Tandem Paragliding in Interlaken: Fly Above the Swiss Alps

You stand at the edge. Behind you, a wing the colour of summer sky lies unfurled across the alpine grass, breathing softly in the wind. In front of you, the world drops away. The Bernese Oberland spreads out like a folded map: the turquoise of Lake Thun on one side, the deeper blue of Lake Brienz on the other, and between them the rooftops of Interlaken catching the afternoon light.

Your pilot calls your name. He is calm in the way only people who have done something a thousand times can be calm. He counts down: three, two, one. You run. Three steps. Maybe four. The grass is gone. The air takes you.

This is the first second of paragliding in Interlaken. After that, the sky belongs to you.

For travelers who reach this corner of Switzerland, paragliding is rarely just an activity. It is the moment when the whole reason you came to the Alps suddenly makes sense. The mountains become smaller. The lakes more brilliant. Time slows down. And for fifteen, twenty, sometimes thirty minutes, you fly above one of the most photographed alpine landscapes on Earth.

If you are searching for the soul of paragliding in Switzerland, Interlaken is where it lives.

Why Interlaken Became the Paragliding Capital of Switzerland

Interlaken was not chosen by accident. The geography wrote the story before the pilots arrived.

The town sits in a flat alluvial plain between two large lakes, surrounded on three sides by steep mountain walls. When the morning sun hits those walls, the air heats and rises. By midday, predictable thermal columns spiral upward from the south face of the Niederhorn and the slopes above Beatenberg. By late afternoon, a soft lake breeze pulls the warm air back down. For a paraglider, this is choreography. You launch into rising air, you glide, you land on a meadow surrounded by snow peaks. The valley itself is the stage.

Add to that two more rare conditions. The first is the Höhematte, a vast central meadow inside Interlaken that we will come back to. The second is access. From most launch sites, the drive from the town centre takes less than fifteen minutes. The chairlift to the takeoff hill takes another seven. You can be in your harness, ready to run off a cliff, less than an hour after eating breakfast.

Few alpine resorts in Europe combine this kind of geography, this kind of reliability, and this kind of logistics. That is why paragliding in Interlaken evolved from a fringe sport in the 1980s to one of the most booked summer activities in the entire Bernese Oberland.

The Pilots Who Brought Paragliding to Interlaken

Modern paragliding is younger than most people think. The first true parapente flight took place in 1978 in Mieussy, a small village in the French Alps, when a group of climbers decided to descend a mountain using a rectangular skydiving canopy instead of climbing back down. The idea crossed into Switzerland within a few years, and Interlaken caught the attention of early pilots immediately: predictable thermals, a soft landing zone, and a town already comfortable with adventurous visitors.

Among the operators who shaped the local scene, Alpin Air holds a particular place. Founded by Marc and Thea Herzig, who still own and run the company today, Alpin Air has been flying tandem passengers above Interlaken for more than two decades. Their pilots have logged tens of thousands of flights from Beatenberg and Niederhorn, often with the same passengers returning year after year.

Höhematte: The Meadow That Refused to Disappear

To understand paragliding in Interlaken, you need to understand a single, stubborn meadow.

The Höhematte, which means high meadow in Swiss German, is a 14-hectare green field in the very centre of town. While every other Swiss city built up its core with hotels, banks and boutiques, Interlaken kept this enormous open space. There is a reason for that, and the reason is older than paragliding itself.

In 1864, thirty-seven local landowners signed a pact. They formed an association called the Höhe-Interessentschaft, the Heights Stakeholders, and committed to a single rule: nothing would ever be built on the meadow. No buildings. No fences. No private use. The view of the Jungfrau massif from the centre of town would remain open for everyone, forever.

More than 160 years later, the agreement still holds. The Höhematte is still grass. The Jungfrau still rises above it. And, by happy coincidence of geography, it became the most iconic landing zone in the world of tandem paragliding.

Almost every commercial paragliding flight in Interlaken ends here. On a sunny afternoon, you can sit on the grass with a drink and watch tandems land every two or three minutes. The pilots often spin the wing or do a small swoop above the field before touching down, partly for the passenger, partly because the audience has been waiting. Children clap. Tourists film. The pilot folds the wing in three seconds, passes the harness back, and walks off to a waiting van that will take him back up to the launch site for another flight.

It is, quietly, one of the most beautiful daily rituals in Switzerland.

What It Actually Feels Like to Fly Above the Bernese Oberland

The takeoff is the hardest part. Not technically, because your pilot does the technical work, but psychologically. You are running off a hill. Your body knows this is wrong. Your brain has spent your entire life building reflexes against this exact movement.

"Most first-timers think the launch will be the hardest moment. It never is. It is the 60 seconds before," says Marc, founder of Alpin Air, who has flown thousands of flights from Beatenberg.

Then your feet leave the ground and the resistance disappears. You are sitting in a chair in the sky. The harness cradles you. The wing is somewhere above your head, taking the wind on your behalf. The pilot is behind you, narrating quietly: Look to your left, that is the Eiger. The dark face. The Mönch is the one in the middle. The Jungfrau is the highest one, the queen.

You smell pine first. Then the strange, mineral coldness of high air. If the cows are out, their bells will reach you in long, irregular waves from the slopes below, sometimes half a kilometre away, somehow still clear. You will hear a sound you did not expect: silence. Real silence. The kind that exists only when you are no longer near roads, engines, or other humans.

The view changes by the minute. As you spiral up in a thermal, Lake Thun shifts from an aerial photograph into a living thing, ferries leaving thin white trails, vineyard terraces above Spiez catching the last sun. As you turn south, the Eiger Nordwand fills your peripheral vision, the most famous north face in mountaineering history, dark and solemn even in summer.

Halfway through the flight, your pilot may offer to do an acrobatic move. A wingover, a spiral, a quick dive that lifts your stomach into your throat. Most people accept once and ask not to do it again. A few ask for two more. There is no judgment in either choice.

The descent toward the Höhematte takes longer than you expect. The pilot uses the landing approach to circle the town one last time, dropping altitude in soft S-shapes. The grass comes up. You hear: feet up. You glide in, you slide for two metres, you stop.

Then your legs remember they are legs. You laugh. You always laugh.

Where Pilots Take Off: Beatenberg, Niederhorn, and the Hidden Sites

Most commercial flights in Interlaken launch from one of three sites, each with a different character and a different view.

Beatenberg-Amisbühl sits at around 1,300 metres above sea level, fifteen minutes from Interlaken by van and a short chairlift away from the launch ramp. It offers reliable conditions, panoramic views over both lakes, and is the workhorse site of the Interlaken paragliding industry. Most first-time flyers launch from here. Total flight time is around fifteen to twenty minutes.

Niederhorn is higher, nearly 1,950 metres, and accessed by a longer cable car from Beatenberg village. Flights from Niederhorn are longer (often thirty minutes or more), the views are wider, and the takeoff is more dramatic. This is where pilots bring photographers, repeat customers, and travelers who specifically asked for the long flight.

Männlichen and First, in the Grindelwald valley, are also used by some operators when they want to give passengers a closer look at the Eiger. These flights have a different character: more alpine, more vertical, less lake. They tend to be booked by experienced flyers or visitors who specifically want the high mountain perspective.

A few smaller, lesser-known sites such as Brienzer Rothorn are flown by advanced pilots only and are not part of standard tandem operations. They exist mostly in conversations between local pilots over a beer in the evening.

The Best Time of Year to Paraglide in Interlaken

The commercial paragliding season in Interlaken runs from roughly late April to late October. Within that window, the experience changes month by month.

May and June offer fresh green slopes, snow still capping the high peaks, and quieter launch sites. Mornings are calm and afternoons can be glorious.

July and August are peak season. The weather is most reliable, but launch sites can be busy and you may share the sky with twenty other tandems. The light is high and bright. Cows are on the alpages, which means you will hear the bells.

September and October are, in the opinion of many local pilots, the most beautiful time to fly. The light is golden. The crowds are gone. The first dustings of snow appear on the Jungfrau. The vineyards above Spiez turn red and gold. Visibility is at its sharpest, and on a clear day you can see all the way to the Bernese Mittelland and, sometimes, to the Black Forest in Germany.

Each flight is weather-dependent. Wind above 25 km/h, low clouds, or thunderstorm risk will ground operations. Most operators decide on the morning of the flight and rebook quickly when conditions change.

What to Expect on Your First Tandem Flight

You arrive at the meeting point, usually in the centre of Interlaken or near the Höhematte. A van picks up the group of the day, eight to twelve passengers and their pilots, and drives up to the launch site. There is a short briefing. Your pilot will explain how to run, where to put your hands, and what to do during landing. The harness is fitted in less than two minutes.

The most common question I hear when a client reaches the launch point is always the same: "Do I have to jump?" You do not. You run three steps and the wing does the rest. Every single person who has asked me that question landed smiling.

You land in the Höhematte, the park in the centre of Interlaken. People eating lunch on the grass look up. Some of them clap. It is one of the stranger and better moments of the whole experience.

The flight itself lasts between fifteen and thirty minutes depending on the launch site, the thermal conditions, and the altitude difference. You can request photos and a video, which the pilot will take using a small camera mounted on his arm or a selfie stick.

After landing on the Höhematte, you walk back to the meeting point, return your harness, and receive your photos and video. The whole experience, from pickup to drop-off, usually takes between two and three hours.

You do not need to be fit. You do not need to know anything about flying. You do not need any equipment beyond closed shoes and a layer warmer than you think you need. Children from around five years old can fly with most operators. Older travelers fly often. Couples on honeymoon fly even more often.

💡 Insider Tip from Pierre: If you can choose, book the late-afternoon flight on a clear day in September. The light starts turning golden around 5 p.m., the thermals are smooth, and the pilots have more time to extend the flight. I have seen people land in tears, in a good way, three or four times. Bring a layer for after the landing, even when it is warm in town. The high air is colder than you expect.

How Much Does Tandem Paragliding in Interlaken Cost?

Tandem paragliding in Interlaken starts at CHF 170 for a standard flight from Beatenberg (15-20 minutes). The longer Niederhorn flight runs CHF 260-299 and adds a cable car ride and ten to fifteen extra minutes in the air. Photo and video packages cost around CHF 40 more, delivered by download the same day.

*Prices vary by operator and season. Always confirm directly when booking.

Short flight or long flight: which should I book?

Book the standard flight if: it is your first time, you have a tight schedule, or you are booking for children or someone who is nervous. Fifteen to twenty minutes in the air is more than enough to change the way you see the valley.

Book the long Niederhorn flight if: you have some experience flying, you want the widest possible panorama, or you are a photographer and want time to shoot.

The photo package is almost always worth it. You will not be able to take photos yourself during the flight, and the pictures the pilot takes, arms-out above the Alps, are genuinely difficult to recreate any other way.

Your Questions About Tandem Paragliding in Interlaken

How long does a paragliding flight in Interlaken last?

Most tandem flights last between 15 and 25 minutes in the air, with the full experience (pickup, briefing, drive to launch, flight, return) taking 2 to 3 hours. Longer Niederhorn flights can reach 30 minutes or more in the air.

Is paragliding in Interlaken safe?

Switzerland has one of the strictest tandem paragliding regulatory frameworks in Europe, supervised by the Swiss Hang Gliding and Paragliding Federation (SHV-FSVL). Pilots must hold a tandem license, log a minimum number of flights, and pass annual checks. Equipment is inspected regularly. While no aerial sport is risk-free, the safety record of established Interlaken operators is among the best in the world.

Is paragliding scary if you are afraid of heights?

Not in the way most people expect. The sensation is floating, not falling. You are seated in a harness that cradles you like an armchair. There is no sudden drop, no stomach-flip, no sense of being unsafe. Passengers who describe themselves as terrified of heights consistently report that the flight felt "not scary at all" and that the floating sensation was nothing like standing at the edge of a balcony.

The one moment that can feel intense is the 60 seconds before takeoff. That is where the nerves live. Once you are in the air, they go. "Most first-timers think the launch will be the hardest moment. It never is. It is the 60 seconds before," says Marc of Alpin Air. Every single person who has asked me whether they had to jump landed smiling.

Is there a weight limit for paragliding in Interlaken?

Most operators set a minimum weight of 25 kg and a maximum of 100-110 kg for a standard tandem flight. Age minimum is generally 5-6 years; parental consent is required for all minors.

No particular physical fitness is required. You run three metres on takeoff. Paragliding is generally not recommended for people with severe cardiac conditions, chronic vertigo, or during pregnancy. If in doubt, contact your operator before booking.

What should I wear for a paragliding flight?

Closed shoes (sneakers are fine), comfortable clothes that allow you to run a few steps, and one layer warmer than the temperature in town. Sunglasses are recommended. Loose items should be left in the van.

Can children paraglide in Interlaken?

Yes. Most operators accept children from around 5-6 years old, with a minimum weight of around 25 kg. Parental consent is required. Children tend to be remarkably calm once in the air.

How far in advance should I book?

In July and August, book 1-2 weeks ahead at minimum: late-afternoon slots fill first, often weeks before the date. In May, June, September and October, 2-3 days usually suffices.

Same-day booking is possible outside of peak season but carries real risk if your trip window is short. When a flight is cancelled due to weather, operators typically contact you within 24 hours to reschedule.

Do I get photos and video from my flight?

Yes. Almost every commercial pilot in Interlaken carries a small camera and offers a photo-and-video package, usually delivered by digital download within a few hours of landing.

Can I paraglide in Interlaken in winter?

Yes, but the offer is more limited. Some operators run winter flights when conditions allow, with launches from snow-covered hills and landings on prepared zones. The view is spectacular when the peaks are white. Book in advance and expect more weather-dependent cancellations than in summer.

Fly, Then Stay Above the Valley

For travelers who arrive in Interlaken expecting mountains, paragliding is the moment when the mountains turn into a memory. Between the silence of high air, the cowbells reaching you from far below, and the slow descent toward a meadow that thirty-seven farmers protected for 160 years so that strangers could land on it today, this is one of the most authentically Swiss experiences you can book with a credit card.

For the flight itself, we recommend Alpin Air, founded by Marc and Thea Herzig: the operator we know, trust, and send guests to without hesitation. Book directly here.

Want to make it a full day? Combine your flight with our Wine Tour in nearby Spiez or with our Farm Tour. You go from the sky above Lake Thun in the morning to the vineyards on its shores in the afternoon. No other day in Interlaken touches it.

*Written by Pierre Vetsch, founder & head guide at Swiss Local Adventures

Source:

on-site experience from the Beatenberg launch site, 2026.