Harder Kulm — Attraction in Unterseen

Harder Kulm was our first discovery in Interlaken. We arrived in Interlaken with lots of daylight left. So, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and chatted with the reception staff. We asked about places to visit and the man suggested Harder Kulm. Interlaken felt a little disorienting, but he gave us directions by bus and it was quite easy from there.

We could see the Harder Kulm mountains and lots of paragliders from the bus stop. Luckily, it was a nice sunny afternoon !

Arriving at Harder Kulm, we needed to get Funicular tickets to go up, which cost us around $60 Canadian. For starters, Switzerland is not a cheap place to visit and Interlaken is no different. Although the ride felt expensive, it was well equipped with huge glass windows all the way around. This gave us the opportunity to have an amazing view all the way up the mountain.

Arriving at the top, there is a trail which leads to a panoramic restaurant. It's really cool because you can have a drink or food, hot chocolate for example on the balcony overlooking the mountains and lakes of the region. At the top of the mountain, it's one stunning view after another !

If you don't care about the restaurant and your idea is only to get a nice view of Interlaken, you should head to the V shaped viewpoint. You'll know that you're on the right deck if you see a random statue of a cow near the edge. This is the ultimate viewpoint and it offers amazing views of Interlaken, the valley, mountains and rivers around.

According to Wikipedia, Harder Kulm is a viewpoint at 1,321 metres (4,334 ft) in altitude. Located in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland, overlooking the towns of Interlaken and Unterseen. In case you didn't already know, Interlaken stands for between lakes. Because the town is right in the middle of two lakes.

Our Ratings Serge: 5 Eli: 5

Recommend: Yes, really beautiful views across Interlaken and a great way to explore the city.

Tips:

We visited Harder Kulm during spring, and even though it was a nice afternoon (around 16oC) in Interlaken city, it felt much colder at the top of the mountain. Make sure to bring a warm jacket. We felt the restaurant was on the expensive side. But if you the budget for at least a hot chocolate it’s worth to sit down, relax and get an amazing panoramic view. The funicular accepts Credit cards, just check the opening and closing times on their website. When we left at the end of the afternoon they were almost closing. This way you leave...

It is beautiful mountain deck facility. To view lake, town on the ground and surrounding mountains. This deck facility is 10000 feet above the ground. Things on the ground look like small Lego toys town.

They have cable train facility to reach the top of the mountain. Cable train facility built in 1908. It takes 8 min to reach the top of the mountain. You can buy one way ticket and walk down the mountain, if you have endurance and time to climb down such distance.

But, it is long distance to climb down unless you are very fit and has half day spare time. It would be worth the hard work. We took both way ticket because we had our daughter with us. And, we did not want to wind up our tour because of hurting legs with such strenuous work !

It has one restaurant and one small slovenlier cum confectionery shop. Restaurant is only for buying drinks and not for food. It is one of those fancy restaurant where you go for clicking photos so that you can tell your friends about it. If possible take along your own food and water from the town on the ground. So that you do small party sitting there at Harder Kulm-top of Switzerland.

There is nice built deck where you can click photos from different angle, taking turn. You can also see some people paragliding at that height.We visited it in May so it wasn't much crowded. And spent more than 2 hours there.

Scenery from the top is mesmerizing, one side you have mountains covered with snow. On the other side you have mountains covered in green cover having small houses. I liked the views of both the lakes from the top, it is so beautiful. You get to see every minute detail about the town form there with its zoomed out version. You can see small railway station and trains like toy moving from one station to another!

It is must see place in Interlaken. Train tickets to reach there are expensive but you can the most of your spend by spending more time there. By clicking more photos. Spending more time at such height so that you don't...

The view up the mountain is breath-taking, but I wouldn't recommend the restaurant. My partner and I bought the Harder Lunchtime ticket which included a lunch dish and return tickets for the funicular. When we bought the tickets at the base station, we were told the lunch dish would be chicken. However, when we got up to the restaurant, we were told the chicken had been sold out and they could substitute hot dogs instead which we were not keen on. In addition, when we looked at the a-la-carte menu, we realised that it would have been cheaper to buy the funicular tickets and lunch separately since we had the Swiss Pass which gave us 50% discount for the funicular tickets. We asked the waitress whether it would be possible for us to get a dish on the a-la-carte menu instead of the hot dogs since we realised that we had paid more for lunch than it was worth by buying the Lunchtime ticket. The waitress tried to explain to us why we had not 'overpaid' for our Lunchtime ticket, and after a while, she got her manager to talk to us. The manager was rude, saying that the price we had paid was part of a "special deal" they have with the funicular company. He even put the waitress down by saying that "she does not know anything and that's why she's not management (referring to himself)". When we asked him for a moment so we could discuss in private, he refused to leave and stood at our table and stared at us while we talked. We felt angry at his lack of respect and left the restaurant. We got a refund for the lunch (which we did not eat) when we got back down, and we used the money for a wonderful cheese Fondue lunch at a restaurant in the city. I wouldn't recommend the Lunchtime ticket nor the Harder...