Interlaken means between the lakes, which is exactly where it sits: a flat strip of land on the Aare, wedged between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with the Bernese Oberland piled up behind. On a clear day the Jungfrau fills the end of the main avenue, and visitors line up to take pictures of that view across the green lawn of the Höhematte, where paragliders land.
The town grew out of an Augustinian monastery founded in the twelfth century, and from the early nineteenth century it became one of the first mass tourist towns in Europe, attracting English visitors, artists and poets. The grand hotels along the Höheweg date from that period. Today it is the springboard for the Jungfrau region and the base for every kind of mountain activity, and it can be crowded in July and August.
For a rider, arriving here after the Grand Tour is a gentle ending. The road along Lake Thun or Lake Brienz is smooth and scenic, with lake water on one side and steep hills on the other, and it is slower than it looks because of traffic, speed cameras and tour buses. Good riding starts as soon as you leave, up the Lauterbrunnen valley with its waterfalls, or over the Brünig toward Lucerne, or up the Grimsel from Meiringen. The mountain passes in this area are open from roughly June to October.
All services are here: fuel at several stations around the edge of town, supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants with every price. A population of about five thousand makes it small, but it feels bigger because of all the visitors. Parking for a motorcycle is easier than for a car, and the train station is the centre of everything. Take an evening walk by the river when the day-trippers have gone, and the town becomes much quieter.