From Thursday, July 17th to Friday, July 25th, I took a 9-day, 7-night trip using Swiss trains to visit four places: St. Gallen, Engelberg, Interlaken, and Bern. I also took a trip using Swiss trains in August 2023 (A Swiss train journey in August 2023. – 旅好き爺の旅行記 ), so this is the second installment.

On this trip, I traveled from Zurich Airport to St. Gallen and took tourist trains such as the Voralpen Express, Lucerne-Engelberg Express, and Lucerne- Interlaken Express to enjoy the magnificent scenery of the World Heritage sites of St. Gallen, the old town of Bern, and the Swiss Alps, including Mount Titlis and the Jungfraujoch.

This time, I will introduce Interlaken, which means “between the lakes” and is located between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. Interlaken was founded together with a monastery in the 12th century, but following the boom in mountain tourism from the 18th to 19th centuries, it has become a mountain resort that serves as the gateway to the Bernese Alps, home to the three famous mountains of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.

July 21st (Mon)
I took the Lucerne-Engelberg Express departing at 10:02 and arrived at Lucerne Station at 10:49, then changed to the Lucerne-Interlaken Express departing at 11:06 on the next platform. There were quite a few passengers on board.

I had a sandwich I bought at a convenience store at Engelberg station with a glass of Swiss red wine. All Swiss wines are delicious.

The train runs along the shores of Lake Salnar.

The sky was clearing up around Lake Lungerner.

After this, the trail passes through pastures and wheat fields for a while.

The train nears Interlaken, gliding along the picturesque shores of Lake Brienz.

The train arrived at Interlaken Ost station at 12:54, and I boarded the hotel shuttle to my accommodation for the night, Hotel Metropole Interlaken, the only high-rise hotel in the area.

My room was on the 13th floor, so I had a fantastic view from the balcony of the Jungfrau mountains and many hang gliders landing in the square.

After taking a break, I headed to the Harder Kulm Observatory. It was about a 10-minute walk to the cable car station to the observation deck. There was a horse-drawn carriage parked in front of the square.

Once you cross the Aare River, you will reach the cable car’s base station.

It’s about a 10-minute uphill walk from the summit station to the observation deck, but there are some cute Swiss-style objects along the way.

Arriving at Harderkulm Observatory

The peak of the Jungfrau appears from between the clouds.

From the observation deck you can clearly see that Lake Brienz and Lake Thun are connected by the Aare River.

I got back to the hotel with a stunning city view and enjoyed dinner at the top-floor restaurant. The photo captures the leftover wine from dinner, which I later finished in my room.

July 22nd (Tue)
After breakfast today, I’m heading to Jungfraujoch. My train leaves Interlaken Ost Station at 9:34. The Jungfrau region is recognized as a World Heritage Site.

The train was an Abt system railway, as is typical of mountain railways.

I was supposed to get off at Grindelward Terminal, but I mistakenly thought it was the last stop and missed the Terminal station. I ended up walking back one stop, but thanks to that, I was able to take my time and enjoy the view of the north face of the Eiger (3,970m), which cannot be seen from Jungfraujoch.

Grindelward Terminal is connected to the Eiger Express cable car station by a walkway.

After getting off the cable car, I headed to Jungfraujoch on the Jungfrau Railway from Eigergletscher Station, which means Eiger Glacier in German. This railway was built between 1898 and 1912, and its terminus, Jungfraujoch Station, is at an altitude of 3,454m, making it the highest station in Europe. I could see the Jungfrau overhead.

The entire journey to Jungfraujoch station goes through tunnels. The train was crowded with many Chinese and Indian tourist groups.

Because of the risk of snowfall, I couldn’t go outside the building at the station, so I followed the signs and walked through the tunnel until I reached the snow park. I could see the Aletsch Glacier in the distance.

Those going further in are heading to the Mönchsjochhütte mountain hut. The rope you see above is a zip line.

I went back through the tunnel and headed to the Sphinx Observation Deck. There was an elevator up to the observation deck, but there was a long queue. From here I had a better view of the Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps.

You can see the summit of Mönch (4,107m).

On the other side, I could see the summit of Jungfrau (4,158m), the highest of the three Jungfrau mountains.

On this high mountain, a small black bird, a yellow-billed crow, swooped down, probably to get food from tourists.

There are other attractions inside the tunnel, such as a video facility and an ice palace, but I skipped them due to time constraints.

The view was amazing, but unfortunately it was crowded with tourists and I couldn’t enjoy it in peace. I had some beer and snacks for lunch at Jungfraujoch station and then returned to the hotel.

I was tired from walking, so for dinner I had food and wine purchased from the COOP in front of the station, and it was very satisfying.

Interlaken was more crowded than Engelberg, but the scenery was beautiful. If I had time, it might have been nice to take a sightseeing boat tour around the two lakes.

Tomorrow I head to my final destination, Bern.