There are a lot of nice towns in the country of Switzerland, but if I had to pick just one to call my favorite then it would have to be Lauterbrunnen, a small town in the Interlaken district in the Canton of Bern.
We've been there twice now and I would definitely go back a third time if I had the opportunity. The location is just so beautiful and there's so much to see and do in the area, I feel like I could go their every year without ever getting bored.
Lauterbrunnen is 20 minutes away from Wilderswil and about 30 minutes from Interlaken and Grindelwald. It part of a municipality made up of these towns along with a few others, all of which are great locations for outdoor activities.
I didn't notice a whole lot of restaurants in town and only a few cafes and pubs, but there are plenty of hotels that provide those services. There is also a large campground just down the road so you reallyget the impression that people go there mostly to hike and be outdoors. This isn't surprising though given the location. Lauterbrunnen is home to numerous mountain peaks, including the Jungfrau, Monte and even Mount Eiger.
There are a number of cable cars in town as well that will take you up to one of the smaller peaks in the area. It's also nice to just walk down the street to one of the neighbouring towns.
Lauterbrunnen is situated between two limestone cliffs in one of the deepest valleys of the Alpine mountain range.
The cliffs are 1000 meters (or 1km) tall in some areas but they actually feel taller because of how narrow the valley is, only 1km in width.
You almost have to crane your neck to see the tops of the cliffs as you're walking by them.
Walking down the road you see a lot of quaint little homes and all of these little huts that are used to store hay for the Alpine cows in the winter.
One thing that was kind of neat that we saw during our walk was this vending machine located just on the edge of town.
It was set up like a mini convenience store and had all the necessary supplies for a mountain pic-nic, including wine and cheese! There was also milk and eggs in it which I assume was meant for the campers in the area.
It was mostly cloudy during our walk and it rained off and on throughout the day but the clouds weren't too thick to cover the mountains, so we still got to see some pretty amazing views.
The name Lauterbrunnen translates to "many springs," which is fitting given the amount of waterfalls within the area. We passed by at at least five during our walk the most famous of which was the Staubbach. It's actually the tallest free falling waterfall in the country and is located less than 1km outside the city. It's the falls in the first photo at the top of the page.
We walked for about an hour to the small town of Stechelberg before turning around and heading back to Lauterbrunnen.
Once we got back to town we stopped at one of the pubs for a drink and a snack. I had a beer and my wife had a cider.
As you can see the dog was a little cold by that point so my wife wrapped him up in a blanket to keep him warm.
Actually it was a pillow case that we had stuffed in his backpack to prop him up and stop him from sinking down too low. But regardless, he was quite happy to be snuggled up and warm.