With the whole week around Easter off work, I figured it was time to get out and discover a bit of Switzerland. The weather was looking to be really nice (~20 degrees and sunny!), so a hike sounded like something that would fit the bill. It’s a bit daunting to start out with that in Switzerland though, as the amount of places you can go is overwhelming – and selecting where to head out can be a bit of a challenge. Looking around some maps, I spotted a limestone cave open to visitors near the Thunersee, close to Interlaken though – and as I’ve always had a thing for limestone caves, that seemed like a good idea, especially as there was a nice hiking trail passing by it.
So, armed with my camera I headed off to the train station (very…) early Monday morning. Everything went smoothly though, and soon I was hiking down towards the Thunersee. The route was clearly marked with numerous signposts, so finding the way around was easy (in any case, just following along the shore of the lake would probably have worked too ;). Passing through deltas, forest, by lake shores, up mountains, through small charming villages – and all in wonderful sunshine – I made it to the Beatuscaves. Situated halfway up a mountainside overlooking the Thunersee, and with numerous waterfalls coming out from inside the caves, the location was pretty amazing by itself. And the caves were really nice too – running almost a kilometer into the mountain, and with lots of waterstreams thundering through it at places, it was quite a bit different from other limestone caves I’ve visited.
The rest of the hike to Merligen went well too, got on the bus, and ended up spending the evening in Bern – wandered around the old town centre, and found a nice place to have dinner before heading back to the train station to make my way back towards Zürich. All in all, a pretty okay way to spend a day!
