Things to Do in Matten bei Interlaken
Matten bei Interlaken, Interlaken: Calm and residential, with mountain views that feel earned rather than packaged. The kind of place where the drama of the Alps quietly surrounds everyday Swiss life.
Matten bei Interlaken sits just south of its famous neighbor with a markedly different tempo. While Interlaken's main drag buzzes with tour groups and adventure operators, Matten bei Interlaken breathes. Wooden balconies spill geraniums. Cowbells drift down from higher pastures. Streets here belong to locals, not passers-through. The village's low-rise chalet architecture keeps things grounded. You catch the same jaw-dropping silhouette of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. But framed by kitchen gardens and drying laundry. The community is tight-knit in the way Swiss German villages tend to be, polite, orderly, and not interested in performing for visitors. That's not unfriendliness; it's a place that exists for its residents first and tourists second, which is precisely why it's worth basing yourself here. Matten bei Interlaken also sits at a useful geographic crossroads: the Aare river meadows are minutes away on foot, the Harder Kulm funicular is a short walk into central Interlaken, and the Bernese Oberland's trail network fans out from the village edge. The overall feel is quietly prosperous without being showy, well-maintained gardens, the occasional farmhouse that predates Swiss tourism by a century or two, and the pervasive smell of fresh alpine air tinged with cut grass in summer and woodsmoke in autumn. It rewards the traveler who is happy to walk to find things rather than have them delivered to the hotel doorstep.
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Top Attractions in Matten bei Interlaken
Jungfrau Panorama Meadows
The open fields at Matten bei Interlaken's southern edge offer some of the most unobstructed north-face views of the Jungfrau massif you'll find without taking a single cable car. On clear mornings, the snow on the upper ridges turns a faint rose-gold before the valley below wakes up. The kind of sight that makes you pocket your phone and just stand there. A low wooden fence marks the meadow boundary. At dawn, only birdsong and the distant rush of the Aare break the hush.
Harder Kulm (via Interlaken walkway)
Matten bei Interlaken's position makes it one of the quieter approach points for the walk into Interlaken toward the Harder Kulm funicular, which climbs to the 'Two Lakes Bridge' with its famous split view of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. The forest trail up from the funicular base involves steep wooden staircases through cool beech forest that smells of damp earth and resin. The visual payoff, both lakes simultaneously, the full Jungfrau range behind, justifies the whole trip to Switzerland.
Aare River Walk
The Aare runs a turquoise-green that looks almost artificial, a product of glacial meltwater carrying fine rock flour in suspension. The riverside path linking Matten bei Interlaken to the broader valley is one of the pleasant flat walks in an otherwise hilly region. Willows trail in the current. On warm afternoons you'll see local swimmers braving water that stays shockingly cold even in August. Benches face directly up-valley toward the mountains at intervals along the gravel path.
Paragliding Landing Zone
The flat meadow fields near Matten bei Interlaken serve as the main landing zone for paragliders who launch from Beatenberg and Grindelwald. Even watching them drift in, bright wings against the white of the Jungfrau, silent until the last hundred meters, is oddly compelling. The whole sequence from a speck in the sky to a running stop on the grass takes about ten minutes. It never entirely loses its dramatic quality.
Local Chalet Architecture Walk
Matten bei Interlaken rewards a slow walk through its residential backstreets specifically for the older farmhouses, wide eaves designed to shed deep Swiss winters, carved wooden lintels, and painted dates above doorways that sometimes stretch back to the 17th or 18th century. These aren't museums; people live in them. The gardens are immaculate in the Swiss way, every plank of fence aligned, every flower box symmetrical.
St. Beatus Caves (day trip from Matten)
About 20 minutes west along Lake Thun's shoreline, limestone cliffs hide a cave system that burrows deep into the rock and stays a cool, damp 10°C year-round. The contrast with summer heat outside is almost shocking. Inside, formations drip steadily and the echo of underground streams fills the passages with a low, resonant sound. The associated legend of an early Christian hermit gives the site a slightly eccentric charm that sits well alongside the geology.
Where to Eat in Matten bei Interlaken
Restaurant Bären Matten
Traditional Swiss
Hotel-Restaurant Rugenpark
Swiss hotel dining
Gasthof Hirschen
Guesthouse restaurant
Migros and Coop (Interlaken, 15-min walk)
Self-catering and picnic supplies
Casual pizzerias along Hauptstrasse
Casual Italian-Swiss
Matten bei Interlaken After Dark
Hotel terrace bars (Matten itself)
Matten bei Interlaken turns quiet after dark. Sip a beer on a guesthouse terrace while the last alpenglow fades off the Jungfrau. It is the village's most authentic evening option. Honestly, it is not a bad trade.
Buddy's Pub (Interlaken, 15-min walk)
This bar is the meeting point for Interlaken's international backpacker crowd. Loud, warm, busy from around 9pm until well past midnight in summer. The walk back to Matten bei Interlaken stays flat and well-lit. You will survive.
Hotel du Lac Bar (Interlaken)
A low-key hotel bar offers lake views and hikers who have just returned from the trails. Hiking boots rest under bar stools, beer pours are honest, occasional live guitar drifts over weekends. Relax.
Getting Around Matten bei Interlaken
Matten bei Interlaken is compact. Walking covers most of it in under 20 minutes. The postbus network links to Interlaken Ost and West train stations on a regular schedule, so car-free travel is entirely practical. Swiss regional passes cover buses plus trains. One ticket handles most combinations. Cycling suits the flat valley floor. Rental bikes wait in central Interlaken and riverside paths toward Thun or Brienz stay almost level. For Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn, or Grindelwald, ride the BOB and WAB mountain railways from Interlaken Ost, roughly a 15-minute walk or one bus stop from Matten bei Interlaken's center.
Where to Stay in Matten bei Interlaken
Backpacker Villa Sonnenhof
Hostel / Budget, Budget-friendly
Local farmhouse B&Bs
Budget to Mid-range, Budget-friendly
Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel (Interlaken, 10-min walk)
Luxury, Luxury splurge
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