Interlaken to Brienz Boat: Which Side to Sit On

You cannot reserve a seat on this boat. BLS says so on its own ticket page: a ticket or a pass entitles you to travel but does not guarantee a seat, and reservations are not available on scheduled sailings. Which means the only thing standing between you and the good side of the deck is knowing which side that is before the gangway opens.

The crossing from Interlaken Ost to Brienz takes 1 hour 13 minutes and calls at up to six piers. The lake is the turquoise one, the one fed by glacier flour rather than by clear springs, and for seventy three minutes it is the whole view. Sit facing a wall of rock for an hour and you will write the review that says the boat is not meant for young people as young people will find it boring. Sit on the right and you get Iseltwald, then a waterfall dropping five hundred metres into the water beside you.

Here is the route pier by pier, the four sailings a week that are worked by a 1914 paddle steamer, and the ticket arithmetic that decides whether you pay CHF 75 or CHF 83 for the same day.

Which side of the boat should you sit on from Interlaken to Brienz?

Sit on the right side heading out from Interlaken Ost. The south shore carries the two things people photograph, the wooden pier at Iseltwald and the Giessbach Falls, and both pass close on the starboard side. The left side gets the long ridge of the Brienzergrat and the Rothorn above Brienz. Coming back, swap.

That is the short answer, and it needs one honest correction. The boat does not run down one shore, it zigzags. It leaves Interlaken Ost, touches Bönigen on the south side, crosses to Ringgenberg and Niederried on the north side, crosses back to Iseltwald, back again to Oberried, then over to Giessbach and finally north east to Brienz.

So both sides get close-ups of something. What the right side gets is the two arrivals that matter and the falls, which is why it is the side to take if you are only choosing once.

"Going out to Brienz, I sit on the right."

Timoté Baily, mountain photographer at Swiss Local Adventures

Going out, Iseltwald comes up about 44 minutes after Interlaken Ost. Giessbach follows about an hour in, on the BLS 2026 timetable.

The other half of the answer is light, and it is the reason I would pick an afternoon sailing over a morning one. You are travelling east. In the morning you sail into the sun and every photograph towards Brienz is backlit haze. After about one in the afternoon the sun sits behind you and the north shore lights up. The 14.07 out of Interlaken Ost is the sailing I would book with a camera.

Reviewers who have done it will also tell you the practical get-out: it's usually easy to move around to sit on either side, or front or back. True on a quiet Tuesday in May. Less true in August, when the same reviews describe the boat as very crowded, with people rammed into it everywhere. Board early, take the open rear deck, and you keep both sides.

What do you actually pass on the way to Brienz?

Six piers between the two ends, three on each shore. No summer sailing calls at all six: the 9.07 and 16.07 skip Oberried, the 11.07 and 14.07 skip Niederried and Oberried, and the 12.07 skips Ringgenberg and Niederried. Worth breaking the journey for: Iseltwald at about 44 minutes and Giessbach at about an hour.

Read off the official BLS Lake Brienz timetable for the summer period 23.05 to 11.10.2026, checked on bls-schiff.ch on 24 August 2026.

What the right side gives you, in order. Bönigen 18 minutes out, the last flat ground before the mountains close in. Then a long open crossing where the water goes from grey green to the turquoise that only shows up when the light is high. Then Iseltwald, the village on its own small headland with the wooden pier from the Korean drama, which has its own set of warnings that I have put in the guide to the Iseltwald pier rather than repeat here.

Then the twelve minutes between Iseltwald and Giessbach, which are the best of the crossing. The south wall gets steep and wooded, and the Giessbach Falls come into view above the boat, fourteen stages of white water and a Belle Epoque hotel sitting in front of them. The boat slows for the jetty and you get the whole thing broadside.

The left side is quieter and geologically better. Ringgenberg has a church built inside a ruined castle. Behind Niederried and Oberried the Brienzergrat runs the length of the north shore, and above Brienz the Brienzer Rothorn carries a steam rack railway that BLS calls the oldest in Switzerland. You will see the smoke before you see the train.

Which sailings are the paddle steamer Lötschberg?

Four a day, and only from Wednesday to Sunday. The Lötschberg, built in 1914, works courses 63, 64, 69 and 70 between 23 May and 27 September 2026. That means it leaves Interlaken Ost at 11.07 and 14.07, and Brienz at 12.40 and 15.40. A motor vessel covers Monday and Tuesday, and takes over daily from 28 September.

If riding the steamer is part of why you chose the boat, check the day of the week before you check the time. This is the single most common way to get the Lake Brienz boat wrong, because every sailing looks identical in the timetable and only four of the ten are the steamer.

From the official BLS Lake Brienz timetable, checked on 24 August 2026.

The Saturday evening round cruise is the one to know about. It runs on the steamer on Saturdays from 23 May to 29 August, it skips 1 August because that is Swiss National Day, and it is the only sailing that gets a day visitor to the illuminated Giessbach Falls and home again. Leave at 19.07, reach Giessbach at 20.09, take the funicular up at 20.15, come down at 20.40 and catch the 20.51 back into Interlaken Ost at 21.53.

One detail for anyone travelling with small children. The Lötschberg carries a play cabin for children aged four and over, which is the difference between seventy three minutes of complaint and seventy three minutes of peace.

Which Lake Brienz boat ticket should you buy?

The both lakes day ticket at CHF 83 rather than the Lake Brienz day ticket at CHF 75. Eight francs buys you Lake Thun as well, which is the difference between one crossing and a whole day of boats. Children aged 6 to 15 pay a flat CHF 15 on either, and children under 6 travel free.

Prices from bls-schiff.ch and bls.ch, checked on 24 August 2026.

Four things this table decides for you.

The child fare is the bargain of the lake. CHF 15 for a full day of boats, against CHF 75 for the adult beside them. That is a fifth of the price, not half, and it is worth building a family day around.

Skip first class. Reviewers are blunt about it and I agree: 1st class on the BLS is not worth the money, 2nd class is recommended. CHF 37 for the day upgrade buys you a quieter salon on a boat where the good seats are outside anyway.

Check the Saver Day Pass first. BLS itself points at it: from CHF 29 for a day on Swiss public transport, boats included. If it is available for your date it beats every ticket above.

If you hold a Swiss Travel Pass, you already have this. Scheduled Lake Brienz sailings are fully covered, and reviewers call the crossing a great bargain, especially if included in passes like the Swiss Travel Pass. One warning that belongs here rather than at the kiosk: the pass covers the boat to Giessbach but not the funicular waiting at the jetty, which is a separate CHF 14 and catches people out. The detail is in the Giessbach funicular guide.

Whether to buy a boat ticket at all, or take the train one way and the boat the other, is the wider question and I answered it in the day trip to Brienz guide rather than duplicate it here.

Do you need to book, and can you get off along the way?

No booking, and yes to getting off. There is nothing to book and no gates: you walk aboard, find a seat and show your ticket when the crew comes round. A day ticket lets you hop off and back on all day at any pier. What you cannot do is reserve a seat, because BLS does not offer reservations on scheduled sailings.

That combination is worth understanding, because it sets how the day works.

Boarding is first come, first served. The pier at Interlaken Ost is Lanzenen 1, a short walk from the station, and in July and August the queue forms twenty minutes before departure. Arriving five minutes early in high season is how you end up standing.

Breaking the journey is free with a day ticket. The obvious use is Giessbach: take the 14.07 out, get off at 15.09, spend two and a half hours at the falls and pick up the 17.51. With a single ticket you would be paying twice.

The gap between sailings is the real constraint. As one forum poster puts it, it's important to check the boat schedule ahead of time as they don't run as often as the trains, and the boats might run every hour or 2 hours. On Lake Brienz in summer it is five sailings each way. Miss one and you wait two hours or you walk to a train.

Reservations do exist for two things: a table in the boat restaurant, which is optional, and the special culinary cruises, which need booking in advance.

What is there to eat on the boat to Brienz?

Every summer sailing carries food, but not the same food. Six of the ten crossings have a full boat restaurant, one runs a restaurant with a reduced menu, and three have a bistro with cold and hot snacks. The 9.07 out and the 10.40 back are the breakfast cruise, which is the best value meal on the lake.

Catering symbols read off the official 2026 Lake Brienz timetable, checked on 24 August 2026.

Two ways to use this. If you want a proper lunch on the water, take the 12.07 or the 14.07 out. If you only want a coffee and a view, any of them will do and the bistro boats are less busy inside because everyone stays on deck.

The restaurant is also the reason this crossing works in bad weather, which brings us to the season.

What is the crossing like in bad weather and late in the season?

Better than you expect in rain, and much thinner in November. The boats run from 3 April to 6 December 2026, with the full summer timetable of five sailings each way only from 23 May to 11 October. The salons are enclosed and heated, every summer sailing carries food, and the lake does not care about cloud.

Month by month, this is what changes:

• April and May. The spring timetable runs four sailings each way to Brienz, leaving Interlaken Ost at 10.07, 12.07, 13.07 and 15.07, plus a 16.07 that turns at Iseltwald. Cold, empty, and the strongest waterfalls of the year at Giessbach.

• 23 May. The summer timetable starts and the Lötschberg comes out for Wednesday to Sunday. Saturday evening cruises begin the same day.

• June to August. Five sailings, six on Saturdays. The 9.07 is the busiest boat of the day and the one where reviewers report it took a long time to disembark.

• September. The month to pick. Full timetable, steamer to the 27th, and the crowds gone after the first week.

• 28 September to 11 October. Summer times continue but the steamer is replaced by a motor vessel every day. Same route, different boat.

• 12 October to 6 December. Reduced service, two connections each way at Giessbach, and a lake with nobody on it. Then nothing until April.

On the weather itself, the rule is simple. Rain is not a reason to cancel a Lake Brienz crossing, it is a reason to book the restaurant. Wind is different. Sitting on the open foredeck of a paddle steamer in a headwind for seventy three minutes is colder than the temperature suggests, even in July, because you are on water at 564 metres with the boat making its own draught. Bring a layer you would not think you need.

The one genuine weather loss is the colour. The turquoise of Lake Brienz depends on light hitting suspended glacier flour, so under heavy cloud the water reads grey and the photograph you came for is not there. That is a reason to move a Giessbach day, not to cancel a crossing.

How much walking and standing does the boat involve?

Very little, and it is the most accessible way to reach Brienz. From the platforms at Interlaken Ost to the Lanzenen 1 pier is a level walk of a few minutes, and the same at Brienz where Quai 1 sits beside the station. Once aboard you can stay in a seat for the whole 1 hour 13 minutes.

Where it asks something of you:

• Boarding. A gangway with a slope that changes with the water level, and no reserved seats, so a queue you may stand in for ten to twenty minutes in high season.

• Moving between decks. Stairs, and on the steamer they are narrow and steep. The best views are from the upper and rear decks, which means stairs.

• Prams. Fine on the main deck, awkward upstairs. Park it and carry the child up.

• Bicycles. Carried on every course, but the timetable marks limited bike spaces on all of them. First come, first loaded, and there is no reservation.

For anyone with limited mobility this is the good news of the whole day. The boat is level, the piers are level, and you can do Interlaken to Brienz and back without a step. The two things that do not work are the funicular at Giessbach, which is not wheelchair accessible, and the lanes of Iseltwald, which run steeply down to the water.

Your questions about the Interlaken to Brienz boat

How long does the boat from Interlaken to Brienz take?

1 hour 13 minutes each way, on all scheduled sailings, with up to six intermediate piers. Summer departures from Interlaken Ost are at 9.07, 11.07, 12.07, 14.07 and 16.07, plus 19.07 on Saturdays until 29 August, arriving in Brienz at 10.20, 12.20, 13.20, 15.20, 17.20 and 20.20. Coming back, boats leave Brienz at 10.40, 12.40, 13.40, 15.40 and 17.40, plus 20.40 on Saturdays until 29 August, and the last one reaches Interlaken Ost at 18.53. Checked on the official 2026 timetable on 24 August 2026.

Is the Lake Brienz boat included in the Swiss Travel Pass?

Yes, fully. Scheduled BLS sailings on Lake Brienz are covered, along with GA travelcards, Half Fare cards, Junior travelcards and municipality day tickets. There is nothing to book and no barrier: you board and show the QR code when the crew checks tickets. Two things the pass does not cover are a guaranteed seat, which does not exist on this lake, and the Giessbach funicular at the jetty, which is a separate CHF 14 return.

Which side of the boat has the best views to Brienz?

The right side heading out from Interlaken Ost. Bönigen, Iseltwald and the Giessbach Falls are all on the south shore, so they pass on the starboard side. The left side gets Ringgenberg with its church inside a castle ruin, the Brienzergrat ridge and the Brienzer Rothorn above Brienz. Because the route zigzags between the two shores, both sides get some close approaches, and you can move around freely during the crossing.

Can you get off the boat at Giessbach or Iseltwald and carry on later?

Yes, with a day ticket. Both piers are served by five sailings each way in summer, so you can break the journey and pick up a later boat at no extra cost. Giessbach is about an hour out of Interlaken Ost and Iseltwald about 44 minutes. With a single ticket instead of a day ticket you would pay again for the second leg, which is why the day ticket at CHF 75, or CHF 83 for both lakes, is the sensible buy.

Is the Lake Brienz boat worth it with children?

Yes, for two reasons that have nothing to do with scenery. Children aged 6 to 15 pay a flat CHF 15 for a whole day of boats, and under 6 travel free. And the paddle steamer Lötschberg carries a play cabin for children aged four and over on its Wednesday to Sunday sailings, which are the 11.07 and 14.07 out of Interlaken Ost. Book one of those two and a seventy three minute crossing stops being a negotiation.

Do you need to book the Interlaken to Brienz boat in advance?

No. Scheduled sailings take no reservations at all, so nothing can be booked and nothing needs to be. Buy on board, in the online timetable with your train ticket, or use a pass. The only bookings that exist are a table in the boat restaurant, which is optional, and the special culinary cruises. The trade-off is that a ticket entitles you to travel but does not guarantee a seat, so in July and August join the queue at Lanzenen 1 well before departure.

The seventy three minutes are the point

Most people treat this boat as transport and then write a review saying it was long. It is not transport. The train does Interlaken to Brienz in seventeen minutes and costs almost nothing, so if you are on the boat you are on it for the lake.

Get the three decisions right and it is the best value hour in the region: the right side going out, an afternoon sailing for the light, and the Wednesday to Sunday steamer if you can pick your day. For what to pair with the crossing, see things to do in Interlaken and summer in Interlaken.

If you would rather have the sailings, the stops and the train home worked out for you as one day, Pierre answers WhatsApp himself and will tell you straight whether it fits the week you have.

Source: BLS Schifffahrt Lake Brienz timetable 2026, BLS Schifffahrt tickets and prices and BLS Lake Brienz excursion page, all checked on 24 August 2026.

Written by Timoté Baily, your mountain photographer at Swiss Local Adventures