Interlaken's, means 'between the lakes'. 5.1 km to the next stop
3. St. Beatus Caves: Show caves in the cliff above Lake Thun, with underground rivers, lakes and stalactites, waterfalls pouring from the entrance, and the legend of the hermit St. Beatus who drove out a dragon. 5.1 km to the next stop
4. Lake Thun: The turquoise lake west of Interlaken, the largest entirely within one Swiss canton, ringed by villages, vineyards and castles and crossed by steamers, including a historic paddle steamer of 1906. 5.9 km to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Oberhofen Castle: A storybook medieval castle standing in the water on the shore of Lake Thun, with a spired lakeside tower, a castle museum and a lakeside park, remodelled in Romantic style in the 19th century. 14 km to the next stop
2. Harder Kulm: The 'Top of Interlaken': a viewpoint at about 1,320 metres reached by funicular, with a castle-like restaurant and a Two Lakes Bridge platform looking down on both lakes and the Jungfrau. 1.1 km to the next stop
3. Kursaal: The turn-of-the-century Kursaal and casino at the end of the Höheweg, in a garden with a famous flower clock, long the cultural heart of Interlaken on the land of its former monastery.

Day 2

Day 2 covers 6 stops over about 44 km as the crow flies, from Schynige Platte to Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. ≈ 44 km between stops, straight line

Morning

1. Schynige Platte: A ridge at about 2,000 metres reached by a historic cog railway from Wilderswil, with a grandstand view of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and an alpine botanical garden of wild mountain flowers. 7 km to the next stop
2. Lauterbrunnen Valley: A sheer-walled glacial valley south of Interlaken, famous for its many waterfalls, above all the Staubbach Falls that leap nearly 300 metres off the cliff by Lauterbrunnen village. 7.5 km to the next stop
3. Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe): The 'Top of Europe': the highest railway station in Europe at 3,454 metres, reached by a cog railway tunnelled through the Eiger and Mönch, with a glacier observatory, ice palace and the Aletsch. 19 km to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Lake Brienz: The deep turquoise lake east of Interlaken, among the cleanest in Switzerland, with steep wooded shores, the Giessbach Falls, the village of Brienz and a paddle steamer of 1914. 4.9 km to the next stop
2. Giessbach Falls: A great cascade that tumbles into Lake Brienz in fourteen stages below a historic Belle-Époque grand hotel, reached by the oldest funicular in Switzerland still running, opened in 1879. 5 km to the next stop
3. Ballenberg Open-Air Museum: A vast open-air museum near Lake Brienz where more than a hundred historic farmhouses and rural buildings from across Switzerland have been rebuilt, with farm animals, gardens and traditional crafts.

Distances are straight-line between stops; streets add a little.

Updated: October 10, 2026

Full Interlaken guide and all stops →