Lake Brienz
Opaque turquoise water, coloured by the glacial flour in the streams that feed it.
Duration
2 hrs – 5 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
Mornings, in still weather
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Lake Brienz is the most turquoise of the large Swiss lakes, for a physical reason: the torrents feeding it come out of glaciers laden with rock flour, ground particles so fine that they stay suspended and scatter blue and green light.
It is also one of the most nutrient-poor lakes in Europe, which explains its clarity. A 1914 steamer, the Lötschberg, still runs in season, and the Giessbach falls drop in fourteen steps on the south shore, floodlit in the evening.
Getting there
Train from Interlaken Ost to Brienz or Iseltwald, twenty minutes. Boats leave from Interlaken Ost and Brienz.
What to bring
- Swimsuit
Rules on site
The water barely passes fifteen to eighteen degrees at the height of summer and the bottom drops away fast: swims are short. Iseltwald, made famous by a Korean series, has charged for access to its jetty since 2023.