Interlaken is the adventure capital of Switzerland, and a touristy, but great city you cannot miss. Canyoning the glaciers of the Swiss Alps is one of the biggest rushes you can get in Interlaken. Canyoning is a fun but scary mix of cliff jumping, repelling, and slipping down natural made water slides.
There are multiple canyons you can choose, some more difficult than others; when canyoning Interlaken, I chose Saxeteen. Canyoning can be dangerous, so always do research to make sure you have experienced guides, and keep in mind that flash flooding can occur. Canyon Saxeteen is the same canyon that 10 international tourists lost their lives in due to a flash flood. They do make you sign a lot of liability paperwork.
The canyons have slippery rock due to erosion from years of the water pummeling down, which makes a perfect slide for me and you! You wear protective clothing, butt guard, and helmets, and if the drop is too fall you will repell, rather than jump or slide. The water is more powerful than it looks and literally takes your breath away each time you go under. It’s also very very cold! Thank god for wet suits. Most jumps were 30-50 feet high, but as you know, from above it always looks higher!
It’s very important that you follow the directions of your guides perfectly because the water is shallow in some areas. If they say jump in sideways and you jump straight you might just break your little legs. They will go first and give you a mark that you need to hit. It’ll the the one spot there aren’t rocks to land on. If you are ever afraid of a jump, a guide will take you an alternative route. Amanda and I never had to do that, woo-hoo! But the last “big” jump, half of our group diverted from.
These photos are the best ones you’ll ever see on my site… because I didn’t take them, a professional did. These are the photos I purchased to be able to share from the tour company. Any hostel you stay at in Interlaken will hook you up with the company they partner with, so I’m not going to go into which company I used and review them.
The scariest jump of them all!
being reminded that I had very clearly been told to hold my arms in
If you want to read more on adventure check out white water rafting grade 5’s in the Nile River & Bungee jumping over the Nile, a couple of fun activities I did while in Uganda.
I’ve been twice in Interlaken, but stuck with the half-day tour, which eliminates the 50-footers, thankfully, because I would not have been able to handle them. I was scared enough repelling that I ended up just kinda slamming into the cliff while they dropped me down. I am a definitely scaredy cat, but I still recommend canyoning to everyone who goes to Interlaken. It is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience (or twice if you are me, and just as scared round two).
The scariest parts are definitely when they are telling you exactly where and how to jump, because “it’s really shallow and there are rocks here and there” WAH!
Yeah, that is the scariest part. I started to wonder if they played it up a bit to make it more fun for us! Mean trick.
Wow, sounds like so much fun :) Think I would have to take the alternate route though, I like to try and be brave but am really a scaredy cat!
we’re all a little but scaredy cat inside!
I first heard about canyoning on liz’s blog (young adventuress). She also did it in Interlaken. It really looks like so much fun and a great opportunity to explore a canyon. Until now I haven’t tried it but I will definitely try it especially now that i.I know that there are alternative routes if you don’t dare to jump ;)
I’ll have to look up her post! It’s so much fun and I bet with other companies they’ll have re-routes for you if something is too high. Plus, each canyon has different levels of difficulty so someone could also choose beginner :)
Woah it looks cool!!!
I was speaking just Yesterday about it with my boyfriend, they have a lot of options in Slovenia as well!
I’m not sure we’d dare it though ;)
It’s so funny because in Interlaken they said this is the only country that you can legally canyon. Then I heard in NZ it’s very popular (and the interlaken guys were kiwis) and it seems every few months I hear of more and more places with canyoning, even Goa. So weird! You should try it though!
That looks like a lot of fun – your photos are convincing me that I should get over my nervosa and just try canyoning already!
You should! And it’s great since you can skip the stuff that’s too scary.
Girl, what an experience! I’ve never done canyoning, but guess what… it’s been of course on my bucket list. I can’t swim though so I might find it a bit difficult, but with a team like yours I would certainly have a great fun!
Oh no, you can’t swim? Yes you might find some parts hard but the guides can help you too!
I am travelling to Interlaken and Salzburg next week please tell me must do so and where to find the right person to guide us there. We are also travelling to nice zermatt Geneva and Vienna. If anything else you wanna guide us it will be great
The last jump definitely looks the scariest, but it also seems like the most exciting and rewarding.