We accidentally (on purpose) spent the New Year in Interlaken. First of all, right decision! Interlaken itself is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. A village at the center of two emerald lakes with mountains all around. Interlaken was the PERFECT place to settle in for the bulk of our trip as it provided easy access to many incredible mountain vistas and villages and they had a ton of fun holiday activities.
They take their New Year's festivities very seriously. The interesting part is, New Year's Eve is not the main event. It's not really an event at all. New Year's Day and January 2nd are what's up for Interlakeners.
We kept Maya's first New Year's low key with family time at our super cute Airbnb. We shopped at the Coop, bought totally reasonable and tasty champagne and made our not-so-sophisticated charcuterie board. We stayed in partly because we didn't want to scare Maya with noisy fireworks, only for the night to come and go without much outside fanfare. We weren't sure why the deal was, since we had heard there would be some serious celebrations.
Apparently they save up all of the NYE party energy and let it loose on New Year's Day! Interlaken really goes all out. They transformed the area around Höhematte Park into their Touch the Mountains festival. Complete with outdoor concerts, local food, drinks and fireworks. And apparently, Maya is not phased in the least by fireworks. The most impressive part of the whole set up was their HUGE "Ice Magic" rink that had several different areas including a mini hockey game, a magical igloo and a large figure skating rink. Perfect for little and big kids.
Finally, on January 2nd they celebrate the Harder-Poschete. Say whaaat? Masked figures called the Hardermann "haunt" Interlaken by running and shouting through the streets and enticing spectators to join in. I'm sorry (not sorry) we missed the main events that day while touring the lakes, but we caught of glimpse of a band still rocking the streets late into the night. Next time we'll definitely bring our masks and join in.
There's really no downside to Interlaken this time of year especially if your young family is in tow. They put together an entertaining couple of days. The one tiny hitch is that most stores are closed for the holidays which are officially Jan 1 and 2. So if you're a shopper, you'll be deprived. Not a big deal for us at all, and the grocery stores were still open.
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