Project Solotrip - Part 2: Rainy Days

This is the second part of the series of my solo trip to Switzerland in May 2026. If you’re new, you can read the first part here:

I had no plan. Despite knowing for 6+ months that I’d go, I still didn’t plan anything out. Just the departure and return home were planned, and the hotel, of course. I knew I wanted to hike.

But after arriving the first day, it struck me that I had to come up with a plan.

I wasn’t that familiar with the Thun area besides the lake, so I got on my laptop and Google Maps to find some interesting spots. The first thing that caught my eye was the Niederhorn - a mountain a couple of miles away from Thun. It looked interesting.

But the tickets were really expensive.

It was like 60-70 CHF to ascend.

It’s not that I didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a good hike. I just knew I already had two days planned for Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald, where I’d probably spend that much anyway.

But first, I grabbed my stuff, went outside, bought an espresso and a croissant, and took a few photos of the city.

It was still rainy. But it gave a really moody vibe on this day.

These were the streets of Thun in the morning.

I loved how everyone was just living their lives, while I was walking through the city as a traveler.

It wasn’t a very touristy time of year, so it almost felt like I was getting a quiet glimpse into local life. Not the polished version of Switzerland, but the ordinary one.

I then took the bus to the cable car station for the Niederhorn.

You can take the cable car all the way up, but you can also stop at Beatenberg, a village on the mountain below it. That was much more affordable.

The bus ride to Beatenbucht took about 40 minutes, and from there it was only another 10 minutes up the mountain.

I always love the views from these cable cars, especially that moment when the mountain slowly comes into sight.

And then, all of a sudden, the mountains appeared behind the rainy clouds.

I stopped for a while and took a few photos.

Some digital, some on film.

There is something about shooting film in places like this that feels right to me. You don’t yet know what you have captured, so you pay closer attention while taking the photo: the light, the clouds, the small houses on the mountain. Everything feels a little more intentional.

After that, I started hiking down.

At first, I couldn’t really find the hiking path. I walked around for a bit, checked the signs, checked my map, and still wasn’t completely sure where I had to go.

Eventually, I found a biking path and used that to navigate myself in the right direction until I reached the actual hiking trail.

And from there, it became quiet.

Really quiet.

There were not many people around. Just the mountain village, a few farms, the sound of my shoes on the path, and the occasional cow somewhere in the distance.

I loved that part more than I expected.

Not because anything spectacular happened, but because nothing really had to happen. People were just living there. The farms were still working. The houses were still standing on the slope. And I was just passing through for a moment, trying not to disturb the silence too much.

After crossing a few quiet farms, the path led me into the forest.

And suddenly the whole mood changed.

The mountain views disappeared behind the trees, and the fog started hanging between the branches. Everything became darker, greener, and more silent.

It felt a bit like walking into a different part of Switzerland. Not the bright postcard version, with blue lakes and sharp mountain peaks, but the softer, moodier version. Wet paths, heavy trees, fog in the distance, and the feeling that the forest had been there long before anyone decided to put a hiking sign on it.

I stopped a few times to take photos.

Mostly because it looked beautiful.

But also because I wanted to remember how quiet it felt there.

This was one of my favorite parts of the hike.

Not because the view was spectacular, because most of the time there wasn’t really a view at all.

But because it felt peaceful.

I was alone, somewhere between Beatenberg and the lake, walking through fog and trees with no real pressure to be anywhere quickly.

That is one of the things I love about hiking. At some point, the day becomes very simple.

You just follow the path.

Somewhere along the path, I even stumbled upon a bunker.

Which is one of those things you can easily forget about Switzerland.

From the outside, it often looks like this peaceful country of lakes, trains, mountains, chocolate, and quiet villages. And it is that. But hidden in those same mountains are still traces of a country that has always taken its own defence very seriously.

I didn’t expect to find one there.

It was just built into the rock, almost disappearing into the landscape, as if it had always belonged there.

That made the forest feel even stranger for a moment.

Not scary exactly.

Just layered.

A quiet hiking path, wet trees, fog between the branches, and then suddenly this reminder that even beautiful places carry history under the surface.

Once I got back down, I waited for the bus and made my way back to Thun.

By then, it was time for coffee.

I went to Café & Rösterei Heer and had a really good cappuccino. This time, not just a Swiss-priced one, but an actually good one.

It even came with a brownie.

After that, the weather started to clear in Thun.

So I took the chance to walk around the city for a while and take some photos.

Then I decided to walk up to Thun Castle.

It gives you a nice view over the city, so I wanted to take a few photos from there.

Of course, by the time I got there, it started to rain again.

And some black and white:

I took a lot more photos in the city that afternoon.

The weather kept changing, but that almost made Thun more interesting to photograph. One moment everything was grey and wet, and the next there was a little bit of light on the old buildings, the river, and the castle above the city.

Later that evening, I had dinner and decided to go for a run.

The first signs that the weather was clearing:

The weather had completely cleared by then. The rain was gone, the sun came through, and the air suddenly felt warm again.

I ran along Lake Thun in the direction of Sigriswil, and it was beautiful. The kind of evening where you almost forget you are exercising because everything around you keeps pulling your attention away from your tired legs.

After about 7.5 kilometers, I stopped, waited for the bus, and made my way back to Thun.

Back at the hotel, I took a shower and went to bed.

Tired, but in a good way.

The first full day had started with rain and fog, and ended with sun, warmth, a run beside the lake, and the quiet feeling that I had made the right decision coming here alone.

I fell asleep waiting for the next morning.