Travel to Interlaken with travel insurance from Essential Travel

Interlaken is a large ski resort offering attractive low season rates and convenience, making it a major destination for skiers and a year round resort. Located southeast in the region of Bern, the resort provides beginner and advanced pistes, superb intermediate slopes and a huge range of other attractions.

Easily explored on foot, the resort sits between the two lakes of Brienzersee and Thunersee and is a close-knit town. A museum and library, along with a huge range of shops and galleries, add to the town’s atmosphere. Cosmopolitan dining can be found at the resort’s restaurants, and children are catered for at a day nursery.

The slopes at Interlaken, with a longest run of nine kilometres, are most suited to intermediate skiers. Around 22,000 skiers per hour are transported by 48 ski lifts, including two gondolas/trams that operate over the entire range of the ski field. An additional 250kms of slopes can be found in the nearby Jungfrau region.

The season at Interlaken runs from November to April, with the busier times being Christmas and New Year. The best way to arrive here is to fly to Zürich and transfer directly by train, occasionally involving one change. Alternatively, fly to the nearer Bern-Belp Airport.

Skiing in Interlaken

The most popular resort town in the Bernese Oberland, Interlaken is 130kms southwest of Zürich and 60kms south of Bern. Cheap, low season winter rates are popular at Interlaken, which offers great skiing for all skill levels and ages. The scenic lakes Thun and Brienz encompass the conveniently located resort.

The ski runs at Interlaken consist of 30 per cent beginner slopes; 50 per cent intermediate; and 20 per cent for advanced skiers. Around 22,000 skiers per hour are ushered by 48 ski lifts at the resort, which has a longest run of nine kilometres. Cross-country trails supplement the pistes at the resort.

Aside from skiing, the resort offers other winter activities and facilities, including: snowboarding, with a terrain park and two half-pipes; mono-skiing; mountaineering; ice-canyoning; snow rafting; paragliding; hiking; ice-skating (artificial); tobogganing; luge; curling; and horseback riding. A wellness room, indoor swimming/tennis and golf provide relaxation, while several discos, bars and a casino provide a lively nightlife and cafés and restaurants are numerous.

A range of non-skiing facilities plus good shopping are available at the pleasant resort town of Interlaken. Modest and reasonable to more expensive luxury lodging options include over 100 hotels, motels and pensions, offering 5,500 beds at the resort.

The low season runs from November to April at Interlaken, with Christmas and New Year the exceptions. February and early March see the best snow.

A flight to Zürich International Airport and a transfer by train, direct or with a change at Lucerne, is a popular way to arrive at the resort. The journey by train is two hours, while a hire car can transport you twice as fast.

Apres-ski in Interlaken

Reasonably priced lodgings can be found at Interlaken, with motels and pensions offering 1,000 beds, plus an additional 4,500 beds at over 60 hotels. There’s a large selection of restaurants and cafés, while the casino is a major attraction. A busy après-ski is provided for by a decent balance of bars and one of the highest per capita rates of nightclubs of any town in Switzerland.

The Bernese Oberland also features a beautiful parish church, which has a 15th century Gothic tower and is one of the most photographed sights in the region. Europes highest railway offers stunning views and services the surrounding Jungfrau, Eiger, Mönch and Schilthorn mountains, with the peak of the Jungfraujoch (3,454m) – the highest vantage point in Switzerland for non-mountaineers – affording spectacular vistas.

Transportation to Interlaken

There are many ways to get to Interlaken ski resort, which lies south of Bern, the capital, and Zürich. Train services from London are frequent, while driving is made easy by a good system of motorways and autobahns. A flight to Zürich and a rail transfer is the most convenient way to get here.

By car from Calais, the journey is 900kms and eight hours via Reims, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, Bern and Interlaken. Travel along the A-26, A-4, A-35, A-1 and A-6 autoroutes and autobahns. A well maintained highway and autobahn route connects large cities in Switzerland with the airports at Zürich and Geneva. Take the A-20 and A-4 (Lucerne) autobahns from Zürich International Airport, and the A-8 (Lucerne-Thun) autobahn for 140kms, taking 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Frequent daily Eurostar trains connect from London and involve two to four changes. Total journey time is between 10 and 17 hours. The most convenient option is the 08:12 Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris (Nord). Transfer by foot or metro to the nearby gare de Lyon and catch the high-speed TGV to Lausanne. Travel from Lausanne via Bern and on to an Intercity train to Interlaken (West), arriving at 19:15. Regular Skibuses connect nearby ski resorts, and the main station is in the centre of town.

Bern-Belp is the closest international airport, but the majority of scheduled and charter services go through Zürich International Airport. Two trains every hour service the resort of Interlaken from there, with two-hour direct trains as well as connections involving one change available. Another option is Geneva-Cointrin Airport, with transfer by train taking over two hours.

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