[Removed user]

26 September 2019 at 19:04:51 #823991

Planning a stopover in Interlaken on the way from Montreux to Lucerne in December. Would love to take a boat trip on Lake Thun (free with Swiss Travel Pass). How can I go about seeing the castles Thun, Schadau, Hunegg, Oberhofen and Spiez? Are they open in winter? What about St Beatus Caves? Can I do this over the course of a half day? Thank you for your help.

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[Removed user]

26 September 2019 at 20:40:11 #922705

I looked a little deeper. I see the boat trip from Interlocken to Thun is 2 hours. Only Castle Thun and Schadau are open. Debating taking the boat to Thun, viewing Thun Castle and having afternoon tea at Schadau. Does the boat drop off at Thun Bahnhof? And then I can walk to Thun castle? And then I can take a bus from Thun Castle to Schadau Castle? And then a bus back to the train station? Is it really worth all that!!??!?! Or is it better to just take a nice relaxing cruise, take pics of the castles from the boat and then take the train or bus back? Or is it better to take the Brienze cruise?

[Snowman]

26 September 2019 at 21:31:28 #922706

< Does the boat drop off at Thun Bahnhof? >

Yes.

< And then I can walk to Thun castle? >

Yes. You can walk to Schadau, then to Thun Castle, or the opposite. Thun is a small city. You can drop off your luggage at the train station if necessary. No need to take a bus, really, even if there are city busses.

Only Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen are “real” castles, dating back from around the 13th century. Schadau and Hünegg are castle-like 19th century buildings, which does not imply they are not nice, they just don’t have that much of a history. Schadau is a luxury hotel and restaurant.

Whether this or that is better is really up to you.

[Removed user]

27 September 2019 at 0:46:10 #922707

Ohmigosh I completely forgot about luggage!!! I will have the same problem in Zermatt. Is there a location to store luggage at all the train stations? I just wanted a backup bus in case it’s too cold to walk! 🙂

[Anna]

27 September 2019 at 6:45:09 #922708

Hi Keaksilver,

Taking the boat is a great way to enjoy the scenic sights in Lake Thun. In winter however, the boat services run on a reduced timetable. Please check the timetable before you start your trip.

http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakethun
http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

Since you have a Swiss Travel Pass, you also have unlimited travel access to train and buses and you can combine this with the boat trip from Interlaken.

myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/validity

There is a bus service (No 21) that takes you around the lake and it stops at most of the major tourist highlights you mentioned. This could be an option for you.

As what Snowman had mentioned in his post, Thun is pretty small and it’s an easy walk from the train station or landing dock to the Thun Castle and Schadau Castle.

For your information, the Thun Castle is open only on Sunday between November and January. The Oberhofen Castle museum is closed in winter but the park is open to the public until 22 Dec from 9- 5 pm. Unfortunately St. Beatus’ Caves is closed in December. The Hunegg Castle is also non-operational in wintertime.

Please check out this link if you would like to know more about the activities you can do in and around Thun http://www.myswissalps.com/th un/activities

And to answer your question about luggages, most rail stations have lockers you can rent. They are blue in colour and come in 3 different sizes. The charges for a day’s use are between CHF4-6 for a small locker (handbags, backpacks), CHF5-7 for a medium (cabin bags, large backpacks), and CHF7-9 for a large (big suitcases). You can find out more about the luggage services available at this link : http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/practical/luggage

Hope this helps! Enjoy your trip.

Anna