After our stay in Offenbach, we headed to Switzerland using Germany’s ICE service. We of course experienced the customary breakdown, or what they like to call a Technische Störung, a German euphemism for someone committing suicide on the tracks, or just the Deutsche Bahn not being able to run a railroad. We have actually not ridden an ICE that did not have an issue, and from the comments we heard from the other Germans, they haven’t either.
We arrived in Basel SBB too late for our connecting train, so after waiting a further half an hour, we finally made it to our destination, Interlaken, our stepstool to the Alps. Interlaken is a small city, sitting between two rather large lakes, the Thunersee and the Brienzersee.
We stayed at the Hotel Interlaken, a four star hotel half way between the train station and the center of town, and handsomely situation across from the main park. Though it worked out well because of the rain, you should not worry about the location of any hotels in Interlaken, the city is not large enough to be too far away from either the Interlaken-West or Interlaken-Ost train stations.
Interlaken – The City
The actual city is what I would call confused. It appears, it does not know its identity, or what it wants to be. It appears to be conflicted between being a tourist town, a normal town for residence, or just a waypoint on someone’s map (train stop).
It has both expensive hotels, restaurants and casinos, and then less fortunate areas within a block of one another. Several areas look destitute, some historic (like around the tourist museum), others more disconsulate – where stores have actually closed.
Unfortunately, while we were there, all it did was rain for two days. But, I would rather have it rain in Interlaken, than in Grindelwald, which was our ultimate destination on this trip. To be fair, we were using it as a rest stop anyway, so no fuss, no foul. In any case, we got one day, the day we left, to get some amazing photographs of the mountains without clouds surrounding them.
As for recommending any restaurants in the area, we cannot. There are a lot of closed restaurants, an affect of the virus. The ones that are still open are fine, overpriced, like all food in Switzerland, but none remarkable. Hopefully others that travel behind us may have better luck when the city recovers a bit more. Now, on to Grindelwald, the Eiger and the Jungfrau, Tschüß!
We’ve always stayed in beautiful Interlaken as a jump off point to travel through the Bernese Oberland. It pains me to read about closed shops and restaurants due to the virus. We have so many wonderful memories from this area! We always stayed at the charming Hotel Du Lac opposite the train station.