Thun Trip

I will be taking the boat across River Thun. If I start at 11 will finish be able to finish 1 side within 2 hours. Kindly suggest whether I should visit Bern or areas around Thun / Spiez to spend half day.

<<"I will be taking the boat across River Thun. If I start at 11 will finish be able to finish 1 side within 2 hours. Kindly suggest whether Ishould visit Bern or areas around Thun / Spiez to spend half day.">>

The river that passes through Thun is the Aare River.

Not sure how you plan to fit a half day in if you spend two hours on the Lake of Thun (Thunersee.)

This may help:

www.bls.ch/e/schifffah rt/fahrplan.php

There is a modest map on that page of their web site.

And, this time table for all Swiss rail and boat journeys. -

www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.

If you have not looked at a map yet, this one might have more detail than you need, but you can zoom in and out. And, if zoomed in, it shows public transport stations.

map.classic.search.ch/

I would have no trouble spending half a day in Bern.

www.myswissalps.com/be rn

If you catch the 11.10 boat from Interlaken West, it arrives in Thun at 13.20. You could then spend the afternoon in Thun, visit the castle for example or take a walk in Schadau Park; or you can catch a train to Bern at 13.32 (train station is just opposite boat dock) and spend the afternoon there - there are trains back to Interlaken from Bern. Alternative ideas : you could get off the boat in Oberhofen to visit the castle there, then take bus back to Interlaken from there or take bus to Thun (or walk there along the lakeside) from Oberhofen and look around Thun before taking train back to Interlaken. There is also a nice lakeside walk from Faulensee to Spiez from where you can go to Thun by boat and train back to Interlaken. If you have a travel pass all the trips are covered as is entrance to castles in Oberhofen and Thun. If you decide to go Bern, be sure to visit the fantastic clock and watch the automatons which work on the hour. Bern is a lovely old city, well worth a visit. We are also very fond of Thun but are biased because that's where we stay when in Switzerland so know it well.

Have a lovely time

Maggie

<<"We are also very fond of Thun but are biased because that's where we stay when in Switzerland so know it well.">>

Maggie-

Where do you stay in Thun? I used t use the Weisses Kreuz in Brienz as an "outside the valley " location, but changes in ownership have reduced the appeal.

A place in Thun would be useful.

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke

The apartment we rent is actually the top floor of a private house in Thun. They don't often have vacancies because they tend to rent to regulars like us and don't want to be completely tied to full occupation from what I gather. But I found the apartment from this website and there seem to be quite a few apartments and B and B places in Thun ( I guess I struck lucky when I found the one we use) so it's worth checking the site out for whatever kind of accommodation you like to use. It's www.thunersee.ch/en/ho me.html - go to the site and click accommodation and take it from there. We like Thun because it is only 20 -25 mins from Interlaken by train and same to Bern so it's great for getting around lots of areas. Spiez is also close so trains to Visp, Brig, Zermatt, Zweisimmen, Gstaad, Kandersteg etc. are also convenient. Obviously Bern gives easy access to loads of places. We enjoy going to the less obvious places as we will be making our 15th summer visit shortly and have "done" all the busy tourist attractions before - though we do re-visit favourites too!

Maggie

<<"It's www.thunersee.ch/en/home.htlm - go to the site and click accommodation and take it from there.">>

Thanks. Thun also would work well for me because like the Emmental.

It's also not far from the Three Lakes region.... an hour and 15 minutes to Neuchatel. And, Fribourg is easy to reach as well.

Lovely pictures Slowpoke, thanks for sharing those.

We go to all those places too. If you read some of my various trip reports you will see how widely we travel!

Hope you find somewhere you can stay in Thun. I am sure you will like it.

Maggie

<<"Lovely pictures Slowpoke, thanks">>

You are welcome. Easy to do in Switzerland, if you get good weather.

Thanks for the pointer to your trip reports.