Lake Brienz

Brienz is the deeper and wilder of the two lakes flanking Interlaken, dropping to about two hundred and sixty metres with mountains rising straight from the shore on both sides, which leaves little room for building and keeps it looking emptier than Lake Thun next door. The colour is the thing people ask about: glacial streams carry rock flour, fine sediment ground under ice, and it scatters light into the milky turquoise that is strongest in high summer when melt is heaviest. Historic paddle steamers still work the lake. On the southern shore the Giessbach falls come down in fourteen stages beside a grand hotel served by a funicular of 1879, the oldest of its kind in Europe.

What you actually see

• Turquoise from rock flour - glacial sediment colouring the water in summer.
• Mountains straight off the shore - almost no flat ground around the lake.
• Paddle steamers - historic boats still in service.
• Giessbach falls - fourteen stages beside an 1879 funicular.

When to go

May to October; the colour is strongest in July and August. A day.

Honest expectations

The water is cold year round - swimming is brief. Boats run to a timetable and stop early out of season. The southern shore has almost no road, so getting around means the boat or the northern rail line. Rain is frequent.

Nearby

Brienz and its woodcarving school are at the east end; Interlaken is west.