Rugenpark Hotel, Interlaken

I stayed here with my mom for 2 nights and we truly enjoyed our stay. Before booking, we did some research online and this hotel has been ranked first place on another review website so we thought this would be our best choice.

We paid CHF 130 per room per night and this rate includes breakfast. The hotel is run by Chris and Ursula and this couple is great ! They told us everything we needed to know about our stay in Interlaken and suggested us a few itineries to follow. The main highlight for our stay was the trip to Jungfraujoch and Chris told us it's best to go up via Grindelwald and down via Lauterbrunnen. He even gave us directions to restaurants and a tour route of Interlaken.

Location of hotel: Interlaken is a very small town and there are many hotels near the train station. There are two train stations in Interlaken - Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost. Trains from Geneva or Montreux stop at Interlaken West before arriving at Interlaken Ost and trains to Luzern from Interlaken Ost. It takes only 3 minutes to travel by train from Interlaken West to Interlaken Ost and swiss trains are so efficient you needn't worry about changing platforms that are too far apart. Hotel Rugenpark is only 3 minutes walk away from Interlaken West. I would say staying near Interlaken West is better than Interlaken Ost because there are more shops surrounding the west station and the tourist information centre is also near the west station. To find the hotel, turn left when you exit the train station, walk straight ahead for 3 minutes and you will find the hotel on your left.

Our room is on the second floor and Ursula helped us with our heavy luggage. When you leave the hotel during the day, you need to put the hotel key on the key board and this will give you another key which enables you to lock the key on the key board. This ensures that no one else will be able to take the key away from the board to go into your room. I am quite impressed with this system.

Our room has a double bed and TV. Upon arrival, Ursula asked us if we needed a kettle which she brought it to us almost immediately after that. Towels are provided and the bathroom is very very clean. There are a few brochures on the table which tells you almost everything you need to know about Interlaken including train times for Jungfraujoch. Also, you could find boat times for boats departing from Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost. Boats from Interlaken West go to Spiez and Lake Thun and you could get a free boat ride if you posses a Swiss pass.

Breakfast is included in the rate. Buffet breakfast is served from 7.30am till 9.30am and there are quite a lot to choose from. We didn't feel hungry at lunch time and so we had early dinner at 5pm everyday during our stay with Hotel Rugenpark.

A disadvantage of hotel is that there is no lift but Ursula has been most helpful with our luggage and I believe she treats everyone the same.

You could access internet from the internet room and you need to pay in advance. Not sure about the rate because I didn't use it. You could leave your luggage at the hotel after check-out and this is free.

Note: CHF 130 is approximately £65.

I would definitely stay here again if I were to go back to Interlaken. It is not the cheapest hotel you can find in Interlaken but I believe it is worth every cent you pay for.