A while ago, I posted the first blog post on our trip to Switzerland. And while our Christmas tree is already up I am still cleaning up my summer do-to list. 🙂
The second part of our trip to Switzerland was a bit more sporty and connected to nature. We definitely reached our steps goal.
Beautiful Interlaken
Interlaken, a city in the German part of Switzerland in the canton of Bern is where the French language is quickly replaced by full-on German. Fairy tale Interlaken lies between three lakes – two lakes of Brienz and Thun lake alongside the river Aare.
We drove there on Saturday and it truly is a wonderful place to be. There are a lot of Asian tourists there so the prices can get even steeper than elsewhere, so be prepared. There are also lots of paragliders, which makes for excellent photo options if you are a photographer. All in all, Interlaken is a very Instagram-able location and of course, it also has its own funicular that goes steeply up to Harder Kulm, the top of Interlaken.
If you thought the view from Chaumont was amazing – you haven’t seen anything yet. The funicular to the top is definitely part of the magic – the average gradient of the railway is 64% and it is still not steepest in the world, in case you were wondering. Since Japan, we are very fond of funiculars (Check out our Hakone post here).
But back to Switzerland…the views from Harder Kulm are insanely beautiful and definitely worth a visit.
We decided to walk down from the top and it takes a long while – maybe 2,5h for an average walker, depending on how fast you are. If you are not used to walking maybe skip this. If you are used to it still come prepared – some parts are steep and you’ll need good walking shoes.
Of course, we came back to Interlaken hungry and tired, so we went for a typical meal, which you can find in probably every town in Switzerland – if you thought kebab, you guessed right. You’ll pay somewhere from 10 CHF to 15 CHF for a donner or something similar. Maybe I was hungry, but it felt like the best kebab I’ve ever had.
“We could easily live here” Bern
On our last day, we strolled around Bern before taking a train back to Zurich Airport.
PS: You can buy tickets for the trains online and with a discount. Book them in advance if you know when you want to travel because the trains tend to get booked and crowded.
Bern was probably our favourite – it seems like a very liveable city. It’s the second biggest city after Zurich and the capital of Switzerland. We started our stroll on top of the city – in the Rose Garden, where Einstein used to walk and ponder new ideas with Mileva.
He lived in Bern when he developed his famous formula E=mc² in 1905 and you can see his house in the Altstadt of Bern. You can also take a photo with his statue, as we did in the Rose Garden, which is btw the home of 220 different types of roses and has an amazing view of the city.
You can walk downhill from there and enter the old city. Bear is the symbol of Bern and if you have time you can visit the Bärengraben – a park housing bears. We ended our exploration of the city at the beautiful Bern Bundeshaus.
Bern has a relaxed vibe and in the summer you can see lots of people swimming and drifting in the Aare river. It is safe to do it if you enter the water at the recreation area at Eichholz and just let yourself drift downstream to the Freiban Marzili. We didn’t have time to do it this time, but it’s definitely on the list for our next visit.
Unfortunately, it was soon our time to head back home, but we loved Switzerland and we are going back there soon. Granted, it is expensive for most of the visitors, but it is also relaxed, peaceful, clean and people are extremely nice.
PS: Special thanks to our amazing friends Simona and Filip for hosting us in their beautiful Swiss home, driving us around, walking with us and feeding us. We hope to see you again soon. <3
