Hike from Habkern near Interlaken to Lake Thun

Wednesday April 19, 2023 -- We were on our way to Thun in the Bernese Oberland to do a 14-km walk along the lakeshore to Spiez, a quaint village which I had not yet seen (except when changing trains there). We were so disappointed when we got there at about 10:30 to thick low clouds and no sign of any sunshine any time soon, that we stayed on the train to Interlaken, where the webcams showed us sunshine. 

From Interlaken we took a bus into a side valley to the highest village there called Habkern, and walked out of the valley. As we hadn't planned for this ahead of time, we started as late as 11:30, and the hike was less than three hours of walking. But we were happy with the choice, because even though there were clouds in the valley, we had some nice views of Interlaken, of the restaurant at Harder Kulm look-out point (very popular with the Asian tourists) across the valley, and especially some nice glimpses of Mts. Mönch and Jungfrau, the popular mountains of the Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen Valleys. (The Eiger was mostly hidden under cloud cover).

The first part of the hike was along narrow paved roads, but hardly an issue because of all the attractive Bernese houses and farms we could admire. An interesting 45-minute walk through the forest was followed by fabulous views from up high, and then a long descent to lake level along a path which consisted of mostly steps along the mountainside.

After deciding to continue with the train along Lake Thun to Interlaken (see bottom of blog for webcams which influenced the decision), we got a first glimpse into the valley where we were now headed toward Habkern. Although, now, 20 minutes later, there are already more clouds there as well. 

On the bus ride up the valley toward Habkern (from Interlaken), a particularly nice chalet along the way.

11:30 in Habkern, looking south out of the valley, we are happy that we can at least see something of the Alps from here. We spent about 30 minutes here looking at all the lovely wooden houses

A typical Bernese "Spycher" (storage on bottom, living quarters above)

An inscription below the roof overhang on this beautiful house indicates it was built in 1776

Details of all the beautiful wooden houses in the village of Habkern

Sign of the Hotel Bären!

And always the cats!

The village church in Habkern was built in 1666 and has undergone many renovations.

Details on the village church

A nice photo past some of the lovely houses toward the church steeple to the barns on the hillside beyond. 

Another beautiful wooden house

A look behind us as we head out of Habkern. The snow-covered mountain is called Augstmatthorn. There is a trail across the entire ridge to the Harder Kulm Hotel and funicular (on the mountain parallel to where we walked out of the valley).

The walk from Habkern out of the valley to the lake was just under three hours, parallel to the Harder Ridge

There was a 45-minute section through the forest, and we found this old barn where we stopped for our picnic lunch

A nice 45-minute stretch through the forest

A nice 45-minute stretch through the forest

Through a clearing in the forest we could see the road leading into the valley below, and up high the restaurant at Harder Kulm, the summit station of the Harder Funicular from Interlaken

Zoomed view of Harder Kulm and Mount Mönch looming in the background

It looks like the restaurant at Harder Kulm is being renovated. The viewing platform is popular with Asian tourists

This is the webcam shot from Harder viewing platform looking down at the city of Interlaken, right about the same time we were looking this way from our hike!

A look back into the valley again, with Mt. Augstmatthorn on the right.

Now a really good look down at the city of Interlaken (Interlaken West) with the two of the prominent mountains: Mönch and Jungfrau (Mt. Eiger was mostly hidden in the clouds)

On the outskirts of Waldegg before heading down the mountain. 

A house within a house!

Mt Niederhorn nearby is a popular place for paragliding and there were many paragliders out this day. The backdrop here is Mt. Jungfrau, spectacular

Also Delta gliders. You don't see so many of these any more. 

Such a good shot of the red kite, too bad I didn't get him totally in the shot!

Toward the west, we can only see a small part of the peak of Mt. Niesen on the other side of Lake Thun, near Spiez

Curious cows! These little grey cows had shorter legs than we are used to, and they are probably from the endangered breed called "Rätisches Grauvieh", actually a breed from Canton Graubünden in Eastern Switzerland. 

At the back along the flanks of Mt. Niederhorn to the west are the chalets of Beatenberg

Down below on Lake Thun is the 14:43 ship to Thun, which we were hoping to get a ride on, but there was no way we were going to make it on time!

Almost the whole way down the mountain was a trail with "steps"

Down on the road, waiting fo the bus back to Interlaken

This day we did the light blue path from Habkern to Suldlauenen. Other times we have walked the northern lakeshores of both Lake Brienz and Lake Thun, and did a winter hike down from Mt. Niederhorn. And once we walked the ridge from Mt. Augstmatthorn to Harder Kulm. 

On the way back to Interlaken on the bus, we finally see the famous north face of Mt. Eiger, as it emerges from the clouds. 

A final view of Mt. Jungfrau in the direction of the Lauterbrunnen Valley

The train back to Thun runs on the south side of the lake. This is the little church in Leissigen

This would be the community of Faulensee

And I always try to get this photo when we arrive into the train station in Bern. This time you can't see the mountains at the back. 

Here is what the weather was like when we got to Thun at 10:30, the original planned start of our hike:

The weather in Thun at 10:30 when our train got here. We decided to continue on to Interlaken.

And this is what the webcam for Habkern showed at the same time, at 10:30. That's why we decided to stay on the train to Interlaken. But with the extra travel time, we started on our excursion an hour later than originally planned. 

Webcam Habkern and Mt. Augstmatthorn at 10:30. By the time we got here, there were more clouds, but we still had plenty of sunshine. 

Location of Habkern near Interlaken