Interlaken is a very small city in Switzerland, which in our opinion, a visit to said city is the base for other excursions such as trekking in the mountains, snow sports, extreme sports such as paragliding or visiting small towns at altitude.
We really loved it, since like the entire country it is also a very picturesque city even for being surrounded by mountains and also having a beautiful lake.
What didn’t help us was the weather because even though it snowed and the experience was great, the ideal is to have clear skies to enjoy both the activities and the landscapes.
You can get to this city very easily, taking the train to the station. Interlaken Ost or Interlaken West depending on which part they are going to.
Taking the Jungfrau – Top of Europe by train from Interlaken
The Jungfrau region is the highest region in the world that can be accessed by train, making it easy to visit. Getting to the top, almost 3,500 meters high, can take approximately 2 hours and its cost is quite high.
Faced with this, a good tip is to get up early since you will not only avoid the massive arrival of tourists but also the first tickets have an important discount. The difference of price It is 200 versus 150 dollars per person, I told you it was expensive!!
What trains should you take?
We leave from the Interlaken Ost station towards Lauterbrunnenyou also have the option of doing it on the other side from Grinwald. In both towns we recommend going down to meet them, whether on your return or another day when they are in the area. On the way out it is preferable to go directly to Jungfrau.
From there the next station will be Wegen about 15 minutes from Lauterbrunnen where you have to change trains again.
The next stop and last stop is Kleine Scheidegg Here we will change trains again for the red one in the photo that will take us to Jungfrau station.
Throughout all the seasons, many people who only go with the aim of skiing down the mountain begin to get off.
You will see how they are loaded and dressed with their equipment ready to carry out the activity. Even children who have been practicing the sport since they were very young and you see them manage themselves as if they were born skiing. We will begin to travel between walls of snow passing centimeters away from them, it is truly incredible.
This last part of the journey takes us about an hour since it has 2 stops where you can take some photos of this incredible place that almost reaches 3000 meters high.
Arriving at the Jungfrau
Regarding the ascent it is very slow so do not worry that the height may affect you. Obviously when you are in Jungfrau, if the altitude affects you, you may feel a little dizzy and have a headache, but it is something that disappears over time.
Upon entering there is a visual tour with information about the creation of this railway with some interactive activities and images.
The station is a huge complex carved into a rock, with all the services so that your stay for as long as you want is perfect.
There is no maximum time to stay, you decide which train you want to take, which has an approximate frequency of 30 minutes.
Inside the place there are bathrooms, restaurants, shops and some ice caves with some sculptures such as penguins, bears and even the ice age squirrel. It goes without saying that it is quite cold but we are sheltered from the outside wind. Also keep in mind that the floor can be a little slippery. We walk towards the highest point and we find the mural that leaves proof that we arrived.
The highlight is the terrace, called Sphinx from where you have spectacular views. This was not our case because there was a lot of fog and it was snowing heavily. But we enjoyed the experience anyway.
However, we recommend that you always check the weather before going up because paying so much to see nothing is not very rewarding.
Paragliding in Interlaken
One of the most incredible experiences we did since we’ve been traveling together was paragliding in Interlaken.
We chose the Paragliding company and we can recommend it because they behaved like a 10 and gave us a lot of security and good vibes.
The first time due to bad weather we had suspended it so we had to return to do it.
After signing all the paperwork, we got into the van and set off towards one of the high points of Interlaken. Always checking the issue of the wind because based on that, they decide which side they are going to go on. We were about 6 people each with an assigned instructor.
Sol demanded that it be in Spanish, as you know he can’t handle one in English… And he was lucky, one of them had been in a relationship with a Chilean woman, so he managed the language quite well.
After an instructive talk and putting together the equipment, off we went!
A run of a few meters and jump into the void. The good thing is that here you don’t have free fall, you already fly away. I’m not going to tell you that it doesn’t generate a little fear because having your feet dangling, looking down and knowing that you depend on a parachute is not normal at all. But the feeling is really incredible.
To make matters worse, once we jumped in it started snowing so it was doubly special. The flight lasted about 20 minutes with some pirouettes involved as we descended.