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Interlaken literally means 'between the lakes'; it sits between two stunningly beautiful lakes, Thun and Brienz and it is surrounded by mountains and ski resorts like Grindelwald and Murren. Accommodation mainly tends to be quite basic.

Wednesday was really dull so we had to abandon our idea of going up to Jungfrau the “Top of Europe” and in any case, we had been up to Matterhorn the day before, so how do you follow that? Instead we took the much shorter train ride to Grindelwald, where we could either walk around for a while or go further up. Grindelwald is a pretty one-street town with a few cable cars. Ski equipment seems to be cheaper there than anywhere else but this could change in the ski season.

By the time we returned from Grindelwald the sun came out, hooray, so we decided to get a boat across one of the lakes. Brienz is the smaller lake and Thun was closer to our hotel, both have a convenient and very efficient connecting service with the trains at Thun, Spiez and Brienz, so either way it is a really leisurely and picturesque ferry/pleasure boat to the end of the lake and a train back. You could spend a whole day getting off at points in between and spending an hour in each one. Lake Thun is difficult to find so while looking for it we stumbled across an old part of Interlaken we hadn’t seen before.

Eventually we found the service from Lake Thun, actually right by the station, what confused us is that Lake Thun is approached by a canal and the lake starts further down. We were lucky to get one of the paddle steamers as they only operate twice a day. There is a decent restaurant on the paddle steamer as well

Oberhofen is a lovely lakeside town with a couple of really distinctive fairytale buildings on the lake. The whole area between Spiez and Thun seems to be very affluent. We got off at Thun and spent some time there.

Thun is a young town where students openly smoke cannabis. There is a weir and cobbled streets on two tiers, shops on the upper level, then there is the newer part round the station. There are regular trains back. It takes two hours across the lake zig-zagging little towns and villages and less than half an hour to get back.

Thursday morning the sun was shining so we decided to do the other lake, Lake Brienz. Lake Brienz is smaller so it took an hour to get across to Brienz, once again zig-zagging the lake. Just before Brienz is the Geissbach waterfall. If we had more time, there were people walking over the bridge across the massive, powerful waterfall. There is also a hotel at the top.

Last time we were in Interlaken we went to the top of Harder Kulm by funicular which has a pleasant cafe at the top as well as a wonderful view.

Another trip I would definitely recommend is Schilthorn where James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed. We did this last time and had lunch in the revolving restaurant which is reasonably priced and the view of the snow topped mountains, even in August with just a few birds and paragliders, is absolutely fantastic

For the children there is the Mystery Park which is a short bus ride away.

Brienz is a beautiful lakeside town with a lovely walk along the promenade and mountains across the lake. Once again we got the train back to Interlaken.

There is plenty to see and do in the Interlaken area and even a week wouldn't be too long. Buy a local train pass and that entitles you to all the public transport and discounts on the funicular and mountian railways, cable cars, ferries and steamers. There aren't that many decent hotels and restaurants and vegetarian food is quite difficult to find but that is a small price to pay to stay in such a beautiful place.