Day 12 – From Beatenberg to Interlaken

Beatenberg is actually a series of small hamlets strung along a south-facing plateau or steppe high above Lake Thun. Just six miles from Interlaken, Beatenberg is somewhat off the beaten path in terms of day-tripper tourist traffic and is more popular as an area for vacation homes. No matter where you look you see an amazing panorama of snow-capped Alpine peaks with the surreal blue of Lake Thun in the foreground. We would have nice views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau today but would get a much closer look from Murren on Day 14.

Beatenberg’s classic coat of arms is based on the legend of local saint and namesake Saint Beatus. According to that legend, Beatus was a Irish missionary who came to the area around 100 AD to convert the heathen Helvetii. As you might have guessed from the coat of arms, Beatus went above and beyond the call of duty by vanquishing a dragon from a cave above Sundlauenen. The kilometer-long limestone cave where he defeated the dragon and subsequently made his home is now a popular spot with tourists, partially due to the history but also for the beauty of the subterranean lakes and waterfalls.

Beatenberg’s economy was based on agriculture and mining up through the mid-1800’s when several hotels and spas were opened to take advantage of the scenery. Beatenberg became a luxury destination and was very popular up until World War I changed the European landscape in so many ways. Tourism in this area didn’t really recover until 1959 when the locals began a concerted effort to market the area as a place for vacation homes and weekend getaways. This effort generated long-term results given that about 70% of the local residents currently work in the tourism industry.

Beatenberg’s primary mountain peak, the Neiderhorn, offers an impressive lake view and is popular with tourists even if it is lower than many of the surrounding peaks at just 6,440 feet. The base station for gondola access to the Neiderhorn is located near the far end of the Haupstrasse, the main road that runs along the plateau. This same station links Beatenberg to Beatenbucht on the shores of Lake Thun by a funicular or inclined railway. Note that the SBB does not offer train service to Beatenberg, so access is only by car, bus, or funicular. Apparently you could also access the area by paraglider if you wanted to given the number of them we saw during today’s walk!

Speaking of our walk, we started out from the gondola station for the Neiderhorn about 9:45 AM. It took us just about an hour to get there from Brienz via train and Postal Bus. The wanderweg was clearly marked and took us back along the Haupstrasse to an area called Waldegg where the paved portion of our walk promptly ended in a farmer’s field. We could not see any obvious blazes or trail markings and had a hard time finding the correct route in the grass.

The first time we crossed the farm just didn’t feel right to either of us, so when we reached the woods on the far side and still didn’t see any blazes we back-tracked and started over. This time we followed a slightly lower route and managed to find the intended trail, complete with trail signage on the other side. In all of the miles we walked this trip this was one of the few sections that wasn’t very well marked. Oddly enough when I checked out our day’s journey via Google maps later that day the non-existent trail is actually indicated as a road in the satellite view – I guess that Google knows best!

The trail descended rather steeply through the forest and some smaller pastures. At one point we had to navigate through an area where the recent rains had triggered a fairly large landslide. Tall trees and big rocks were piled across where the path was supposed to be so we had to get a bit creative (and a bit muddy!). Not long after that we reached the valley floor and followed the trail into a residential section of Untersee. The trail then took us beside the Aare River and into Interlaken proper near the Interlaken Ost bahnhof, making our day’s hike about 10 miles from start to finish.

We made a quick stop in the Coop across from Interlaken Ost for a bottle of local fendant wine and then enjoyed our picnic lunch (along with some of the wine, of course!) on a bench overlooking the Aare River while waiting to board the lake steamer Brienz for a 1407 departure. It was a beautiful, mostly sunny afternoon and the lake was calm so we finished the day how yesterday had started, watching the Swiss flag waving over the waters of Lake Brienz.

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