Innertkirchen sits at 625 metres where the Haslital opens out, and in practice it is a junction. Two famous passes start here, the Grimsel climbing southeast toward the Rhône glacier and the Susten rising east toward the Reuss valley, and the roads divide at the edge of the village. The Aare river runs through, fresh from the glaciers, and just downstream the Aare Gorge cuts a narrow slot of polished limestone that can be walked on timber galleries. The valley is also the heart of the Oberhasli hydropower scheme, with turbines and tunnels bored deep inside the mountains, which explains the large grey buildings you pass.
Four kilometres down the valley is Meiringen, the bigger place and the one with more services. The town says it invented the meringue, a claim that is hard to prove but cheerfully repeated in every bakery window. It also has a more literary link. Arthur Conan Doyle sent Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty over the nearby Reichenbach Falls in 1893, and there is a small Holmes museum in town and a funicular to the falls. For fuel, groceries and a proper meal, Meiringen is the answer, and a stop here before the passes is sound planning.
The riding from Innertkirchen is as good as Swiss riding gets. Susten has long, perfectly graded curves up to a summit near 2,224 metres, with views of glaciers, while Grimsel goes up to around 2,164 metres past big reservoirs and rock walls before reaching the Furka and Nufenen roads beyond. Surfaces are good, but traffic can be heavy on summer weekends, and weather turns quickly, with cold rain or fog at the top while the valley basks. The passes close in winter, typically from around late October or November until late spring or early June, with dates depending on snow, so check before you plan a trip.
Morning is the best time to leave, when the air is cold and the tarmac empty. Pack a warm layer, because even in July the summits can be close to freezing, and keep a hand on the fuel gauge, since there are no stations on the passes themselves.