Thunersee

The Thunersee between Thun and Interlaken is lined with several castles, including Oberhofen Castle right on the shore. Above the lake rises the Niesen, the striking pyramid with the longest staircase in the world. On the north shore the St. Beatus Caves lead into the mountain.

Highlights

• Oberhofen Castle on the lakeshore
• Niesen, the Swiss Pyramid
• St. Beatus-Höhlen
• Boat service before a mountain backdrop

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

At the gateway to the Bernese Oberland lies Lake Thun, a turquoise-shimmering body of water that, like its neighbour Lake Brienz, formed at the end of the last Ice Age through the melting of mighty glaciers. Once both lakes probably formed a single basin, before the deposits of the Lütschine separated them. Above the southern shore rise the famous Bernese giants, and on the horizon the striking pyramid of the Niesen greets the eye, lending the lake its unmistakable backdrop.

Already in the Middle Ages the powerful town of Thun, with its high-towering castle, commanded access to the Oberland and controlled the trade routes into the mountains. Its position at the transition between the Mittelland and the high Alps made the region an early hub. In the 19th century, when Romanticism discovered the Alps, Lake Thun became a popular destination of painters and poets, who found inspiration in the interplay of water, light and mountains. On the northern shore, above St Beatus, towers the famous Beatus Cave, to which the legend of Saint Beatus attaches, who according to the tale is said to have driven out a dragon here. To this day the lake combines gentle shoreline landscapes and old legends with the dramatic ascent to Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, whose world-famous summits rise just a short journey farther into the Bernese Oberland.