INTERLAKEN, a Swiss town (1,864 ft.) in the canton of Berne, situated on the flat plain (Bodeli) between the lakes of Brienz (E.) and of Thun (W.), and connected by steamer, as well as by railway (I 7 2 m.) with the town of Thun. It is built on the left bank of the Aar, and grew up around the religious house of Austin Canons, founded about 1 13o and suppressed in i528. In the surviving buildings of the convent religious services (Anglican, Scottish Presbyterian and French Protestant) are now held, while the more modern castle is occupied by offices of the Cantonal Government. The fine and well-shaded avenue called the Hoheweg runs through the main portion of the town, and is lined on the north side by a succession of huge hotels and the large Kursaal. Interlaken is much frequented in summer, partly be cause of the glorious view of the Jungfrau (13,669 ft.) which it commands to the south, and partly because it is the best starting point for many excursions, as to Schynige Platte, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Marren and Jungfraujoch. The lines serving these places all start from the eastern railway station (that from Thun reaches the western or main railway station), whence steamers de part for the Giessbach Falls, Brienz and Meiringen, on the way to Lucerne or to the Grimsel Pass. In 193o the population of Inter laken was 3,703 (mainly Protestant and German-speaking). Op posite Interlaken, and on the right bank of the Aar is Unterseen (in 1900, 2,607 inhabitants), which was built in 128o by Berthold von Eschenbach.