Lake Thun and Lake Brienz cruises: Thun, Spiez, Iseltwald and Giessbach

Two lakes, one base, very different water

Lake Thun and Lake Brienz sit either side of Interlaken like a pair of bookends, and from Lucerne they are close enough — about 1 hour 50 minutes by train — to visit as a long day trip. They are not the same lake with two names. Lake Thun is the larger, milder, greener of the two, ringed by vineyards, castles and the bulk of the Niesen and Stockhorn behind it. Lake Brienz is smaller, colder (glacial meltwater keeps it a genuine turquoise even in August), and centred on two things: the village of Iseltwald and the Giessbach waterfall on the far shore.

Both lakes are worked by BLS Schifffahrt, the same company that runs the boats, and their piers at Interlaken sit a 15-minute walk apart — Interlaken West for Lake Thun, Interlaken Ost for Lake Brienz, with Interlaken Ost also serving as the region’s main rail junction. That geography is the reason most visitors pick one lake for the day rather than trying to do both; a full circuit of one lake, plus a funicular, is already a full day, and stitching in the second lake usually just means rushed connections and a missed departure.

This guide covers the villages worth stopping at on each lake, realistic timings, prices, and how to combine a cruise with a mountain funicular so the day has a proper high point rather than just water.

Lake Thun: Thun, Spiez, Oberhofen and Hilterfingen

Boats on Lake Thun run between Thun, at the lake’s northern end, and Interlaken West at the southern end, calling at a string of small piers along both shores. The full run takes around 2 hours 15 minutes; most people ride a shorter leg.

Thun itself has a hilltop castle (Schloss Thun) with a small museum and views over the old town’s covered arcades, plus a river — the Aare flows straight through the middle, and in summer people float down it on inflatable mattresses, the same habit as in Bern. It is worth an hour before or after the boat, not a full day.

Spiez is the best single stop on the lake. Spiez Castle sits directly on a small peninsula with its own vineyard running down to the water, and the walk from the pier up through the castle grounds takes fifteen minutes. There is a decent beach and lido below the castle for a swim between boats. Trains from Spiez also connect onward to the Lötschberg and the Bernese Oberland, which makes it a useful interchange as well as a stop.

Oberhofen has a lakeside castle of its own, smaller and more fairy-tale than Spiez’s — turrets, a private harbour, gardens open to the public without a ticket to the castle interior. Hilterfingen, just before it, is quieter still, mostly a residential shoreline with a good view back across the lake to the Stockhorn range.

Boats also stop at Beatenbucht, the base station for the St. Beatus Caves (Beatushöhlen) — a 25-minute walk of illuminated limestone caves and a waterfall at the entrance — and for the cable car up to the Niederhorn, a genuinely good viewpoint over both the lake and, on a clear day, the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in the distance.

a Lake Thun cruise that stops at the St. Beatus Caves with a picnic included covers the caves and a chunk of the lake in one booking, useful if you don’t want to work out connections yourself.

Lake Brienz: Iseltwald, Giessbach and Brienz village

Lake Brienz boats run from Interlaken Ost to Brienz village, about 50 minutes end to end, with the two worthwhile stops in between.

Iseltwald became disproportionately popular after appearing in a Korean drama (Crash Landing on You), and the small wooden jetty at the tip of the village peninsula now gets genuinely crowded in July and August, with a queue to take the same photograph. Outside peak summer it is a pretty, sleepy lakeside village with one or two cafés and not much else — which is the appeal.

Giessbach is the better stop for most people. A funicular — one of the oldest in Switzerland, running since 1879 — climbs directly from the boat pier through the trees to the Grandhotel Giessbach and a series of waterfalls that drop almost 300 metres down the hillside in stages. The funicular ride is short (about 5 minutes) and the falls themselves are a 20 to 40 minute walk depending how high you go. This combination — boat plus funicular plus waterfall walk — is the single best use of a few hours on either lake.

Brienz village, at the lake’s eastern end, is known for woodcarving workshops and violin-making (it hosts a school of violin-making), plus it’s the base for the Brienz Rothorn steam railway, a separate and pricier excursion up a nearby peak. Meiringen, a few minutes further by train, adds the Aare Gorge and the Reichenbach Falls (of Sherlock Holmes fame) if there’s time.

a quad-bike tour to Iseltwald and along Lake Brienz is a different way to see the same shoreline if boats and crowds at the jetty aren’t appealing.

How the boat network actually works

Both lakes are run by BLS Schifffahrt on a fixed timetable, not on demand. Boats leave from marked piers roughly every 1 to 2 hours depending on season and route, more frequently in July and August, down to two or three sailings a day — or none — in deep winter. There’s no need to book a standard scheduled sailing: buy a ticket at the pier kiosk, at a train station counter, or on board, and walk on.

Route	Approx. duration	Frequency (summer)
Thun – Spiez	55 min	Hourly
Thun – Interlaken West (full lake)	2 h 15 min	4-5 sailings/day
Spiez – Interlaken West	1 h 20 min	Hourly
Interlaken Ost – Iseltwald	25 min	Hourly
Interlaken Ost – Giessbach	40 min	Hourly
Interlaken Ost – Brienz	50 min	Hourly

Winter timetables (roughly November to March) cut frequency substantially and suspend some legs entirely — check the current schedule before planning a winter trip around a specific sailing, since a missed once-a-day boat means the plan doesn’t work at all.

Prices and passes

Fares are per lake and priced by distance, similar to a train ticket. As a rough guide, in second class:

Journey	Approx. one-way fare (2nd class)
Thun – Spiez	CHF 24
Thun – Interlaken (full lake)	CHF 45
Interlaken Ost – Iseltwald	CHF 18
Interlaken Ost – Giessbach	CHF 27
Interlaken Ost – Brienz	CHF 33

First class costs roughly 60% more and buys a quieter upper deck; on a clear day it’s not obviously worth it over second class outside seats. A day pass covering unlimited sailings on both lakes runs to around CHF 65-75, which only pays off if you’re doing several legs or both lakes in one day.

The Swiss Travel Pass covers BLS Schifffahrt on both lakes at no extra cost, which is a real point in its favour if you’re already using it for trains elsewhere in the trip. The Half Fare Card gets 50% off standard fares. The regional Tell-Pass does not extend this far — it covers Lake Lucerne and Lake Uri, not Lake Thun or Lake Brienz, so don’t assume it carries over.

an unlimited day pass for Lake Thun boats is the straightforward option if you plan to hop on and off at Spiez and Oberhofen without a Swiss Travel Pass.

Combining a cruise with a funicular

A boat ride alone is pleasant but flat — literally. The best days on either lake pair the cruise with something that gains altitude:

• Niederhorn (Lake Thun): cable car from Beatenbucht, reached by boat from Thun or Interlaken West. Panoramic ridge walk at the top, roughly 1,950 m, with views over both the lake and the peaks of the Bernese Oberland.
• Giessbach funicular (Lake Brienz): boat to the Giessbach pier, funicular straight up to the waterfalls and the Grandhotel. The shortest, easiest combination on either lake — well suited to a half-day.
• Harder Kulm: not on either lake directly, but a short walk from Interlaken Ost, where boats from both lakes terminate. The funicular climbs to a viewing platform overlooking the confluence of the two lakes and the town between them — the one spot that shows both lakes at once.
• Niesen: reached from Interlaken or Spiez by train and funicular rather than boat, but often combined with a Lake Thun cruise as a full-day loop — boat out, funicular up, train back.

As on the mountains around Lucerne, funiculars and cable cars here close for scheduled maintenance in spring and again in autumn, typically a window of one to three weeks that varies by year and by line. If a specific funicular is the point of the trip, check its current status before travelling rather than assuming a fixed season.

For a wider view of which peaks reward the effort, see best mountain excursions from Lucerne, which covers Pilatus, Rigi and Titlis alongside the Bernese Oberland options here.

Getting there from Lucerne

There’s no direct train to either lake; the route runs via Interlaken. Two options:

1. Via Bern: Lucerne to Bern (around 1 hour), change to Interlaken Ost (another 50 minutes). Total around 1 hour 50 minutes, with a comfortable connection window.
2. Via the Brünig line (through Meiringen): a scenic but slower route, closer to 2 hours, on a narrower panoramic railway that’s worth doing once for the views rather than for speed.

Either way, Interlaken Ost puts you on the Lake Brienz pier directly; for Lake Thun, it’s a further connection or a 15-minute walk to Interlaken West. Given the travel time involved, this is realistically a full-day trip from Lucerne, not a half-day extra tacked onto something else — plan for an early train out and a late one back, or an overnight in Interlaken if the season’s boat and funicular schedules make a same-day return tight.

a private day trip from Lucerne covering both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz removes the train connections if you’d rather not manage the changes yourself, at a proportionally higher cost than doing it independently.

If Lake Thun and Lake Brienz are one stop on a longer Bernese Oberland loop, the Jungfraujoch guide, the Schilthorn and Piz Gloria guide and the Oeschinensee and Blausee guide cover the other big draws in the same region, and the Lucerne summer Alps 5-day itinerary shows how to fit several of them together without doubling back on trains.

Booking ahead versus turning up

For a standard scheduled sailing on either lake, there’s genuinely no reason to book ahead — the boats run to a fixed timetable, tickets are sold at the pier, and they rarely sell out outside a handful of peak summer weekends. Booking matters for three situations: a combination tour that bundles the cruise with a guided element (the St. Beatus Caves picnic tour, for instance), a private vehicle transfer that needs a fixed pickup time, or a specific popular sailing during the last two weeks of July and first two of August, when Interlaken is at its busiest and a particular departure can genuinely fill.

Mistakes to avoid

• Trying to do both lakes in one day from Lucerne. The train time alone (1 h 50 min each way) plus two boat rides and a funicular makes for a very long day with little slack. Pick one lake.
• Assuming the Tell-Pass covers it. It doesn’t — that’s a Suisse centrale pass for Lake Lucerne and Lake Uri. Check your pass’s actual coverage before boarding.
• Turning up at Iseltwald in August without expecting a queue. The jetty photo spot draws a genuine line in peak summer; visit early morning or accept the wait.
• Skipping the funicular. A flat boat ride is fine but the funiculars (Niederhorn, Giessbach, Harder Kulm) are what turn the day from pleasant into memorable, and none of them add much time.
• Planning around a single winter sailing. Off-season frequency drops to a few boats a day on some routes; verify the specific departure exists before building a day around it.

FAQ about Lake Thun and Lake Brienz cruises

Do I need to book Lake Thun or Lake Brienz boats in advance?

No. BLS Schifffahrt boats run on a published timetable and you buy a ticket at the pier or on board. Booking only matters for the organised combination tours that bundle a cruise with a guide, a cave visit or a private vehicle.

Is the Swiss Travel Pass valid on both lakes?

Yes. The Swiss Travel Pass and Half Fare Card both cover BLS Schifffahrt services on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, including the full lake routes to Spiez, Oberhofen, Iseltwald and Giessbach. A Saver Day Pass for the two lakes also exists if you only need boats, not trains.

Which lake is better, Thun or Brienz?

Different moods. Lake Thun is broader, with Spiez castle, vineyards at Oberhofen and Hilterfingen, and the Niesen and Niederhorn behind it. Lake Brienz is smaller, turquoise-green, colder, and centred on Iseltwald and the Giessbach waterfall. Most visitors do one, not both, in a single day.

How long is the full boat ride from Thun to Interlaken?

About 2 hours 15 minutes end to end, stopping at Spiez, Oberhofen, Hilterfingen and other piers. Most people ride a shorter leg, such as Thun to Spiez (around 55 minutes) or Spiez to Interlaken West.

Can I combine a boat trip with a mountain funicular?

Yes, and it is the best way to spend a day on either lake. The Niederhorn cable car starts near Beatenbucht on Lake Thun, the Giessbach funicular meets the boat pier directly on Lake Brienz, and Harder Kulm is a short walk from Interlaken Ost, where both lakes’ boats terminate.

Do the boats run in winter?

Service is reduced from November to March, with fewer daily departures and some routes suspended. Check the BLS Schifffahrt timetable before travelling outside May to October, when the full schedule and both historic-style and modern boats operate.

How do I get from Lucerne to Lake Thun or Lake Brienz?

Train to Interlaken Ost, changing at Bern or via the Brünig line through Meiringen, takes around 1 hour 50 minutes from Lucerne. From Interlaken Ost or Interlaken West you walk directly onto the boat piers for either lake.