Lake Thun and Lake Brienz in one day: the two-lake cruise guide

What the Bödeli actually connects, and what it doesn’t

Interlaken sits on a flat strip of land between two lakes, and the name says so directly: “between the lakes.” The River Aare runs through the middle of that strip, the Bödeli, feeding out of Lake Brienz on the eastern side and into Lake Thun on the western side. Look at a map and it seems obvious that a boat should be able to run the whole way from Thun to Brienz along the river and through the town.

It doesn’t happen. The Aare through the Bödeli was never developed into a through route for the tourist boats, and today the Lake Thun boat network and the Lake Brienz boat network are run as two separate BLS fleets with separate timetables, separate terminals, and no vessel that crosses between them. If you want both lakes on the same trip, you cover the short gap yourself, and this is exactly where the two-station layout of Interlaken starts to matter.

Lake Thun boats dock at Interlaken West, a few minutes’ walk from the Hoheweg and the town centre. Lake Brienz boats dock at Interlaken Ost, which is also the interchange for the Jungfrau railway lines and the Brünig route to Lucerne. The two stations are about 2.5 km apart. A train connects them in roughly five minutes and runs several times an hour; walking the distance along the Höhematte and the Aare towpath takes 30 to 40 minutes and is a pleasant, flat stroll rather than a detour. Either way, budget the changeover as a real leg of the day, not a rounding error, because it’s the step that trips people up when they’ve planned the boat times back to back with no margin.

The order that works

There isn’t one correct sequence, but there is a wrong way to plan it, which is picking the order before checking what happens after. Work backwards from where you need to end the day.

If the rest of your trip points west or south, towards Thun, Bern, or the line towards Lucerne via Spiez, do the Lake Thun cruise first, in the morning, and finish at Thun with a walk around its old town before heading onward or looping back by train.

If instead the day continues towards Grindelwald, Meiringen, or you want to be positioned at Interlaken Ost for an early start up to the Jungfraujoch or the Brienz Rothorn steam railway the next morning, put Lake Brienz first and treat Lake Thun as the shorter afternoon leg.

A second, more common approach: don’t try to do both lakes full-length in one day at all. Cruise one lake end to end, and treat the other as a short there-and-back to a single village, such as Iseltwald on Brienz or Oberhofen on Thun, rather than the whole route. That keeps the day to a comfortable length and still gives you both lakes, both colours of water, and both landing stages worth photographing rather than four hours spent sitting on boats.

How long each lake actually takes

These are direct-boat times on the longest routes; local stops add time, and the fastest sailings don’t call everywhere.

Route	Distance	Time (direct)	Departure point
Interlaken West to Thun	Full lake	About 2h 10	Interlaken West
Interlaken West to Spiez	Partial	About 1h 05	Interlaken West
Interlaken West to Oberhofen	Partial	About 40 min	Interlaken West
Interlaken Ost to Brienz	Full lake	About 1h 00–1h 15	Interlaken Ost
Interlaken Ost to Giessbach	Partial	About 40 min	Interlaken Ost
Interlaken Ost to Iseltwald	Partial	About 30 min	Interlaken Ost

Add the station-to-station changeover (5 minutes by train, 30–40 on foot), and a full Lake Thun return plus a full Lake Brienz return comes to roughly six and a half hours of boat time alone, before you’ve stepped off to look at anything. That’s the honest reason most people shorten one leg: the two full lakes back to back, done properly with a lunch stop, is closer to a 10-hour day than a leisurely one.

Day passes versus single tickets: doing the sum properly

This is the part worth working out before you buy anything, because the answer depends entirely on what else is in your day.

The Swiss Travel Pass includes both lake fleets as part of the national network, along with trains, buses, and most mountain railways at a discount. It earns its cost fastest on a day that combines boats with a proper train leg, for instance a Lake Thun cruise to Thun followed by the train on to Bern. On a day that is boats only, run the maths: a multi-day Swiss Travel Pass costs more per day than the boat fares alone, so it only wins if you’re already using it for the rest of your trip.

The Berner Oberland Pass and the Jungfrau Travel Pass cover the regional mountain railways and, depending on the version and validity period you buy, some or all of the lake boats. Check the current inclusions before you plan around one, since the coverage has changed between editions.

The Half Fare Card halves the price of point-to-point boat tickets the same way it does trains, and for a single day of boats without a wider pass, this is usually the better value option: one full-length ticket on each lake at half price, rather than a boat-only day pass, unless you’re stacking four or more separate legs into the day.

The Interlaken guest card, issued by hotels in Interlaken, Unterseen, and Matten, covers local Bödeli buses and some small discounts. It does not cover the lake boats, which is a common point of confusion for first-time visitors expecting their hotel card to stretch further than it does. For the wider transport picture, see trains, buses, and boats around Interlaken and the Swiss Travel Pass guide.

Ticket approach	Best for	Watch out for
Two single return tickets, Half Fare Card	A boats-only day, one traveller or a couple	Buy Half Fare in advance if you don’t already hold one
Boat-only regional day pass	Four or more separate boat legs in one day	Rarely breaks even on a simple two-lake day
Swiss Travel Pass	Boats plus trains plus another activity	Poor value if the day is boats only
Berner Oberland / Jungfrau Travel Pass	A day mixing boats and mountain railways	Boat coverage varies by pass edition, confirm first
Interlaken guest card	Local Bödeli buses	Does not cover lake boats

Combining the cruises with land and water alternatives

A cruise is the classic way to see both lakes, but it isn’t the only one, and pairing a boat leg with something else can solve the timing problem above.

An e-bike covers the flatter shoreline stretches around the Bödeli and along parts of Lake Brienz faster than walking and gives you stops the boat schedule doesn’t, which suits people trying to fit in Iseltwald or the Giessbach falls without committing to a full cruise timetable; the e-bike tour around Interlaken and Lake Brienz and the guided e-bike route past the lakes and historic ruins both work this way, covering ground a fixed boat departure can’t.

If you want the water without the fixed timetable, a scenic jetboat ride on Lake Brienz is a shorter, faster alternative to the scheduled cruise for a quick look at the colour of the water and the shoreline villages, useful when your morning has already run long on Lake Thun. And if you’d rather have Lake Thun’s crossing built into a longer excursion with a stop and a picnic rather than a straight there-and-back, the Lake Thun cruise with the St. Beatus Caves and a picnic folds sightseeing into the boat leg instead of adding a separate stop afterwards.

None of these substitute for understanding the basic constraint: no boat crosses the Bödeli. Whatever combination you choose, you’re still switching terminals between Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost at some point in the day.

A realistic two-lake day, hour by hour

This is one workable shape for the day, assuming you finish towards the Jungfrau railways side:

Time	What
08:00	Board at Interlaken West for Lake Thun (Oberhofen or Spiez rather than the full run to Thun, to save time)
10:15	Return to Interlaken West
10:45	Walk or take the train to Interlaken Ost
11:15	Lunch near Interlaken Ost
12:30	Board at Interlaken Ost for Lake Brienz, as far as Iseltwald or Giessbach
15:30	Return to Interlaken Ost

That leaves the late afternoon free, rather than arriving back after the last useful connection of the day. If you’d rather do the full length of both lakes without shortening either leg, plan it as an early start and accept that it is the whole day, with little time for anything beyond the boats and a lunch stop.

For a wider set of day-trip options that don’t hinge on the boats at all, see day trips from Interlaken, and if you’re weighing the two lakes against each other rather than trying to fit both in, the direct comparison is in Lake Thun vs Lake Brienz. For swimming rather than cruising, swimming in Lake Thun and Lake Brienz covers the public bathing spots on both shores, and paddlers have their own route in kayaking and SUP on Lake Brienz.

Anyone building a slower trip around the water rather than squeezing it into one day should also look at two lakes and villages in three days, and the older paddle steamers still running on both lakes get their own background in paddle steamers of the Bernese Oberland. One thing worth reading before you book anything: why Lake Brienz is that colour, since the glacial turquoise is the reason most people want the Brienz leg at all, and it photographs very differently from the deeper blue-green of Lake Thun.

Doing both lakes in a day: common questions

Is there a boat or canal that connects Lake Thun and Lake Brienz directly?

No. The River Aare links the two lakes physically through the Bödeli, but no passenger boat runs that stretch. The Thunersee and Brienzersee fleets are entirely separate operations, and you cross between them by train, about five minutes from Interlaken West to Interlaken Ost, on foot along the Aare in roughly 30 to 40 minutes, or by bike.

Which lake should I do first, Thun or Brienz?

Start with whichever lake matches your onward plans. If you are heading towards Bern, Thun, or Spiez afterwards, cruise Lake Thun first so you end near Thun station. If you are continuing towards Grindelwald, Meiringen, or the Jungfrau railways, do Lake Brienz first and finish at Interlaken Ost, which is also the departure point for the mountain trains.

How long does a full lake cruise actually take?

A full-length Lake Thun cruise between Interlaken West and Thun runs close to two hours and ten minutes each way on the direct boats, longer with all stops. A full Lake Brienz cruise between Interlaken Ost and Brienz takes around one hour to one hour fifteen minutes. Doing both lakes end to end in one day, plus the changeover, is a full day with little slack.

Is the Swiss Travel Pass worth it just for the boats?

If boats are the only thing you are using it for on a given day, work out the sum first. The Swiss Travel Pass includes both the Lake Thun and Lake Brienz boats along with trains and buses, so it pays off fastest on a day that also includes a train leg such as Interlaken to Bern or Interlaken to Lucerne, rather than a boats-only day.

Does the Interlaken guest card cover the lake boats?

No. The hotel guest card issued in Interlaken, Unterseen, and Matten covers local buses and some regional discounts around the Bödeli, but the BLS lake boats are ticketed separately, whether you pay per journey, buy a boat day pass, or hold a Swiss Travel Pass or Berner Oberland Pass.

What is the cheapest way to see both lakes in a day?

For most single travellers without an existing pass, one full return-length cruise plus a short round trip on the other lake, both bought as point-to-point tickets with a Half Fare Card, usually beats a boat-only day pass unless you are stringing together four or more separate boat legs. Run the actual fares for your dates, since they are revised each year.

Can I fit both lakes into a day trip that also includes Ballenberg or Giessbach?

Ballenberg and Giessbach both sit on the Lake Brienz side and slot naturally into a Brienz-lake day, but adding either one plus a full Lake Thun cruise in the same day is tight. Most people who want all three either shorten the Thun leg to Interlaken–Spiez–back, or split the two lakes across two separate days.