From Berne over Lake Thun, from the Rhone Valley over the Gemmi or through the Simmenthal come the tourists, seeing as they come the white peaks of the Oberland.  And Interlaken welcomes them all, and rests them for their closer relations with the High Alps by trips to the region of the Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, and Muerren, and the great mountain plateaux looking down upon them.  Interlaken is not a climbing center.  Consequently mountaineering is little in evidence, conversation about ascents is seldom heard, and ice-axes, ropes, and nailed boots are seen more often in shop windows than in the streets.

Interlaken is not like some other Swiss towns.  Berne, Geneva, Zurich, and Lucerne are places possessing notable churches, museums, and monuments of the past, having a social life of their own and being distinguished in some special way, as centers of culture and education.  Interlaken, however, has little life apart from that made by the throngs of visitors who gather here in the summer.  There is little to see except a group of old monastic buildings, and in Unterseen and elsewhere some fine old carved chalets, but none of these receives much attention.

The attraction, on what one may call the natural side, centers in the softly beautiful panorama of woods and meadows, green hills and snow peaks which opens to the eye, and on the social side in the busy little promenade and park of the Hoeheweg, bordered with hotels, shops, and gardens.  Here is ever a changing picture in the height of the season, in fact, quite kaleidoscopic as railways and steamboats at each end of Interlaken send their passengers to mingle in the passing crowd.  All “sorts and conditions of men” are here, and representatives of antagonistic nations meet in friendly intercourse.

On the hotel terraces and in the little cafes and tea rooms, one hears a babel of voices, every nation of Europe seeming to speak in its own native tongue.  Life goes easily.  There is a gaiety in the little town that is infectious.  It is a sort of busy idleness.  “To trip or not to trip” is the question.  If the affirmative, then a rush to the mountain trains and comfortable cabs.  If the negative, then a turning to the shops, where pretty things worthy of Paris or London are seen side by side with Swiss carvings and Swiss embroidery and many little superficial souvenirs.  As the contents of the shops are exhibited in the windows, so the character of the visitors is shown by the crowds, and the life of the place is seen in the constant ebb and flow of the people on the Hoeheweg.

Interlaken is undoubtedly a tourist center, for few trips to Switzerland overlook or omit this delightful spot.  Thousands come here, who never go any nearer the High Alps.  They are quite content to sit on the benches of the Hoeheweg, listening to the music and enjoying the view.  There is a casino, most artistically planned, with plashing fountains, shady paths, and wonderful flowerbeds.  Here many persons pass the day, and, contrary to what one might expect, it is quiet and restful, lounging in that parklike garden.