Europe 2025 | Interlaken, Switzerland

After leaving Munich we boarded another train, this time bound for Interlaken, Switzerland (via Zurich).  As seems to be the norm, as we left we were treated with a dusting of fresh snow. 

After some minor train drama, our train malfunctioning and stopping an hour away from our destination, we made it to the Hotel Chalet Swiss, a quaint timber building with apparently no insulation between the walls as we could hear our neighbours talking and arguing late in the night. 

Arriving quite late in the early evening, and on a public holiday, we headed out for a pub lunch and visit to the supermarket, and left the exploring to the morning. 

In the morning, before heading out on the first planned activity, we briefly explored the neighbourhood, caught our first glimpse of one of the blue lakes which the town sits between, and marvelled in the snow capped mountains nearly all around us. 

After a light Swiss breakfast at the hotel (queue cheeses), we took the Bernese Oberland Railway to Grindelwald, and from there a 25 minute gondola ride to First.  From here we got to see the true majesty of the Swiss Alps.  Alas it was crazy windy, so we couldn’t try the flying fox, and honestly we could barely stand. At one point we (at least the parents) were stranded on an icy hill unable to move without slipping and falling! But the views were amazing!

Back in Grindelwald, where it was less crazy windy, we discovered that the Swiss love beavers! Almost every souvenir shop had different types of beaver toys which makes us happy.  We didn’t buy any, as spending $50 for a small toy without a proper beaver tail just isn’t right!

On the way back to town, we stopped at a vantage point to see Lake Brienz and take in more of Switzerland’s beauty.

We then wrapped up the day with what must be the world’s most expensive McDonalds before retiring to the hotel.

For the second day, we decided to try our luck with a day of Sledging given it seems to be a Swiss tradition.  So we headed out and hired ski gear (dad reminding everyone we could have bought it all at half the cost from the many thrift stores we’d visited in Amsterdam - but never mind), and headed to Männlichen as we’d been told it was reasonable for beginners (and this was before we realised just how beginner we - especially dad - was going to be).  The trip, again via bus, train and gondola took about an hour, and at times in the gondola we lost all visibility (increasing our nervousness). Mum stayed behind for this one as she’d unfortunately hurt her arm on the ice the day before.

We then got to the summit, hired some sledges and proceeded to discover we had no idea what we were doing. After some failed starts, and many tumbles by dad and Keira we think we got the hang of it.  After 4 hours we were exhausted and called it quits, but not before Claire went off on another lap herself!

During the fun we discovered the joy of falling (intentionally) into deep fluffy snow, snow angels, and for dad - just how hard it is to wade through snow that’s more that waist deep to get a runaway sled!

The fall...

and in slowmo...

While the kids and dad tried not to die, Mum explored the nearby town of Brienz, but ended up getting whitewashed with heavy snow. 

After all that excitement, we headed to a local restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful meal of fondue (dad ate a ridiculous amount of cheese), rosti with horse meat stew, local fish, potato soup and what could be the last schnitzel of our trip.

And that brings us to the end of our stay in Interlaken, as today we head out to Brig to commence our scenic railways weekend.  But, in good fashion we awoke once again to a fresh dosing of snow.  And, at the station, a statue in our honour.