Swiss bliss: Why Interlaken has become a fast-favourite with the international adventure-set

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Interlaken, a town that lies in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, has become fast-favourite with the international adventure-set. Situated between alpine lakes Thun and Brienz, and presided over by the three dramatic mountains of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, it's a good-golly-gosh combination of landscape and water.

To facilitate my initiation into Interlaken, I stroll along the Hoheweg, the town's main street. Between the designer stores and the litany of fine restaurants that punctuate the strip, I run into travellers signing up for all manner of adrenalin-inducing activity. Here a group of young lads comparing notes on a number of adventure sports, from bungee jumping to hang gliding, canyoning to river-rafting, that they've managed to tick off on a growing bucket-list. There sits a couple jet-boating on the lake; by the time the day ends, they'll have abseiled a couple of waterfalls.

I hear squeals of delight and surmise it's a paraglider landing closeby. But instead, it is the collective joyous cry of an Indian family having finally arrived at the spots where scenes from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge were filmed. And thus I'm introduced to the other species of traveller who make the journey to Interlaken — folk on a Bollywood Hajj. If not found taking umpteen selfies with the 350-kilo bronze Yash Chopra statue in the Kurssaal Garden, I run into them in designer shops, deliberating between stylish watches, bags and fragrances.

While these are the popular draws for many, there's another, more introspective side to the place, for those prepared to seek it out. Harder Kulm — the "home" mountaintop, is a funicular ride away, and provides a grand perspective over town. Have a meal here at the Panorama Restaurant, if you want to linger, engulfed by superlative views. Back at the town center, in a country so known for the quality of its chocolate, you'll do well to sign up for the chocolate-making workshop at the Funky Chocolate Club.

The efficient instructor leads us by the tongue, helping identify the nuanced character in the varieties of chocolate that we taste. No question is too mundane for the easy atmosphere at this workshop. We grapple with the most basic questions, as we create our own chocolate under her patient tutelage. Is white chocolate really chocolate? What does it mean to successfully temper chocolate?

And if your idea of a museum is stuffy cases and boring text, then the Swiss Open Air Museum in Ballenburg is sure to challenge it. This is just a vast open landscape, in which over a hundred buildings from around the country are reconstructed to replicate times past. Skilled experts carry on the age-old crafts you see unfolding in the homes.

Finally, get yourself a pass on the Jungfrau Railways route network. These train journeys have earned their stripes and provide the perfect antidote to the speed of the adventure sports that abound. The toot of a horn in either an old-fashioned or new-fangled carriage, and giant glass windows that let the landscape in, have a charm of their own. These journeys are slow and allow plenty of time for observation — instilling beauty and harmony to the journey. And somewhere between taking the train ride to Europe's highest railway station — at Jungraujoch, 3,450 meters up, and going in pursuit of the medieval castle in old-world Thun— I realise that the most-enriching journeys are often the ones that end up being a study in contrast.