AUGUST 2023
In this blog I will share my experiences visiting Thun, Brienz and Iseltwald, three beautiful spots lining blue lakes. You can’t really go wrong in this area, but I did like the one better than the other. One of these spots made me think of Hallstatt, so if you are looking for a good Hallstatt alternative, you might find it in Switzerland.
Practical information
Thun and Brienz are located pretty close to each other, you can easily visit both. Boatrides on Lake Thun and Brienz are included in the Jungfrau travel pass, we didn’t realize that trains to Thun are not included, while trains to Brienz are. You can take a boat to Thun from Interlaken, if you have the Jungfrau travel pass this ride is free. We visited all destinations in one day, but if you have time you can easily do two daytrips/stay overnight in this area.
Brienz
Brienz is the less famous one, but it turned out to be my favorite spot out of the three destinations that we visited surrounding the lakes. I discovered that in Brienz you can find the Brunngasse, which was named one of Europe’s prettiest streets. When I saw pictures of the wooden houses, cobblestone streets, fountains and flower baskets I knew I had to visit Brienz. We visited Brienz at around 10-11AM and there still was nobody visiting this beautiful street, so we really got to enjoy it. Brienz in general seemed very quiet in June, it’s like nobody leaves the docking area of the boats. If you walk to the docking area from the Brunngasse, you can do so by a beautiful promenade which gives you stunning views over Lake Brienz. Lake Brienz is bluer than Lake Thun and we were very impressed with the views and the flower decorations of the promenade. About halfway we found a super fun water playground, where we actually stayed for almost an hour as Hugo had so much fun pumping and spraying water. Brienz reminded me of Hallstatt with the cute houses lining the lake, with the mountains in the background. Hallstatt however is overrun with tourists and Brienz is still a hidden gem.
Iseltwald
Iseltwald is the new hotspot in town and is described by the blogs as the ultimate fairytale town in Switzerland. One of the advantages of visiting Brienz is that you can easily take the ferry there (included in the Jungfrau travel pass, or you can buy a public transport ticket). You can also visit by bus, neither the bus or ferry run very frequently, so check the time tables while planning your day. I was a bit hesitant to visit a fairytale town as I was afraid it would be overrun with tourists, but luckily in June this is not the case. We arrived with a very crowded ferry but everyone quickly scattered through the town, so we had no issues with crowds at all. If you take the ferry from Brienz to Iseltwald it also stops at the Giesbachfälle, I took a quick picture of these waterfalls from the boat.
Iseltwald and especially the views of the castle from the lake was truly beautiful, however I didn’t love it more than Brienz. I found Brienz a little bit more lively and it seemed to have more to offer. Iseltwald definitely is a good spot to visit, but I didn’t really get the hype. We mainly used our time for Hielke to swim at Strandbad Iseltwald. The Strandbad itself is not super picturesque, but it is a good spot for an affordable drink/icecream and you can use the changing facilities for free.
Thun
While we were in the area anyway, we decided to end our day visiting Thun. Unfortunately we had some rain showers, so we couldn’t fully explore, but we still got a good taste of Thun. To me Thun was the quintessential Swiss city, with typical Swiss architecture and layout, it really reminded me of Lucerne and Basel. One of the most interesting sights in Thun is the wooden footway bridges that cross the river. We even found people surfing in the river near these bridges! The old town itself is lovely and colorful too. Very lively, lots of restaurants, little river promenade with terraces, very good summer vibes! We also hiked up to Castle Thun, but you couldn’t get real good views of the castle itself, as there is no really good viewpoint. That was a bit of a disappointment, so wouldn’t recommend hiking up.
Thun features another lovely castle too: Castle Oberhofen, which is only a short busride away from the city center. Castle Oberhofen is located directly at the lake, so if you want to see Lake Thun this is a good spot. We made a pitstop while we were on our way home (absolutely loved the drive from Lauterbrunnen to Castle Oberhofen, the roads are surrounded by rocks and it felt very Bond-esque). Unfortunately the castle closes pretty early during the day, so we couldn’t visit the castle itself. We did manage to sneak into the garden and got a little peak of the castle. The castle and castle gardens seem absolutely lovely, so if you make time to visit one castle, visit this one and not Castle Thun.
