Merchants in Interlaken have always known how to inject their town with enough razzle-dazzle to keep visitors coming back. As such, Interlaken boasts one of the highest per-capita rates of nightclubs of any town its size in Switzerland. The town's business is so transient -- composed mostly of short-term visitors on their way to somewhere else -- the clientele of any particular bar or club is likely to change virtually every week. Keeping that in mind, here's a roster of those that, at this writing, were the most animated and/or fun.
You'll usually find a drinking buddy in the folksy, amiably kitschy Victoria Bar in the town's stateliest hotel, the Victoria-Jungfrau, Höheweg 41 (tel. 033/828-28-28). The Sternen Bar, set amid a cluster of shops on the all-pedestrian precinct of Jungfraustrasse (tel. 033/822-34-25), is the closest thing to a big-city wine bar in Interlaken, complete with the requisite platters of food and an alpine version of daytime soap-opera intrigue. Buddy's Pub, in the Hotel Splendid, Höheweg 33 (tel. 033/822-76-12), provides a cozy, richly paneled setting that evokes an upscale version of a smoke-stained pub in Ireland.
If you want to combine drinking with dancing, head to Johnny Carlton's Club, in the Hotel Carlton, Höheweg 94 (tel. 033/826-01-60). Although the dance floor is comically small, the music is danceable. Because there are never enough banquettes and chairs for the crowd, everyone seems to mingle extra freely. The disco High-Life, Rugenparkstrasse 2 (tel. 079/415-09-07), has been a staple for local residents for many years, especially for off-duty restaurateurs from throughout the surrounding valleys. It plays enough disco tunes from the 1970s and 1980s to unthaw the Big Chill. Somewhat more restrained is the Black and White, in the Hotel Metropole, Höheweg 37 (tel. 033/828-66-66), where a somewhat better-dressed crowd in their 30s and 40s mingles happily together.
Access to virtually every disco in Interlaken costs 7F ($5.75/£3) on Friday and Saturday nights, and is free other nights. Things begin happening a bit earlier than you might expect -- many are rocking by 11pm.
Despite its allegiance to the music coming out of London and Los Angeles, Interlaken also places a lot of emphasis on alpine folklore. The Casino Kursaal, Höheweg at Strandbadstrasse (tel. 033/827-61-00; www.casino-kursaal.ch), is the venue for the dinner-and-entertainment Swiss Folklore Show, a somewhat self-conscious duplication of the quirks and yodels that made alpine Switzerland so unique. The show is in a cavernous convention hall, Monday to Saturday beginning at 7:30pm during July and August, with a less dependable schedule during May and June and again in September and October. Access to the show, which at its most fun can be sudsy and the teeniest bit raucous, costs 24F ($20/£10); access to the show that includes a fixed-price menu ranges from 55F to 85F ($45-$70/£23-£36), depending on the meal you order.
Interlaken's most intense doses of folk schmaltz take the form of the Tellfreilichtspiele, a secular version of a Teutonic morality play that's presented in an open-air amphitheater in Interlaken's suburb of Matten, a village en route to Grindelwald, reached after a brisk 15-minute walk from Interlaken's center. A sweeping cast of as many as 250 presents Schiller's pageant play William Tell, complete with galloping horses, flaming torches, flower-draped cows, apple-shooting scenes, and an all-German text delivered in the lilting diphthongs of the Schwyzerdeutsch accent. Tickets for the 2 1/2-hour show cost 26F-48F ($21-$39/£11-£20), and are available from Tellbüro, Bahnhofstrasse 5 (tel. 033/822-37-22). The play is presented at 8pm every Thursday and Saturday between mid-June and early September. Bring a jacket or sweater, or rent one of the blankets from an on-site kiosk, as the alpine chill seems to enhance this epic tale of the struggle for Swiss independence from the tyranny of neighboring Austria.
