St. Beatus Caves — Attraction in Beatenberg

We visited Interlaken in Spring 2017. We're not sure what the weather's like in Switzerland during the spring, so we were shocked to see it snowing. Our first day in Interlaken was great, but the next day was snowing and cold. With that, we took advantage of the bad weather and visited the St. Beatus Caves. This was our first cave discovery in Europe.

It was a little challenging coordinating the way to St. Beatus since that part of Interlaken is German speaking. We also fell on a very non-sympathetic bus driver that either didn't like English speaking people, tourists or both. Anyway, once on the bus we saw other tourists and felt we were heading in the right direction. FYI, the bus is the cheapest and most comfortable travel method. Additionally, the bus stops directly in front of the cave!

At a first glance from outside, it looks majestic and impressive. There's quite a walk to arrive at the entrance, but the views of the mountain and lake along the way are breathtaking.

We bought the tickets onsite. We saw an option to join a guided tour, which started every 30 minutes but we decided to discover on our our. * They allow use of cameras for photography and filming too! They do ask to respect other visitors and refrain from using tripods within the caves. So photographers, be sure to bring your lowest aperture lens!

On the website they say the average visit is around 75 minutes. We took 2 hours, taking lots of pictures, reading the signs and explanation about the place. We found the information very interesting, including the legend of the Irish monk Beatus that succeeded in driving away the dragon that was living in a large cave at Lake Thun. Actually, you'll notice this at the beginning of the cave and to be aware of the remaining Dragon.

The cave's structure is quite impressive. Some of our best memories are from the waterfalls inside, the mirror effect of bottomless caves and stalactite and stalagmite formations. The only other place we'd heard of this terminology was in Mexico's cenotes.

The structure is great, bring your own lunch or eat at the restaurant, they have washrooms and a small museum on the way out. And most importantly, a souvenir store!

Our Ratings Serge: 5 Eli: 5

Recommend: Interlaken is quite small so this is a nice way to spend the day.

Tips:

The bus from Interlaken to the Beatus Caves is by far the best way, it's really comfortable, easy and cheap. We believe we took the 21 towards Thun Bahnhof, but you can confirm at your hotel or anywhere in the city. Hopefully you'll get a nicer driver! If you go by car, we recall they had limited parking spaces in front. We are not sure if there is a meter. Depending on the season, it can be really cold and humid inside. It looks 3. like the same temperature during summertime, so get a warm jacket or if you prefer a scarf. Bring comfortable shoes for sure. We paid around $ 23.85cad for the entrance and they accept credit cards. Price can change over time, so just check the information on their website for the actual prices and see if you qualify for a groups, children or...

Good sight to see if your in the area. The cave was very interesting to see, with a stunning view of the surroundings. Upon arriving to site, you must walk up about 150m to the main level, where there is the entrance to the cave, as well as a quick lunch spot, and the sit-down restaurant Stein & Sein. The walk up is strenuous as it is a steep incline. I had lunch at the Stein and Sein that was lovely. I had a steak with potatoes/vegetables. Well worth it, as the quality of the food was up to Swiss standards and the tables all have really great views of the lake. The walk through the cave is about 1.5 km (approx. 1 mile) long, with a slight degree of difficulty due to the steep inclines (not as steep as the initial climb though) and numerous stairways throughout. Total, it takes about an hour. The weather in the cave stays at a constant 8-10 deg C all year round so its quite comfortable to walk around in the summer. If you get cold easily, I recommend a light jacket, however with all the climbing throughout, you tend to warm up a bit. It can get quite damp inside the cave, and the floors tend to be a bit wet, so I would advise flat shoes with a standard grip - normal tennis shoes would be fine. Note, that there is also a museum on the first "level" from the ground up. Entrance is free with the entry ticket to the cave. They have toilets there, and you can purchase drinks and ice cream. There are a couple tables next to the museum to...

St. Beatus-Höhlen caves were a really great addition to our trip to Switzerland. The scenery in the area is fantastic and the cave was one of the largest ones I've ever visited. Really lovely. The walk up to the cave was also pretty, with a great view of a waterfall. At the top there is a playground and restaurant. We didn't eat here, so I can't attest to the food quality or price. The ticket price also includes admittance to a small museum about the cave's history and caving in general. It doesn't take long to go through and was interesting. Additionally, there's a small giftshop for souvenirs.

My only issue was with the parking. I couldn't get the app to work and we didn't have any change available...so we walked up to the desk and asked if we'd be able to pay for parking there. They said yes and we did. We then asked if we should take the ticket back down to the car and they said no - we could just keep it with us. Obviously we did the right thing by paying for parking, but the lot must not actually be monitored all the time since there's no way they would have known (or not) if we purchased parking.

Overall, though, a really nice experience. I...