Interlaken

Interlaken — Research Dossier (the valley base) ## jtreks.co | August 2026

Scope: Foundational research for the INTERLAKEN region (slug interlaken, "Lake Thun, Lake Brienz, Jungfrau railways, waterfalls"), which is marked status: "live" in src/lib/regions.ts with an empty content/interlaken/articles/ directory.

Scope boundary — this is deliberately NOT a second Bernese Oberland region. jtreks already covers bernese-oberland with seven articles on the Eiger Trail, the Via Alpina stages C11/C12, SAC huts, the Schilthorn and the high-alpine day hikes. Interlaken is scoped here as the valley base and the day-excursion hub: the town on the Bödeli, the walks that start and finish at lake level, Harder Kulm, the Schynige Platte–First panorama traverse, the lake shore paths, the waterfall and gorge circuit, the transport-pass arithmetic that decides a visitor's budget, the visitor-tax and lodging economics, the adventure-sports industry and the law that governs it, and the overtourism politics of the Lauterbrunnen valley. Where the two regions touch, this dossier defers to bernese-oberland on anything above the last lift station and takes precedence on anything involving tickets, taxes, town logistics and day-trip planning. A dedicated conflicts section below lists every place the existing Bernese research disagrees with the official sources verified here.

Method: Every claim below carries a source URL. All 84 cited URLs were verified live on 2026-08-14 with curl -sIL -A 'Mozilla/5.0' and, where HEAD misbehaved, with curl -sL: 80 returned HTTP 200 to HEAD and 4 returned 200 to GET. Two official hosts return HTTP 501 to HEAD but 200 to GET (interlaken-gemeinde.ch, faulhorn.ch, two pages each) — verify those with curl -sL, not -sIL, or you will wrongly discard them. Load-bearing figures were read directly off the source by the author of this dossier, not accepted from a summary: the Jungfraubahnen tariff PDF was downloaded and parsed with pdftotext -layout; the MeteoSwiss 1991–2020 normals were downloaded from the federal archive and the Interlaken station row extracted by hand; the Interlaken Kurtaxe reglement and both implementing decrees were downloaded and read (one of them OCR'd, being a scanned PDF); the Berner Oberland Pass price table, FAQ and 2026 news page were each fetched and quoted.

Rejected on verification and NOT cited:
- myswitzerland.com under /en-us/planning/… — HTTP 406 to curl on both HEAD and GET. The Swiss Travel Pass price table was re-sourced to the /en-ch/ variant of the same page, which verifies 200, and the figures re-read there.
- schilthorn.ch/en/ and schilthorn.ch/en — 404. This URL is cited in the existing bernese-oberland-getting-there.md source list; it is now dead link rot. The live tariff page is schilthorn.ch/de/Infos/Fahrplan__und__Tarife.
- swisstravelsystem.com (all paths tried) — 404.
- safetyinadventures.ch, www.safetyinadventures.ch, safety-in-adventures.ch — HTTP 000, no DNS. This is a finding, not a failure: the foundation is dissolved (see §3.2).
- fedlex.admin.ch/eli/… — every ELI URL serves a JavaScript-only shell, including to a Googlebot user agent. Workaround found: the /filestore/…/pdf-a/… path with the exact consolidation date returns a real PDF, and the correct ELI for the risk-activities law is cc/2013/87, not cc/2013/751.
- jungfrau.ch timetable paths (eight variants tried) — 404 or JS-only widget. No first/last departure time for the Harderbahn or the Firstbahn is asserted in this dossier. The "first ride 09:10" figure circulating online is SEO-blog-only.
- schweizmobil.ch and wanderland.ch route pages — HTTP 200 but empty to any fetcher. No SchweizMobil route page was readable.
- bernerzeitung.ch (Jungfrau Region 2.87 m overnight stays) — 302 to a paywall; not read, not cited. The Interlaken Tourismus figures in §4.1 are used instead.
- hls-dhs-dss.ch (Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, Interlaken) — 403.
- villa.ch, youthhostel.ch Interlaken rate pages — 404 or no published rates. See §2.5: lodging price bands could not be sourced and are deliberately absent.
- Adventure-sport operator price bands beyond the two verified operators, and the Trift bridge's dimensions (myswitzerland.com, 406) — not obtained, not asserted.

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1. TECHNICAL LENS — the place and the walks

1.1 Interlaken the place

1. Population 6,291 as of 1 January 2026, municipal altitude 568 m, area roughly 431 ha. Source: Gemeinde Interlaken — Zahlen und Fakten (GET 200; HEAD 501).
2. The MeteoSwiss station sits at 578 m — INT;Interlaken;BE;…;578.0;…;46.672033;7.87045, with records since 01.01.1894. Source: MeteoSwiss station metadata (CSV). Confidence note: 568 m (municipal datum) and 578 m (station) are different reference points, and 564–567 m also circulates. Do not present one as correcting the others; state which you mean.
3. Position: "Interlaken can be found in the west of Switzerland, in the Bernese Oberland between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz", described as a starting point for excursions and "a world leader in adventure sports". Source: MySwitzerland — Interlaken.
4. Interlaken Ost is the gateway station: "Interlaken Ost ist das Tor zur Jungfrauregion", with the Berner Oberland Bahn to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen plus the Harderbahn departing from it; 200 parking spaces and 137 lockers. Source: Jungfraubahnen — Bahnhof Interlaken Ost. Gap: no official page describes Interlaken West's division of services or the walking time between the two stations; the tourism arrival page mentions only "Bahnhof Interlaken West mit Postautos" (interlaken.swiss — Anreise). Do not assert a West–Ost walking time.
5. The town runs on tourism, by its own account: "Rund 80 Prozent der Arbeitsplätze in Interlaken sind direkt oder indirekt vom Tourismus abhängig." Source: Interlaken Tourismus — Tourismus-Sensibilisierung.

1.2 Harder Kulm (1,322 m) — the town's own mountain

1. The funicular's engineering data, from the operator's corporate page: opened 1908; track length 1.45 km (1,447 m); gauge 1,000 mm; height difference 754 m; maximum gradient 64% ("bis zu 640 Promille"); journey eight minutes. Source: Jungfraubahn Holding — Harderbahn AG; independently matched by Wikipedia — Harderbahn.
2. Two published discrepancies inside the same company. Marketing says "In nur zehn Minuten geht's von Interlaken auf den Harder Kulm" (jungfrau.ch — Harder Kulm) against the corporate page's eight minutes; and Interlaken Tourismus calls 64% "an incredible average incline" (interlaken.swiss — Harder funicular railway) where the operator states it as the maximum. Use 8 minutes technical / 10 minutes marketed, and 64% as the maximum.
3. The Two Lakes Bridge / Zwei-Seen-Steg: a glazed viewing platform five minutes' walk from the mountain station, "Der türkisblaue Thunersee zur Rechten, der türkisblaue Brienzersee zur Linken" with "das alpine Dreigestirn Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau" ahead; the English site allows "~ 15 minutes (excl. ride)". Source: Jungfraubahnen — Zwei-Seen-Steg. Gap: no official source publishes its build year or dimensions.
4. Walking up — official trail data from Interlaken Tourismus' tour database:

Sources: Goldswil–Bleiki route; Ringgenberg–Roteflue route; Harder Kulm Rundweg. Descent on foot is given as approximately 2 hours.
10. Confidence note — the tourism board contradicts its own database. Its prose page calls the ascent "rund 750 Höhenmeter" in "ein bis zwei Stunden" and "konditionell eher anspruchsvoll" (interlaken.swiss — Harder Kulm), against the database's 796 m in 3 h. Prefer the tour-database figures and say the range exists.
11. No official Swiss T-grade or waymark colour is published for the Harder ascent. The T2 grade circulating on hiking portals is unsourced. Do not print it.

1.3 Schynige Platte → First — the panorama traverse

1. The best-sourced figure set is ViaBerna Stage 15, the "Königsetappe": 17.03 km, +1,100 m / −900 m, about 6 hours, classified "difficult" in both technical difficulty and fitness, surface "70% mountain trail, 29% established paths, 1% asphalt", terrain including "secured ridge sections, steep ladders, natural stone features". Waypoints in order: Schynige Platte → Tuba → Oberberghorn → Loucherhorn → Männdlenen → Faulhorn → Bachalpsee → First. Best season given as May through October, weather-dependent. Source: Interlaken Tourismus — ViaBerna Etappe 15.
2. The railway operator's cross-check: "6 h", altitude range 2,681–1,967 m, and the framing "Die Höhenwanderung von der Schynige Platte nach First (oder umgekehrt) muss man einmal im Leben gemacht haben", with the disclaimer "Das Begehen und Betreten der Wander- und Bergwege erfolgt auf eigene Verantwortung und Risiko." Source: Jungfraubahnen — Höhenwanderung Schynige Platte–Faulhorn–First.
3. The binding constraint is not the snow — it is the railway. The Schynige Platte railway runs 13.06.2026 – 25.10.2026 and Grindelwald First runs 13.04.2026 – 25.10.2026. Sources: jungfrau.ch — Schynige Platte; jungfrau.ch — Grindelwald First; independently confirmed by the Alpine Garden's own season statement (§1.4). So the traverse's real window is mid-June to late October, not "May through October". This is the single most useful planning fact in the region and it should lead the article.
4. Berghotel Faulhorn (2,681 m) was built 1830–1833 by "Samuel Blatter, landlord from Unterseen" and describes itself as "one of the oldest mountain hotels in the Alps built specifically for tourism" — explicitly naming two older Swiss ones, "the hotel on Rigi-Kulm (1816) and the Kurhaus on the Weissenstein (1826/27)". The Garbani family are the fourth generation running it. Source: Berghotel Faulhorn — History (GET 200; HEAD 501). Operationally: "Das Berghotel Faulhorn ist nur während der Sommersaison geöffnet" and, memorably, "Wir haben kein Trinkwasser auf unserem Berg" — Faulhorn — Gut zu wissen. Gap: no 2026 room, dorm or half-board price is published (the /preise path 404s; rates sit behind a reservation system).
5. Shorter alternative on the same ridge: the Panoramaweg from Schynige Platte via the Oberberghorn — 6.14 km, ±303 m, 2 h 15, 1,910–2,076 m, "a secured ridge trail", reached by the Wilderswil cog railway in a 53-minute journey. Source: Interlaken Tourismus — Panoramaweg Schynige Platte via Oberberghorn. This is the article's answer for readers who cannot do a 17 km, 1,100 m day.
6. The Firstbahn takes 25 minutes (Jungfraubahnen — Talstation Firstbahn). Gap: the last descent time from First is not published on any fetchable official page. Do not print one — the whole traverse's viability turns on it, and readers must be told to check on the day.

1.4 The lake, gorge and waterfall circuit — what the valley base is actually for

Sources: Alpengarten and Alpengarten — Besucherinfos; Trümmelbachfälle; Aareschlucht — Informationen; Grimselwelt — Gelmerbahn; Beatushöhlen — Infocenter; Giessbach — Fahrplan & Preise 2026 (PDF) and Giessbach ticket shop; Gemeinde Iseltwald — Tourismus.

1. Confidence note on Iseltwald. The municipality's page states the CHF 5 fee and payment method but does not mention a turnstile, the reason, or any revenue figure. The widely-repeated "~CHF 244,000 a year" and "turnstile installed 2023" details come from press coverage that could not be verified here. Publish the fee; do not publish the revenue.
2. Lake shore walks — official tour records:
3. - Iseltwald → Giessbach: 5.36 km, 1 h 30, leicht, +20 / −32 m (Uferweg-Idylle am Brienzersee).
4. - Bönigen → Iseltwald → Giessbach → Brienz: 18.20 km, 5 h 15, medium, ±466 m (Der Weg der drei Wasserfälle). Note it starts at Bönigen, not Interlaken.
5. - Lake Thun, Interlaken/Unterseen → Neuhaus → St. Beatus → Merligen: 12.89 km, 3 h 47, mittel, +282 / −272 m (Berner Oberländer Weg Interlaken–Merligen).
6. Correction to a common assumption: there is no published "Interlaken–Neuhaus–Spiez" shore route. The official Lake Thun path from Interlaken runs the north shore to Merligen.
7. The Lauterbrunnen valley's own framing: "Im Tal der 72 Wasserfälle… Insbesondere die 72 (!) Wasserfälle prägen das Bild des Lauterbrunnentals", with Goethe writing "Gesang der Geister über den Wassern" there in 1779 and Tolkien visiting aged 19 in 1911. Source: Lauterbrunnen Tourismus — Wasser. Attribute the "72" to the tourism board — it is a claim, not a survey.

1.5 Seasonality — and the counter-intuitive fact

1. MeteoSwiss climate normals 1991–2020, station Interlaken (578 m, CH coordinates 2633042 / 1169069). Extracted by this author from the federal archive and cross-checked field by field:

Source: MeteoSwiss climate normals archive (ZIP), files climate-reports-normtables_{tre200m0,tre2dymx,tre2dymn,rre150m0,sre000m0,fkl010m0}_1991-2020_en.txt, headed "Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA / Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss / Creation date: 27.05.2025"; dataset registered at opendata.swiss — Klimanormwerte. Highest-confidence data in this dossier. Note the files are ISO-8859-1 encoded; a naive UTF-8 grep aborts on them.
22. The counter-intuitive planning fact: July and August are the two wettest months, tied at 145.8 mm. The high season is the wet season. That single line reframes every "best time to visit" article on the internet, and it is federal data.
23. The föhn, from MeteoSwiss: "Als wesentlicher Effekt bringt der Föhn auf der strömungsabgewandten Seite des Gebirges warme und vor allem trockene Fallwinde, die häufig Sturmstärke erreichen." The Alps are unusual in having it on both sides — Südföhn on the northern side (Interlaken's case), Nordföhn on the southern. The classic setup is a deep low over Biscay or the British Isles, a cold front over France, southerly cross-alpine flow, and a cloud wall on the ridge seen from the north as the Föhnmauer. Source: MeteoSwiss — Föhn. Confidence note: Interlaken's own mean wind is only 1.8 m/s annually; the föhn story belongs to the surrounding valleys (the Haslital in particular), not to the town's own weather station. Frame it accordingly.
24. The Swiss trail-marking system, from the national hiking federation:
- Wanderweg (yellow): "Wanderwege verlaufen oft auf breiten Wegen. Sie können aber auch schmal und uneven angelegt sein." Ordinary care; sturdy shoes.
- Bergwanderweg (white-red-white): "Bergwanderwege erschliessen teilweise unwegsames Gelände und verlaufen überwiegend steil, schmal und teilweise exponiert." Requires sure-footedness, freedom from vertigo, fitness, and awareness of rockfall and weather change.
- Alpinwanderweg (white-blue-white): "Alpinwanderwege führen teilweise über Schneefelder, Gletscher oder Geröllhalden und durch Felse mit kurzen Kletterstellen." May require compass, rope, ice axe and crampons.
Source: Schweizer Wanderwege — Wegkategorien.
25. 2026 operating seasons, consolidated (each verified on its operator's own page):

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2. ECONOMIC LENS — the pass arithmetic, the tariffs, the taxes

All prices are in CHF including 8.1% VAT, as published on the operator's own site or tariff sheet on 14 August 2026. Every fare below is anchored to a validity window that ends 12–13 December 2026 — see §4.3. A budget calculator built from this dossier must carry a validUntil field, not a hard-coded table.

2.1 The three passes

1. Swiss Half Fare Card: CHF 150, valid one month, giving "Up to 50% discount throughout Switzerland" on "journeys throughout Switzerland by train, bus and boat, as well as panorama trains, mountain railways and gondola lifts", in both classes. Source: SBB — Swiss Half Fare Card.
2. Do not confuse it with the resident Halbtax, which is a different product at CHF 190/year new, CHF 170 renewal, CHF 120 / CHF 100 for ages 16–24. Source: SBB — Half Fare Travelcard. A one-month visitor buys the CHF 150 card.
3. Swiss Travel Pass 2026 (consecutive days), adult:

Source: MySwitzerland — Swiss Travel Pass. Note the /en-us/ variant of this page returns HTTP 406 to curl; the /en-ch/ variant verifies 200 and carries the same table. The Swiss Travel Pass Flex (non-consecutive days within a month) runs CHF 289 / 349 / 424 / 459 / 519 for 3 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 15 days in 2nd class (Swiss Travel Pass Flex, verified 200). Swiss Family Card: children aged 6–15 travel free with a parent holding a valid pass.
29. Confidence note — a real gap. Neither MySwitzerland nor SBB publishes a per-mountain discount percentage for the Jungfrau region. The official language is only "Up to 50% discount on many other mountain excursions", with the fully-included excursions named as Rigi, Stanserhorn and Stoos — none of them in the Bernese Oberland. SBB's own Swiss Travel Pass page publishes no price table at all (sbb.ch). Any per-mountain Swiss-Travel-Pass percentage for the Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn, First or Harder Kulm is unverified against an official source and must not be published as fact.
30. Berner Oberland Pass 2026 — the region-specific pass, and the one most write-ups get wrong:

Child/dog: CHF 30 flat, purchasable only with a main pass. Prices "valid until December 31, 2026". There are no 12-day and no 15-day products — the only extension is a counter-only 2-day add-on at CHF 72 (2nd full) / CHF 85 (1st full), maximum two extensions. Source: Berner Oberland Pass — Prices & tickets; extensions per BO Pass — News 2026.
31. The pass is valid all year and has no seasonal pricing: "The Berner Oberland Pass is valid all year round" and "the price of the Berner Oberland Pass remains the same throughout the year – there are no seasonal prices." Source: BO Pass — FAQ.
32. Who gets the reduced rate: holders of a Swiss Travel Pass (incl. Flex), Swiss Half Fare Card, Half-Fare Travelcard or GA, and young people aged 16–24.99 regardless of any card. "Unfortunately there is no discount for senior citizens." Source: BO Pass — FAQ.
33. What the BO Pass actually covers — the corrections that matter most:
- Free: Schynige Platte ("The Schynige Platte can be reached free of charge" — reinstated since July 2025), Schilthorn ("free travel on the entire route from Lauterbrunnen via Stechelberg or Grütschalp/Mürren to Schilthorn"), Lake Thun and Lake Brienz boats.
- Jungfraujoch: 25% only — "you will receive a 25% discount on the ticket". The official validity map prints the same: "Jungfraujoch: 25% Rabatt/discount". It is not free and it is not half price.
- Grindelwald-First: 50% only.
- Removed for 2026: Kandersteg – Oeschinensee and Brig – Domodossola.
- Prices unchanged for 2026.
Sources: BO Pass — FAQ; BO Pass — News 2026; BO Pass — validity map PDF ("Stand/Version: 12.2025", legend categories "Freie Fahrt" and "Nicht gültig/not valid").
34. Confidence note — Harder Kulm and Männlichen under the BO Pass are unresolved. Neither is named in the official FAQ's free list, and the validity map's spatial text could not be reliably parsed for them. The existing bernese-oberland articles list both as fully included (see §5). Treat "free Harder Kulm with the BO Pass" as unverified and re-check at a counter or in the booking engine before any article or calculator asserts it.
35. The Jungfrau Travel Pass still exists as a third option: CHF 210 / 235 / 270 / 290 / 310 / 330 for 3–8 days (adult), CHF 165–255 reduced, CHF 30 child 6–15, extension day CHF 45; Jungfraujoch supplement "from CHF 89" in peak season (1 May – 31 Oct 2026, including the seat reservation) or "from CHF 63" off-season. It covers the Harder funicular, Schynige Platte, First and Männlichen outright — which the BO Pass does not — making it a genuine decision axis rather than a redundant product. Source: Jungfraubahnen — Jungfrau Travel Pass.

2.2 Individual lift tariffs — from the operator's own 2026 tariff sheet

1. The single best source in the region is the Jungfraubahnen price list, headed "Fahrpreise / Prices / Prix … Gültig / valid / valable 14.12.2025 - 12.12.2026", "in Schweizer Franken / CHF inkl. 8.1% MwSt.", with two seasons: Saison 1 = 14.12.2025–30.04.2026 and 01.11–12.12.2026; Saison 2 = 01.05–31.10.2026. August is Season 2. Source: Jungfraubahnen — Fahrpreise Preisliste (PDF) (downloaded and parsed with pdftotext -layout by this author).

1. Jungfraujoch seat reservation is compulsory in summer and is extra: "From 01.05. - 31.10.2026, reservations are compulsory for trips to the Jungfraujoch. The prices in the price list do not include a reservation fee of CHF 10.-" Source: the tariff PDF above (read verbatim by this author).
2. Half-fare prices are NOT published in the Jungfraubahnen tariff sheet — it lists full fares only, with no Halbtax column, and 1st class is "auf Anfrage". The marketing site advertises the Jungfraujoch "From CHF 129.60", which is not exactly half of the CHF 261.20 summer return. Mark every Jungfraubahnen half-fare figure UNVERIFIED in any calculator until confirmed in the booking engine.
3. Schilthorn does publish half fares, and they are exactly 50%: Stechelberg–Schilthorn return CHF 115.00 full / CHF 57.50 half-fare / CHF 57.50 child 6–15; Mürren–Schilthorn return CHF 91.40 / 45.70; Stechelberg–Mürren 11.80 single / 23.60 return. Page states "Tarife in CHF und gültig bis 12.12.2026". Source: Schilthornbahn — Fahrplan und Tarife. (The "Schilthornbahn 20XX" replacement project is linked but publishes no opening date and no fares — treat as not yet open.)
4. Lake boats (BLS). Brienzersee day pass: CHF 83.00 2nd class adult, CHF 41.50 with a Half-Fare Travelcard, CHF 15.00 child 6–15.99; season "3 April to 6 December 2026"; the day pass includes the Interlaken West–Interlaken Ost rail link. Source: BLS — Schifffahrt Brienzersee. Point-to-point full fares from the official 2026 fares sheet ("gültig ab 14. Dezember 2025"): Interlaken Ost → Brienz 39.00 single / 78.00 return; → Giessbach 31.00 / 62.00; → Iseltwald 21.00 / 42.00; → Bönigen 10.00 / 20.00; Interlaken West → Thun 41.00 / 82.00. Source: BLS Schiff — Fahrpreise Saison 2026 (PDF). Confidence note: the PDF's half-fare/child matrix parses inconsistently under text extraction and no boat point-to-point half-fare figure is asserted here; the day-pass half-fare (41.50, exactly 50% of 83.00) comes from HTML and is clean.

2.3 Point-to-point rail fares — a verified negative

1. SBB does not publish static point-to-point fare tables. Its own guidance is "It's easiest to buy Point-to-Point Tickets via the timetable – online or in the SBB Mobile app", and the journey planner is JavaScript-only. No Zurich/Bern/Geneva/Basel → Interlaken fare or journey time is asserted in this dossier. If a calculator needs them, capture them once from the SBB app and date-stamp them — and re-capture after December 2026 (§4.3).

2.4 Visitor taxes — resolved down to the governing instrument

1. Cantonal Beherbergungsabgabe: CHF 1.00 per overnight stay. Canton of Bern: "Die Beherbergungsabgabe beträgt einen Franken pro Übernachtung für alle Personen, die über 16 Jahre alt sind", under the Tourismusentwicklungsgesetz; "Der Ertrag geht vollständig an die Tourismusdestinationen und wird vor allem für Marketingmassnahmen eingesetzt." Source: Kanton Bern — Tourismusabgaben.
2. The two official wordings of the age threshold differ and must not be merged. The canton says "über 16 Jahre alt" (over 16); Interlaken Tourismus says "aktuell einen Franken pro Nacht und Person ab 16 Jahren" (from 16). Source for the second: Interlaken Tourismus — Informationen für Beherbergende. Quote each as written and attribute separately.
3. Municipal Kurtaxe, Interlaken — the statutory range. The Kurtaxenreglement ISR 666.1 (of 6 March 1981, current version in force 01.07.2025, decision 18.05.2025), Article 3: hotels, pensions, apartment houses, holiday and private flats and private rooms — "Sommer: mindestens CHF 2.50 und maximal CHF 3.50 / Winter: mindestens CHF 2.20 und maximal CHF 3.50"; tents, caravans and group accommodation (Massenlager) "mindestens CHF 1.80 und maximal CHF 2.80". The summer tariff runs 1 April – 31 October, winter 1 November – 31 March, and rate changes must be decided at least a year in advance and can take effect "nur auf den 1. April". Source: Gemeinde Interlaken — Kurtaxenreglement ISR 666.1 (PDF) (downloaded and read by this author).
4. The applied rate is the statutory minimum, and this was verified against the full regulation index. The rate-setting decree ISR 666.114 ("vom 07.03.2005, in Kraft seit: 01.04.2006") sets: hotels and pensions, all star categories, summer CHF 2.50 / winter CHF 2.20; apartment houses, holiday and private flats and private rooms 2.50 / 2.20; tents, caravans and Massenlager 1.80 summer and winter. Source: Gemeinde Interlaken — Festlegung der Kurtaxen ISR 666.114 (PDF).
5. The 2020 ordinance does NOT supersede those rates — it is a signage instrument. ISR 666.111 Kurtaxenverordnung 2020 ("vom 08.01.2020, in Kraft seit: 01.01.2020; Aktuelle Version in Kraft seit: 01.10.2025") is issued under Articles 6 and 8b of the Reglement and governs the obligation on hosts to mark their buildings with standard signs; its only CHF figures are sign tariffs and a CHF 80.00/hour labour rate. (This PDF is a scanned image with no text layer; it was rendered and OCR'd by this author to establish its subject matter.) Source: Gemeinde Interlaken — Kurtaxenverordnung 2020 ISR 666.111 (PDF).
6. And the index confirms no newer rate decree exists. The commune's finance-regulations index lists exactly four documents in the 666 series: 666.1 Kurtaxenreglement (1981, Stand 18 May 2025), 666.111 Kurtaxenverordnung 2020, 666.113 Festlegung der Pauschalkurtaxen (1990), and 666.114 Festlegung der Kurtaxen (2005, in force 1 April 2006) — the newest rate-setting instrument. Source: Gemeinde Interlaken — Reglemente, 6 Finanzen (GET 200; HEAD 501). Confidence: high. A visitor in Interlaken pays CHF 2.50 (summer) or CHF 2.20 (winter) Kurtaxe plus CHF 1.00 cantonal levy per person per night — a total of CHF 3.50 / CHF 3.20 — with CHF 1.80 + 1.00 in group accommodation.
7. Children under 16 are fully exempt from the Kurtaxe: "Von der Kurtaxenpflicht sind befreit: … b) Kinder bis 16 Jahre" (also exempt: military and civil-defence personnel when quartered, and people working normal hours in Interlaken who cannot use the resort facilities). Source: Kurtaxenreglement ISR 666.1, Article 5. This contradicts the widely repeated "half price for children 6–16".
8. What the tax buys — the Guest Card. It covers Interlaken, Matten, Unterseen, Wilderswil, Gsteigwiler, Saxeten, Bönigen, Iseltwald, Ringgenberg, Goldswil and Niederried, and includes free local public transport in the validity area, 20% off BLS Lake Thun/Brienz day passes, 20% off the Schynige Platte railway and 15% off the Harderbahn ("gültig von 3.4.–29.11.2026"), plus free casino entry and 20% off the City Train. The Interlaken Pass is "die digitale Version unserer analogen Gästekarte", emailed at least 24 hours before arrival, personal and non-transferable. Sources: Interlaken Tourismus — Gästekarte; Interlaken Pass; Vergünstigungen Gästekarte 2026 (PDF). Confidence note: trade press has reported that free public transport will be dropped from 2027. That could not be verified from any official source and the 2026 PDF still lists it as free — do not publish the 2027 claim.

2.5 Lodging — a verified negative, not a research failure

1. Lodging price bands for Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald could not be sourced officially and are deliberately absent from this dossier. The federal tourism statistics (BFS HESTA) publish no price indicator at all — only establishments, rooms, beds, arrivals, overnight stays, room nights and occupancy. The three destination sites render accommodation client-side and emit no CHF figures in served HTML. Operator rate pages either 404 or price only through booking engines.
2. The one readable operator rate found, cited as an operator rate and nothing more: Mountain Hostel Gimmelwald, dorm "CHF 48.- Per person/night, including breakfast buffet" (and CHF 45.-), double "from CHF 135.- for two people / night". Source: Mountain Hostel Gimmelwald — Rooms.
3. Recommendation for the region: either leave lodging as a user input in the calculator, or build the table from a booking aggregator and label it as aggregator-sourced with a collection date. Do not synthesise a four-tier table and present it as researched — the existing bernese-oberland-cost-guide.md does exactly that, on blog sources (§5).

2.6 Adventure-sports prices — partially sourced

1. Verified operator prices, 14 August 2026: canyoning Interlaken from CHF 139 (3 h), Grimsel from CHF 161 (5.5 h, "over 1500 meters above sea level: icy water guaranteed"), Chli Schliere from CHF 179 (outdoor.ch — canyoning); rafting on the Lütschine CHF 139–154, "Class III-IV rapids", season May–September (outdoor.ch — Lütschine); rafting on the Simme CHF 116–139, "Class II-III", May–August (outdoor.ch — Simme); skydiving from CHF 425, "45 s Freefall from 4000 m (13000 ft)" (outdoor.ch — airplane skydive); bungee jumping from the Stockhorn cable car, CHF 239, "134m über dem blauen Hinterstockensee" (stockhorn.ch).
2. Trift cable car and suspension bridge: CHF 30 return / CHF 15 single, cable car 10 minutes, 8 people per trip; hike from the valley station "4 h | 6.2 km | 918 m", from the mountain station 2 h 30 / 2.8 km; return via the Ketteliweg (T3) or the Familienweg (T2). ⚠️ For 2026 the operator notes "Saisonstart aufgrund techischer Probleme verschoben" with the season ending 25 October — verify before publishing. Source: Grimselwelt — Triftbahn.
3. Tälli via ferrata, Gadmen: "Switzerland's first via ferrata", "about 600 meters long", "78 meters of ladders, 550 concrete-anchored bolts", with a "renovation in 2026" and open "from July through October". Source: Grimselwelt — Via ferrata Tälli.
4. Gap: tandem paragliding price bands from Beatenberg could not be verified on an operator page from this session and are not asserted. This is the region's signature activity and the gap should be closed before a costs article publishes.

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3. REGULATORY / HISTORICAL LENS

3.1 The 1999 Saxetbach disaster — why Interlaken's adventure industry is licensed

1. On 27 July 1999, 21 people died canyoning in the Saxetbach — 18 tourists aged 19–31 and 3 guides, from Australia, Britain and South Africa — on a trip run by the company Adventure World; a survivor described "a muddy wall of water… 'as high as the canyon.'" Source: SWI swissinfo.ch — Judge hands down guilty verdict in canyoning trial.
2. The verdict, 11 December 2001: six directors and employees convicted of negligent manslaughter; two guides acquitted. Three board members (Stephan Friedli, Peter Balmer, Georg Hoedle) received 5 months suspended plus SFr 7,500 each; the company manager 5 months plus SFr 5,000; the deputy 4 months plus SFr 4,000; the lead guide 3 months plus SFr 4,000. Judge Thomas Zbinden found the board responsible for "failing to have included a clause on weather conditions in the company's safety guidelines." Same source. Confidence note: an appeal was filed within the ten-day deadline and its final disposition could not be established. Present this as the first-instance verdict, not as final.

3.2 The law that followed — and the certification the internet still gets wrong

1. The governing statute is the Bundesgesetz über das Bergführerwesen und Anbieten weiterer Risikoaktivitäten, SR 935.91, "vom 17. Dezember 2010 (Stand am 1. Januar 2014)", AS 2013 441. Art. 1(1) applies it where there is "Absturz- oder Abrutschgefahr oder ein erhöhtes Risiko durch anschwellende Wassermassen, Stein- und Eisschlag oder Lawinen" — the Saxetbach mechanism written into the statute. Art. 1(2) covers mountain guiding, snow-sports instruction outside lift operators' areas, Canyoning, River-Rafting und Wildwasserfahrten, and Bungee-Jumping. Art. 3, in full: "Wer eine diesem Gesetz unterstellte Aktivität anbietet, braucht eine Bewilligung." Art. 2 obliges operators to "die Eignung der Wetter- und Schneebedingungen überprüfen." Source: Fedlex — SR 935.91 (PDF-A).
2. The current implementing ordinance is the Risikoaktivitätenverordnung (RiskV), SR 935.911, of 30 January 2019, in force 1 May 2019, which replaced the 2013 ordinance and broadens the scope beyond the statute's five headline activities to include high-touring, Alpinwandern from T4, ski and snowboard touring, snowshoe touring from WT3, off-piste descents from WS, Klettersteige, ice climbing and multi-pitch rock climbing, with rafting covered from whitewater grade III. Source: Fedlex — SR 935.911 RiskV (PDF-A). This matters for jtreks directly: a guided T4 alpine walk in this canton is a licensed risk activity, not a hike.
3. "Safety in Adventures" no longer exists. All three of its domains fail to resolve (HTTP 000). The BFU "took on the tasks of the foundation during a transition period until end of 2022"; certification now runs against the ISO standards for adventure tourism, with the foundation's approved training certificates still binding for certified providers at annual audits. Sources: BFU — Zertifizierung Outdoor/Adventure; BASPO — Zertifizierung von Betrieben. Confidence note: the BFU page names "the ISO-Norms 'Adventure Tourism'" without numbering them. Do not print specific ISO numbers — they were not verifiable here.
4. Official positioning of the town: "Interlaken ist die Nummer 1 Destination in Europa für Outdoor und Adventure Sport" — a Europe-wide claim, not a Swiss one — with "360 Tage Adventure & Sport" and a listed roster of skydiving, paragliding, hang gliding, bungy jumping, canyon swing, rafting, canyoning, jetboat, kayaking, SUP, wakesurfing, sailing and canoeing. Source: Interlaken Tourismus — Sport & Adventure.

3.3 Overtourism — what Lauterbrunnen actually decided

1. The 2024 story everyone repeats: a proposal for a CHF 5–10 per day charge on day-trippers arriving by car, administered by app with spot checks, exempting hotel guests and public-transport arrivals, in a village of roughly 2,400 inhabitants. Gemeindepräsident Karl Näpflin said at the time that "such a drastic measure will not be introduced this summer, as clarifications are still needed." Source: SWI swissinfo.ch, 28 May 2024.
2. It was never enacted, and the plan has since narrowed. As of 14 August 2026 the live proposal is a paid entry to the Staubbachfall specifically, not the village: roughly 25,000 visitors a day; a geological assessment concluded a ~60 m rockfall protection net is needed first (the land is communal, the rock face cantonal); residents vote in early 2027 on the net, and only then can admission be charged, with Näpflin quoted "Der Leidensdruck ist da" and "Mit den Einnahmen würden wir zunächst das Schutznetz bezahlen." Source: 20 Minuten, 14 August 2026. Confidence note: this is a tabloid, and no official Gemeinde Lauterbrunnen statement of the Staubbachfall plan could be verified. Present it as reported, attribute it explicitly, and re-check before publication.
3. What Lauterbrunnen has actually enacted is parking pricing. The official "Verordnung über die Parkgebühren", in force 01.10.2025: the church car park charges Fr. 6.00 for 1 hour rising to Fr. 15.00 for 24 hours, then Fr. 15.00/day for days 1–7 and Fr. 10.00/day from day 8; the Adler süd lot runs Fr. 1.00 per 30 minutes to a Fr. 2.50 two-hour maximum; coach and group reservations from 10 places incur a Fr. 50 on-site fee plus a Fr. 30 administration fee. Source: Gemeinde Lauterbrunnen — Verordnung über die Parkgebühren ab 01.10.2025 (PDF) (downloaded and read).
4. Editorial reading: "Lauterbrunnen introduced a tourist entry fee" is false and jtreks should say so plainly. What exists is a parking tariff in force since October 2025, a waterfall-specific admission that is unbuilt and gated on a 2027 residents' vote, and — nine kilometres away in Iseltwald — a CHF 5 turnstile on a working boat pier that is the only enacted pay-to-enter measure in the whole valley system.
5. Interlaken's own posture is education, not rationing: intercultural workshops, market-specific guest brochures, "Dos & Don'ts" — and explicit opposition to a proposed 90-day holiday-rental cap on the grounds of "gleiche Regeln für alle". Source: Interlaken Tourismus — Tourismus-Sensibilisierung.

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4. RECENCY LENS — 2025–2026

4.1 A record 2025, and a softening 2026

1. 2025 was a record year for the Interlaken holiday region: 3,729,702 overnight stays, +3.7% on 2024; the core IMUWGS area (Interlaken, Matten, Unterseen, Wilderswil, Gsteigwiler, Saxeten) recorded 1,998,418, +3.4%; guests generated CHF 465 million in tourism revenue, +4.3%; average stay 2.1 nights; gross bed occupancy 59%; top source markets Switzerland first, USA second. Average daily spend by market: GCC and India CHF 340, Asia CHF 311, Americas CHF 243, Oceania CHF 230, Switzerland CHF 170, Europe CHF 162. Sources: Interlaken Tourismus — Hauptversammlung 2026 press release; Interlaken Tourismus annual report.
2. 2026 is running below 2025: IMUWGS overnight stays through the end of March were 3.1% below the prior-year period, which director Daniel Sulzer framed as a "Planungskrise" rather than a demand crisis, citing Middle East geopolitics and shorter booking windows; the destination's response was the digital Interlaken Pass and Swisstainable Destination certification, framed around visitor management. Same press release.
3. The hotel-only series shows a market rotation, not a decline. Hotel overnight stays for IMUWGS totalled 1,195,384 in 2025, with 515,832 in January–July 2026; the 2026 pattern is strong Anglo-European growth against sharp Asian and Gulf declines. Source: Interlaken Tourismus — Logiernächte-Statistik Hotels IMUWGS (PDF). This is the honest overtourism frame for 2026: the crowding story and the bookings story are moving in opposite directions.

4.2 What changed on the passes for 2026

1. Berner Oberland Pass: prices unchanged; Schynige Platte free again since July 2025; Kandersteg–Oeschinensee and Brig–Domodossola removed; 2-day counter-only extensions introduced at CHF 72 / 85. Source: BO Pass — News 2026.

4.3 A December 2026 fare increase is already announced

1. Alliance SwissPass announced on 31 March 2026 an average fare increase of +3.9% across the Nationaler Direkter Verkehr "ab dem Fahrplanwechsel im Dezember 2026", with the GA rising above average and the resident Halbtax up CHF 5; children's, youth and family offers minimally affected. Drivers cited: general inflation, materials and personnel costs, energy prices, and the removal of the mineral-oil-tax refund from 2027. Source: Alliance SwissPass — Newsmeldung.
2. Every tariff in this dossier expires at the same moment. Jungfraubahnen "gültig 14.12.2025 - 12.12.2026"; Schilthorn "gültig bis 12.12.2026"; BLS boats from 14 December 2025; Berner Oberland Pass "valid until December 31, 2026". A calculator must model a post-December-2026 uplift rather than hard-code these numbers.

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5. CONFLICTS WITH THE EXISTING bernese-oberland RESEARCH

The seven articles in content/bernese-oberland/articles/ are dated 2026-05-06 and sourced substantially to blogs and aggregators — thehiking.club, swissfamilyfun.com, findingalexx.com, numbeo.com, myswissalps.com community threads, earthtrekkers.com, anywhereweroam.com, takeyourbackpack.com. Checked against operator tariff sheets and official pass documentation, eleven claims are wrong or stale and three more are unverifiable. These need fixing in bernese-oberland as well as avoiding in interlaken.

Materially wrong prices

Materially wrong pass coverage — the most consequential errors

• "Jungfraujoch … 50% off (~CHF 117)" with the BO Pass (getting there, cost guide). Official: 25% on the onward legs; 50% only if you hold both a reduced-price BO Pass and a Swiss Half Fare Card. Sources: BO Pass FAQ, validity map PDF.
• "Grindelwald-First gondola … free with BO Pass" (cost guide, day hikes, getting there). Official: 50% only. Source: BO Pass FAQ.
• "Oeschinensee gondola (Kandersteg)" listed as included (cost guide, getting there, day hikes). Removed from the pass for 2026. Source: BO Pass News 2026.
• "Harder Kulm funicular … free with BO Pass" (cost guide, getting there, day hikes). Unverified — Harder Kulm is not in the official FAQ's free list, and the operator material read here indicates half fare. Flagged rather than asserted; re-check before either region publishes.
• "The Berner Oberland Pass … 6-day" framing as a summer product, and the when-to-go article's seasonal cable-car narrative. Official: "The Berner Oberland Pass is valid all year round" with "no seasonal prices." Source: BO Pass FAQ.

Facts and framing that need correcting

• Berghotel Faulhorn "operating since 1830" / "one of the oldest mountain inns in the Alps." Its own history page says built 1830–1833 and explicitly names two older Swiss mountain hotels (Rigi-Kulm 1816, Weissenstein 1826/27). Phrase it as one of the oldest purpose-built tourist mountain hotels in the Alps. Source: faulhorn.ch.
• Schynige Platte Alpine Garden "700+ species." Official: "Rund 800 Pflanzenarten." Source: alpengarten.ch.
• Faulhorn–Schynige Platte "~16 km, ~700 m gain, T2-T3." Official ViaBerna Stage 15: 17.03 km, +1,100 m / −900 m, graded "difficult" on both technical and fitness scales. Source: interlaken.swiss.
• The when-to-go article's season table implies the Schynige Platte ridge is available from June. The railway does not open until 13 June 2026, and closes 25 October. Sources: jungfrau.ch — Schynige Platte, alpengarten.ch.
• "Interlaken, 564 m." The municipality states 568 m; the MeteoSwiss station is at 578 m. Sources: interlaken-gemeinde.ch, MeteoSwiss station metadata.
• "The Bernese Oberland recorded a 13.2% increase in hotel overnight stays … the largest regional increase in Switzerland" (when-to-go) is unsourced in the article and could not be substantiated. The verified 2025 figure for the Interlaken holiday region is +3.7%. Source: Interlaken Tourismus press release.
• The when-to-go article's Lauterbrunnen entry-charge citation is superseded — see §3.3.
• schilthorn.ch/en/, cited in bernese-oberland-getting-there.md, now returns 404. Link rot.
• The when-to-go climate table ("Interlaken 564 m", June highs 21-23 °C, July precipitation 120-140 mm) is close but not the federal normals. MeteoSwiss 1991–2020 gives June max 22.4 °C, July max 24.3 °C, July precipitation 145.8 mm. Source: MeteoSwiss normals.

Where the two regions agree and should stay aligned: the Half Fare Card at CHF 150 for one month; the Berner Oberland Pass 6-day at CHF 350 full / CHF 254 reduced; Schilthorn from Stechelberg at CHF 115 full; the Jungfraujoch seat reservation being compulsory May–October at CHF 10; Schynige Platte being free on the BO Pass; and the underlying thesis that in this region the infrastructure, not the mountain, is the cost.

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CRITICAL FINDINGS — the five things that change a visitor's plan

1. The famous panorama traverse has a 4½-month window, and it is set by a train, not by snow. Schynige Platte → Faulhorn → First is officially 17.03 km with 1,100 m of ascent, about six hours, graded "difficult" — and the Schynige Platte railway only runs 13 June to 25 October 2026. Every "May through October" recommendation, including the tourism board's own, is two weeks optimistic at the front end. The shorter Oberberghorn Panoramaweg (6.14 km, 2 h 15) is the honest alternative, and the last descent time from First is published nowhere — check it on the day.

1. The Berner Oberland Pass does not do what almost every guide says it does. It is valid all year with no seasonal pricing; it gives 25% off the Jungfraujoch, not 50% and not free; Grindelwald-First is half fare, not free; and Kandersteg–Oeschinensee was removed for 2026. What it genuinely covers free is Schynige Platte (reinstated July 2025), Schilthorn, and both lakes' boats. There is no 12-day product. jtreks' own existing Bernese Oberland cost guide gets four of these wrong.

1. The lift tariffs in circulation are 20–100% too low, because they are last decade's. From the operator's own 2026 tariff sheet, in Season 2 (1 May–31 Oct): Harder Kulm CHF 44 return, not 18–24; Schynige Platte CHF 68, not 35–50; First CHF 76, not 66; Männlichen CHF 74, not 36–44; Jungfraujoch CHF 261.20 plus a compulsory CHF 10 reservation, not 235. Trümmelbach is CHF 18, not 11. And all of it expires on 12 December 2026, when an announced +3.9% national fare round lands.

1. The visitor tax is small, precisely knowable, and universally mis-stated. A guest in Interlaken pays the municipal Kurtaxe of CHF 2.50 in summer / CHF 2.20 in winter — set by a 2005 decree that the commune's own regulation index confirms is still the newest rate-setting instrument — plus the cantonal CHF 1.00 lodging levy, so CHF 3.50 per person per night from 1 April to 31 October. Children under 16 are fully exempt, not half price. It buys a Guest Card with free local transport, 20% off the lake boats and Schynige Platte, and 15% off the Harderbahn.

1. The high season is the wet season, and "Lauterbrunnen charges an entry fee" is false. MeteoSwiss 1991–2020 normals for Interlaken put July and August as the two wettest months, tied at 145.8 mm — against 71.6 mm in January. Meanwhile the widely-repeated Venice-style village entry charge was never enacted: what exists is a parking ordinance in force since 1 October 2025 (CHF 6/hour to CHF 15/day), a Staubbachfall-specific admission that is unbuilt and gated on a residents' vote in early 2027, and a CHF 5 turnstile on Iseltwald's boat pier — the only pay-to-enter measure actually operating in the valley.

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PROPOSED ARTICLES — Interlaken series (7)

1. interlaken-pass-math — "Half-Fare, Berner Oberland Pass or Swiss Travel Pass: the Interlaken decision tree"
- The three products side by side with 2026 official prices: Half Fare Card CHF 150/month, BO Pass CHF 240–435 (168–316 reduced), Swiss Travel Pass CHF 254–499.
- The reduced-rate trick: a Half Fare Card turns a 6-day BO Pass from CHF 350 into CHF 254, and 16–24-year-olds get the reduced rate with no card at all.
- What the BO Pass actually includes: free Schynige Platte, Schilthorn, both lakes' boats and the GoldenPass — versus 25% on the Jungfraujoch and 50% on First.
- What it lost for 2026: Kandersteg–Oeschinensee and Brig–Domodossola.
- Why the Jungfrau Travel Pass is a real third option (it includes Harder Kulm, First and Männlichen outright) and when it wins.
- The all-year fact: the BO Pass has no seasonal pricing, which contradicts most write-ups.
- Break-even worked examples for a 3-day, 6-day and 10-day valley base.
- The December 2026 cliff: every tariff expires 12–13 December and a +3.9% national round is already announced.

2. interlaken-lift-tariffs-2026 — "What every lift out of Interlaken costs in 2026, from the operator's own tariff sheet"
- The two-season structure (Saison 1 and Saison 2) and why August prices differ from April ones.
- The table: Harder Kulm CHF 44, Schynige Platte CHF 68 (75.60 from Interlaken Ost), First CHF 76, Männlichen CHF 74, Eiger Express CHF 81.20, Jungfraujoch CHF 261.20.
- The compulsory CHF 10 Jungfraujoch seat reservation, 1 May–31 October 2026.
- Schilthorn as the one operator that publishes half fares (CHF 115 → 57.50).
- Why half-fare prices for the Jungfraubahnen network are not published, and why you should not assume 50%.
- The attractions tier: Trümmelbach CHF 18, Aare Gorge CHF 13, Gelmerbahn CHF 40, St. Beatus CHF 20, Giessbach CHF 14, Iseltwald pier CHF 5.
- A worked "three lifts in a week" budget, and the pass threshold it crosses.

3. schynige-platte-first-traverse — "The Königsetappe: Schynige Platte to First, and the 13 June problem"
- The official numbers: 17.03 km, +1,100 m / −900 m, ~6 h, graded difficult on both scales, 70% mountain trail.
- The waypoints — Tuba, Oberberghorn, Loucherhorn, Männdlenen, Faulhorn, Bachalpsee — and what each actually looks like.
- Berghotel Faulhorn at 2,681 m: built 1830–33, fourth-generation family, summer only, no drinking water on the mountain.
- The season gate: the Schynige Platte railway runs 13 June–25 October 2026; First runs 13 April–25 October.
- The unpublished last-lift problem and how to plan around a time nobody prints.
- Which direction to walk it, and why the 53-minute cog railway shapes the answer.
- The bail-out: the Oberberghorn Panoramaweg, 6.14 km and 2 h 15 on the same ridge.
- Grade honesty: the Swiss trail categories decoded, and why "difficult" here is not the same as a T-grade.

4. interlaken-day-hikes-valley — "Interlaken without a lift ticket: the walks that start at lake level"
- Harder Kulm on foot: 5.40 km and 796 m in 3 h via Goldswil and Bleiki, or 11.92 km and 1,192 m via Ringgenberg and the Roteflue.
- The tourism board's own contradiction (750 m in 1–2 h vs 796 m in 3 h) and which to trust.
- The Two Lakes Bridge and the summit loop (2.78 km, 1 h) as the reward.
- Lake Brienz: Iseltwald–Giessbach (5.36 km, 1 h 30) and the full Bönigen–Brienz three-waterfalls walk (18.20 km, 5 h 15).
- Lake Thun: Interlaken–Neuhaus–St. Beatus–Merligen (12.89 km, 3 h 47) — and the correction that there is no published Interlaken–Spiez shore route.
- The Lauterbrunnen valley floor as a rain-day walk, with the tourism board's "72 waterfalls" claim attributed rather than asserted.
- The trail-marking system, so readers can grade routes themselves.

5. interlaken-costs-and-taxes — "The bill nobody itemises: Interlaken's visitor tax, guest card and lodging reality"
- The Kurtaxe resolved to the governing instrument: CHF 2.50 summer / CHF 2.20 winter, plus the cantonal CHF 1.00, so CHF 3.50 per person per night from 1 April to 31 October.
- Children under 16 fully exempt — correcting the "half price 6–16" claim.
- The two official wordings of the age threshold ("über 16" vs "ab 16") and why the difference matters.
- What the tax buys: the Guest Card's free local transport, 20% lake boats, 20% Schynige Platte, 15% Harderbahn — and the Interlaken Pass as its digital form.
- Group accommodation at CHF 1.80, and the statutory ceiling of CHF 3.50 the commune could move to on any 1 April.
- The honest gap: why this article will not print a hostel/hotel price table, because Swiss operators publish rates only through booking engines and the federal statistics carry no price indicator.
- What is in the federal data instead: bed counts, arrivals, occupancy — and how to use them.

6. interlaken-adventure-sports-law — "Twenty-one deaths and a federal law: how Interlaken's adventure industry got licensed"
- The Saxetbach flash flood of 27 July 1999 and what the mechanism actually was.
- The December 2001 verdict: six convicted of negligent manslaughter, two guides acquitted, and the judge's finding on the missing weather clause — presented as first instance, with the appeal noted.
- SR 935.91: the federal risk-activities law of 2010, in force 2014, and its Article 1 language about "anschwellende Wassermassen".
- Article 3 in one line: offering a covered activity requires a licence.
- The 2019 RiskV and how far it reaches — canyoning, rafting from grade III, bungee, via ferrata, and alpine walking from T4.
- Why "Safety in Adventures" no longer exists and what replaced it (BFU transition to end-2022, ISO adventure-tourism standards).
- What this means when you book: verified operator prices for canyoning (from CHF 139), rafting (CHF 116–154), skydiving (from CHF 425), bungee (CHF 239) — and the questions to ask about certification.

7. interlaken-when-to-go — "The high season is the wet season: Interlaken's real calendar"
- MeteoSwiss 1991–2020 normals in full, with July and August tied as the wettest months at 145.8 mm.
- Sunshine against precipitation: July has both the most sun (222.9 h) and the most rain.
- Temperature by month at 578 m and what that means 2,000 m higher.
- The föhn, properly scoped: MeteoSwiss's definition, why Interlaken sits on the Südföhn side, and why the town's own mean wind of 1.8 m/s means the föhn story belongs to the surrounding valleys.
- The 2026 operating calendar as one table — Schynige Platte 13 Jun–25 Oct, First 13 Apr–25 Oct, Gelmerbahn 6 Jun–25 Oct, the gorges and caves from late March/early April.
- The crowd data: 3.73 million overnight stays in 2025 (+3.7%), 2026 running 3.1% below, and what a "Planungskrise" means for finding a bed.
- Lauterbrunnen's real state of play — parking ordinance in force, Staubbachfall fee pending a 2027 vote, Iseltwald's CHF 5 pier — so readers stop repeating the entry-fee story.

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SOURCE REGISTER (84 URLs, verified 2026-08-14: 80 HTTP 200 to curl -sIL, 4 via GET; interlaken-gemeinde.ch and faulhorn.ch return HTTP 501 to HEAD and 200 to GET — verify those with curl -sL)

Swiss federal (8): data.geo.admin.ch (MeteoSwiss station metadata CSV; climate normals ZIP) ×2; opendata.swiss klimanormwerte API; meteoschweiz.admin.ch föhn; fedlex.admin.ch filestore SR 935.91 PDF-A; fedlex.admin.ch filestore SR 935.911 RiskV PDF-A; bfu.ch Zertifizierung Outdoor/Adventure; baspo.admin.ch Zertifizierung von Betrieben.

Canton & communes (8): weu.be.ch Tourismusabgaben; interlaken-gemeinde.ch Zahlen und Fakten; interlaken-gemeinde.ch Reglemente 6 Finanzen; ISR 666.1 Kurtaxenreglement PDF; ISR 666.114 Festlegung der Kurtaxen PDF; ISR 666.111 Kurtaxenverordnung 2020 PDF; lauterbrunnen.ch Verordnung Parkgebühren PDF; iseltwald.ch Tourismus.

Destination marketing (18): interlaken.swiss — Anreise, Tourismus-Sensibilisierung, Sport & Adventure, Harder Kulm (POI EN), Harder Kulm (Bergausflüge), Gästekarte, Interlaken Pass, Vergünstigungen-PDF 2026, Medienmitteilung Hauptversammlung 2026, Logiernächte-Statistik PDF ×10; jahresbericht.interlaken.swiss; interlaken.swiss tour database — Goldswil-Bleiki, Ringgenberg-Roteflue, Harder Kulm Rundweg, ViaBerna Etappe 15, Panoramaweg Oberberghorn, Uferweg Brienzersee, Weg der drei Wasserfälle, Berner Oberländer Weg Merligen ×8 (counted within the 18 above); myswitzerland.com Interlaken; myswitzerland.com Swiss Travel Pass (en-ch) and Swiss Travel Pass Flex; lauterbrunnen.swiss Wasser.

Transport operators (16): jungfrau.ch — Bahnhof Interlaken Ost, Harderbahn AG corporate, Harder Kulm, Zwei-Seen-Steg, Talstation Harderbahn, Talstation Firstbahn, Schynige Platte, Höhenwanderung SP–Faulhorn–First, Grindelwald First, Jungfrau Travel Pass ×10; cdn.jungfrau.ch Fahrpreise Preisliste PDF; berneseoberlandpass.ch prices-tickets, faq, news-2026, validity-map PDF ×4; schilthorn.ch Fahrplan und Tarife; bls.ch Schifffahrt Brienzersee; bls-schiff.ch Fahrpreise 2026 PDF; sbb.ch Swiss Half Fare Card; sbb.ch Half Fare Travelcard; sbb.ch Swiss Travel Pass; allianceswisspass.ch Newsmeldung.

Attractions & mountain operators (12): truemmelbachfaelle.ch; aareschlucht.ch; grimselwelt.ch Gelmerbahn; grimselwelt.ch Triftbahn; grimselwelt.ch Via ferrata Tälli; beatushoehlen.swiss; giessbach.ch Fahrplan & Preise 2026 PDF; shop.giessbach.ch; alpengarten.ch ×2; faulhorn.ch history; faulhorn.ch gut-zu-wissen.

Adventure operators (5): outdoor.ch canyoning, Lütschine rafting, Simme rafting, airplane skydive ×4; stockhorn.ch bungee.

Accommodation (1): mountainhostel.com rooms.

Hiking federation (1): schweizer-wanderwege.ch Wegkategorien.

News & reference (4): swissinfo.ch canyoning verdict; swissinfo.ch Lauterbrunnen 2024; 20min.ch Lauterbrunnen Staubbachfall 2026; de.wikipedia.org Harderbahn.

Rejected on verification — do not cite without re-check: myswitzerland.com/en-us/planning/… (406 to curl — the Swiss Travel Pass table was re-sourced to the /en-ch/ variant); schilthorn.ch/en/ and /en (404 — cited in the existing bernese-oberland-getting-there.md, now dead); swisstravelsystem.com (404, all paths); safetyinadventures.ch / safety-in-adventures.ch (000, no DNS — the foundation is dissolved); fedlex.admin.ch/eli/… including the wrong ELI cc/2013/751 (200 but JavaScript-only shells, even to a Googlebot UA); eight jungfrau.ch timetable paths (404 or JS widget — no first/last departure time is asserted); schweizmobil.ch and wanderland.ch route pages (200 but empty to any fetcher); bernerzeitung.ch Jungfrau-Region overnight-stays article (302 to paywall, not read); hls-dhs-dss.ch (403); villa.ch and youthhostel.ch rate pages (404 / no published rates — the lodging price table is deliberately absent); admin.ch/opc/… legacy classified compilation (403); faulhorn.ch/de/berghotel/preise (404 — no 2026 Faulhorn prices exist); interlaken.swiss/en/interlaken/portrait (404).