Journey from Geneva to Interlaken (Interlaken Ost and West, Thun and Brienz) by GoldenPass, plus a lake cruise

Today I want to describe a trip that can be done in a single day, although you will have to get up early. The GoldenPassLine train leaves from Montreux. On this website you can find all schedules for such express routes; you need this schedule in PDF format.

Montreux - Luzern.

So, as you can see, the train leaves Montreux at 7:44, 8:44, 9:44 and 11:44. It is better to take the first or second train. On the way you will need to make two transfers to other trains, in Zweisimmen and Spiez. These trains are free for SwissPass holders as long as you sit in an unreserved seat. The whole route runs through the mountains, with beautiful views if you are lucky with the weather.

After you arrive at Interlaken Ost, do not confuse it with Interlaken West, you should transfer to a local train that will take you to the town of Brienz. There you can board a ship that will bring you back to Interlaken Ost with plenty of impressions. I wrote about how to plan such trips in my first article. Using the SBB website or mobile app, you can plan your route precisely not only by train, but also by boat, bus and cable car. This ship does not run often, so you need to build your whole trip around its schedule. The cruise on Lake Brienz is free for SwissPass holders.

Once you are back in Interlaken Ost, you can visit the Beatus caves on the shore of the next lake, Lake Thun. A bus goes there from the Interlaken Ost bus station, Bahnhof. You need the stop called Beatushohlen. If you like caves, you should enjoy it there: they guide you around roughly one kilometer deep into the cave. One important thing to keep in mind is that tours are offered in different languages and start at fixed times. We were lucky: there were not many visitors, and they agreed to let us join a French-speaking group. During the excursion they explained things first in French and then immediately in English. Photography inside the caves is forbidden because it can disturb the bats. The ticket costs about 16 Swiss francs, around 17 dollars, and SwissPass does not apply there.

After the caves you can take the same bus in the same direction and get off at the Beatenbucht stop. From there a lift goes up to Mount Niederhorn. With SwissPass you can go up at half price. The ascent has two stages: first you go up in a mountain car, and then on a chairlift.

From Mount Niederhorn you get a view of Lake Thun and a dramatic mountain ridge.

There is another place near Interlaken that you can visit: Reichenbach Falls, where according to Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes fought Professor Moriarty. The waterfall is not far from the town of Meiringen, but if you try to include all the places listed above, you are unlikely to fit it into one day.

You can get to the waterfall like this:

• Take a train to Meiringen.
• Then walk to Willigen (Reichenbachfallbahn), about 10 minutes.
• Then take the mountain funicular to the waterfall.

Keep in mind that the funicular has a lunch break, if I remember correctly from 12 to 13, and all this can be checked on the SBB website.

There is also another way to reach the waterfall: rent a mountain scooter.