Towns to visit from Interlaken

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Perhaps access a RSGuide book and do more Searches here. Also review threads under Switzerland here. No one knows your interests, budget, pace of travel, athletic shape, age; must see and best is different for each person.

Interlaken is a transit center, not a charming Swiss village, and you'll also have mountain weather as a variable to consider.

Have a great trip.

Thanks so much, to clarify we don't have a budget to adhere to so are quite flexible in that regard. We are good with walking anywhere but no mountain hiking or skiing as my Mother is 78 years old. We are comfortable seeing multiple places in a day. We booked in Interlaken due to it being a transit center to visit a wide variety of places understanding it's not necessarily a tourist destination. We are looking to create a list of places we can go to weather depending of course. Thank you!

Well, if I were to exclude weather considerations, the places I would put on my list to visit from Interlaken for further research are:

Closer to Interlaken:
Grindelwald
Lauterbrunnen Valley
Wengen
Murren
Jungfraujoch
Schilthorn/Piz Gloria

A little further away (but easy by train):
Bern
Lucerne

Further still:
Montreux
Zurich

I think you will like Hotel Interlaken. It is an easy walk from the Interlaken Ost train station and we enjoyed eating at the Taverne restaurant at Hotel Interlaken even though we did not stay there. We liked staying overnight in Interlaken because then we could sleep at a lower altitude and still have easy access to the mountain towns during the day. In addition to the places that others have mentioned you could consider Geissbach Falls on Lake Brienz, also the town of Thun looked picturesque from the train. We mainly had time in Wengen and Lauterbrunnen and would have liked more time in the Berner Oberland. The weather in December may be a factor in what you choose to do as well. We were there in June.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the information!

If you are looking for nice day trips then as a Swiss I'd recommend:

• Train trip to Lucern (Luzern–Interlaken Express). This is a very popular trip, so enquire at the station if you need to book. And try to sit on the right hand side in the direction of travel.

• Thun by boat and bus. You can take the boat from Interlaken to Thun, which is a nice town in itself. But rather than taking the train back opt for the local bus instead. This postbus service if very rarely frequented by tourists, so you'll get a bit of an experience on interacting with the locals!

• You can also Golden Pass and visit Montreux or Gstaad. Or perhaps only go as far as Zweisimmen and switch trains for Lenk instead. All of these routes offer great views and nice mountain towns/villages to explore at destination's end.

Golden Pass route to Montreux is pretty awesome, as noted you don't even have to go all the way

Wonderful ideas, thank you so much everyone!

Will you have Swiss Travel Passes while you are there or some other product like Half Fare Cards or the Berner Oberland Passes?

The problem is this is the first week of December, so before the start of the winter season.
As such for example the Berner Oberland pass will not be available. There are not boats on Lake Brienz, and only one on Lake Thun.
Männlichen and First will be closed. Harder is closed. Schynigge Platte is closed. Schilthorn is closed as well.

The only thing that will be open is the Jungfraujoch. Interlaken will be very quiet, and probably be under low fog most of the days.

But its a great time for visiting cities, and Christmas markets. But for that you would have been better of basing yourself in Bern.