Tandem paragliding near Lauterbrunnen

There are two places to fly a tandem from where you are staying, and they are genuinely different flights rather than a better and a worse one. Interlaken is the big, easy, well-oiled option over the lakes. The Lauterbrunnen valley is the flight between the cliffs. Which one suits you depends mostly on what else you are doing that day.

The two flights at a glance

Interlaken: the easy one, over the lakes

Most people who fly in this region fly here, and there is a reason for that. Several operators run tandems every day of the season, you meet in town, a van takes you up to the launch above Lake Thun, and you land on the big meadow in the middle of Interlaken with the whole of the Jungfrau massif in front of you on the way down. It is very well organised, there are lots of slots, and it is easy to fit around everything else.

It suits you if you are spending a day in Interlaken anyway, if you want the lakes in the picture, or if you would rather not plan a trip up to Mürren first. From the valley it is a short train ride, so it works as a morning out with Harder Kulm or a boat on Lake Brienz in the afternoon.

The Lauterbrunnen valley: the flight between the walls

This one launches from Mürren, on the terrace high on the valley’s western wall, and comes down inside the valley. You are close to the rock the whole way, with cliffs on one side and waterfalls coming off them, rather than crossing open air above a lake basin. It is a smaller operation and you make your own way up, but if you are staying here it is the flight over the place you are staying.

The valley operator, Airtime, publishes two flights. The Wall, CHF 199: take off at Mürren, fly the cliffs and waterfalls, land on the valley floor, twelve to twenty minutes in the air depending on conditions. Double Airtime, CHF 299: the same launch on a thermic flight, where the pilot uses rising air to stay up and climb, thirty to forty minutes. You book the Wall and ask your pilot on the day whether the conditions are there to upgrade.

Hang gliding: the other tandem from Interlaken

Hang gliders launch from Beatenberg too. You lie prone under a rigid wing rather than sit under a canopy, take a few running steps, and land on wheels in Interlaken. It feels faster and more like flying than paragliding does.

How to choose

• Doing Interlaken that day? Fly Interlaken. You are already there, and you land in town.
• Want the valley itself? Fly from Mürren. It is the only one that goes between the walls.
• Short on time or energy? Interlaken is the simpler logistics: you are met and driven up.
• Want the longest flight? Ask about thermic or longer options on either side, and book a warm day.

Neither is a mistake. If you have never flown before, either will be one of the best things you do here.

When to fly

Longer flights run on thermals, and thermals need the sun to have warmed the ground and the slopes. So a long flight wants a warm, settled, sunny day with some heat already in it, not a cold, flat, overcast morning. On a grey day there is nothing to climb in and a long flight becomes a short one with a longer wait. The standard flights have far more latitude. Either way, let the pilots choose the slot: they fly every day and know when the air is working.

Book it early in your trip, not on the last morning

Weather cancels flights. If yours is cancelled you are refunded or rebooked, so the only thing a cancellation costs you is the flight itself, and only if you left yourself no second chance. This is the same argument as the Schilthorn, and the honest practical case for a third night in the valley rather than a second.

The other thing in the sky here

You will see BASE jumpers. On a summer afternoon on the valley floor, look up at the cliffs on either side and you will watch canopies open against the rock, sometimes several in an hour. Lauterbrunnen is one of the most significant BASE jumping sites in the world, and has been for decades. It is not something you book. It is something you watch, from a bench, for free. If you want to be in the air yourself, that is what the tandem flights above are for.

The practical details

Interlaken

• Meeting point: in Interlaken. Most operators meet you in town or at your hotel there; check your booking.
• From Lauterbrunnen: the train to Interlaken Ost takes about 20 minutes.
• Weight and age limits vary by operator, and are shown on the booking page.

Lauterbrunnen valley (Airtime)

• Meeting point: in Mürren, just outside the Schilthornbahn cable car station. Look for the Airtime flag. Not in Lauterbrunnen, and there is no pickup.
• Getting up: the cable car to Grütschalp and the train to Mürren (the scenic way), or bus 141 to Stechelberg and the cable car up (the quick way). Then a ten-minute uphill walk to the launch.
• Landing: Stechelberg, next to the Schilthornbahn station. Bus 141 runs back down.
• The lift is not included in the flight price. Buy a single up to Mürren, or travel on a pass if you hold one.
• Weight: 90 kg as standard, 95 kg if you are over 5′11″, up to 100 kg in the right conditions in summer. Age: minimum 5, no upper limit.
• Cancellations: weather cancellations cost nothing. If you cancel, free more than 24 hours ahead, charged in full inside 24 hours.

Prices, limits and timings above are the operators’ own published figures at the date below. Confirm when you book.

More ways to get your heart rate up: hang gliding, skydiving, the Canyon Swing, canyoning, rafting and the rest.