Backpacking through Europe with Eurail – Interlaken
Our 2-night stopover en-route to Paris didn’t really end up breaking up the journey that much, as we found out all the reserved seats on the TGV had been booked up for Eurail pass holders. So in the end we still had an 8.5-hour journey to make it to Paris from Interlaken once we got there.
However there could have be worse places to stop. This is the second time we have stopped off in Switzerland since we began traveling in June and this is the second time I have regretted not booking longer in this beautiful country. Saying that, I’m sure our bank account is happy that we weren’t there for longer. The train journey was brilliant up through the top of Italy and into Switzerland. We arrived into Interlaken at 3pm on the first day. Our hostel was about 2kms from the station, it was a nice walk after the 5-hour train ride.
Hirschen our hostel was in one of those typical wooden chalet-style cabins. Our twin private room was actually 4 bunks however it was warm and cozy so we didn’t mind. The next 36-hours we spent in Interlaken weren’t overly eventful as we were just happy to take in the beauty of the place.
The first evening we strolled down to the center of town. We were keen to head to Jungfrau the next day ‘the top of Europe’ however after finding out it would be 137CHF each AFTER our Eurail discount we decided to skip it this time. Interlaken is gorgeous; you have the snow-capped Alps in the distance and the emerald green rivers passing through the town. However I have to say I was highly surprised at the large amount of Asian tourists as well as those who reside there. Perhaps it’s something to do with the casino or all the Swiss watch shops, not to mention Interlaken being the home to one of the 3 Hooters restaurants in Switzerland. After we had declared it way to cold to be out, we headed back to the hostel for some much needed noodle soup for dinner followed by some Swiss choccie. Naturally.
The next day followed pretty much the same suit. We had an awesome breakfast of fresh breads, croissants, cheeses, meats, eggs, fruits, cereals etc. The breakfast pretty much spoiled our appetites for a fondue we had planned to have that day as we weren’t hungry till 5pm and we didn’t want to waste the dinner food we had bought from the market earlier. I guess that may be a good thing as I’m intent on losing all that pizza weight I gained in Italy. We had a good stroll through the local markets, along the river and around our area during the day. Our dinner was salad with sausages and bread. We still had our delish oil from Montefioralle, which was just gorgeous on the fresh Swiss bread with a crack of salt.
That evening we decided to head 1-minute up the road to the next hostel (Bulmer’s) for a couple of drinks to use up the last of our Swiss francs. Luckily it was only 1 minute as apparently it’s the hottest nightspot on town and you need ID. The door is guarded by 3 huge bouncers, which made us think that this place may get a little crazy, or something. The night was good, happy hour meant 2 for 1 drinks so lets just say it was a bit of a late night and we were both paying for it the next morning.
We were up bright and early, despite wanting to be. We quickly grabbed some breakie before heading to the train station to catch our 8:30am train. We used up the rest of our Swiss francs on toblerone’s and much needed Evian waters to help us make it through the 8.5hour journey involving 3 different trains enroute to Paris.
