Best Co-Living Spaces for Digital Nomads in Interlaken
Words by
Lukas Zimmermann
The Real Coliving Scene in Interlaken: A Local's Guide for Remote Workers
Interlaken has quietly become one of the most compelling stops on the European nomad circuit, not because it markets itself that way, but because the combination of mountain air, fast internet, and a surprisingly tight-knit creative community makes it hard to leave. If you are hunting for the best coliving spaces for digital nomads in Interlaken, you need to know that this small Alpine town does things differently than Lisbon or Bali. Spaces are smaller, more seasonal, and deeply tied to the surrounding landscape. Lukas Zimmermann, a Zurich-born writer who has called the Bernese Oberland home for over a decade, has spent the last three years testing every remote work accommodation Interlaken offers, from converted chalets to riverside hostels with fiber lines. What follows is his honest, ground-level account.
Why Interlaken Works for Nomads (And Why It Does Not)
Let me be upfront. Interlaken is not a cheap destination. The Swiss price tag is real, and anyone telling you otherwise has probably only visited for a weekend ski trip. But here is what it does offer: rock-solid infrastructure, virtually zero crime, some of the fastest internet speeds in the entire country, and a setting that makes you want to close your laptop and go hike before breakfast. The town sits between two lakes, Thun and Brienz, with the Jungfrau massif towering above, and that geography shapes everything, from where people choose to live to how spaces are designed and rented.
The coliving ecosystem here grew organically out of the outdoor tourism industry. Many buildings that once housed seasonal ski instructors and paragliding guides have been converted into nomad coliving Interlaken setups. This means you get spaces built for people who actually want to live here for weeks or months, not just crash for a night. The trade-off is that capacity is limited. During peak summer (June through September) and ski season (December through March), you need to book months ahead. I made the mistake of showing up in July two years ago without a reservation and spent three nights on a friend's spare mattress in Matten before anything opened up.
The community is smaller than you might expect. At any given time, there are roughly 60 to 80 full-time remote workers scattered across the town and its outskirts. This intimacy is a feature, not a bug. You will recognize faces at the Monday coworking meetups, share trail recommendations, and end up on tandem paragliding flights with your desk neighbor. But it also means that word of mouth matters enormously. Spaces fill through personal referrals before they ever hit a booking platform.
Local Insider Tip: "The Interlaken Tourism Office on Höheweg actually keeps a paper list of available monthly rentals that landlords bring in. Walk in and ask for it in person. Online listings lag behind by weeks, and the best places, especially outside the center, never make it to the internet."
Riverside Studios on Balmweg: Where the Writers Gather
Balmweg runs along the Aare River just east of the main train station, and this stretch has quietly become one of the preferred addresses for remote work accommodation Interlaken. Riverside Studios occupies a renovated warehouse-style building that used to store equipment for river rafting companies. The units are compact but thoughtfully designed, with desks positioned in front of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water. When I stayed here in October 2023, the morning fog rolling off the Aare made me forget I had Slack notifications to answer.
The common kitchen on the second floor is where the magic happens. Every Thursday evening, a rotating group cooks together, and if you bring a bottle of Fendant from the Valais, you are in. The building hosts about 14 residents at full capacity, and the management is run by a local couple named Heidi and Rolf who used to operate a mountain lodge above Grindelwald. They keep the atmosphere firm but friendly, house rules are posted in German and English, and the monthly rate that winter was around CHF 1,400 for a private studio with utilities and Wi-Fi included.
One detail tourists never notice: the shared terrace on the roof is technically not on the public listing. If you ask Heidi directly, she will give you the key. It is the quietest outdoor workspace in this part of town, and the view of the Jungfrau at sunset from up there is absurd. The only complaint I have is that the walls between units are thin. If your neighbor watches movies late at night, you will hear every line. Earplugs are not optional here.
Local Insider Tip: "Ask Rolf about the 'Hintere Balmweg' path behind the building. It connects to a gravel track along the river that leads to a tiny beach reachable in eight minutes. Nobody from the tourist buses goes there, and it is the best spot I know to take a video call outdoors with the sound of the river in the background."
The Matten Hub: Nomad Life Outside the Postcard Zone
Most visitors never make it to Matten, a residential neighborhood about 2.5 kilometers southeast of Interlaken's center, past the campground and the airstrip where paragliders launch. That is precisely why the nomads who know, know. The Matten Hub operates out of a former vacation apartment building on Gsteigstrasse, and it has become the unofficial second home base for the nomad coliving Interlaken crowd who want lower prices and more breathing room than the center provides.
I spent a monthly stay Interlaken here in February 2024, and the winter rates were roughly CHF 1,150 for a furnished apartment with a workstation, shared laundry, and a basement coworking room with proper monitors. The building houses around 10 to 12 residents, mostly developers, designers, and a handful of content creators who need reliable infrastructure and do not care about being steps from a souvenir shop. The Wi-Fi runs on a dedicated business line from Swisscom, and during my entire four-week stay, I had zero outages.
What makes Matten worth the short walk from town is the quality of daily life. The neighborhood bakery on the corner makes the best Butterzopf I have eaten in the entire canton, and the small Coop grocery store is never crowded. There is a trailhead literally two minutes from the front door that takes you up to the Chänelpass viewpoint in about 90 minutes, and the view over both lakes from there is one of Interlaken's genuine secrets.
The honest downside is transportation. The local bus (Line 103) runs to Interlaken Ost every 15 minutes until about 10 PM, but after that you are walking or paying for a taxi. In winter, the path from the bus stop is not always cleared promptly, and I slipped on ice more than once during that February stay. Proper footwear is not a suggestion here, it is survival equipment.
Local Insider Tip: "There is an unmarked bench behind the Matten village church with a direct view of the Eiger north face. I learned about it from a retired postman who has lived here for 40 years. Go at dawn in winter when the Alpenglow hits the wall. Your laptop can wait."
Höheweg Heritage House: Old-World Interlaken for Remote Workers
Höheweg is Interlaken's grand promenade, the street with the hotel-lined views of the Jungfrau that appears on most postcards. It is also home to a heritage building that has been quietly converted into one of the more distinctive best coliving spaces for digital nomads in Interlaken. The structure dates to the late 1800s, when Interlaken was cementing its reputation as the premier Alpine resort for European aristocracy. The high ceilings and original wood paneling have been preserved, and the effect of sitting at a desk in a room where British nobles once planned their mountain expeditions is strangely motivating.
The residence operates on a different model than most coliving setups. There are only six private rooms, each with a dedicated desk area, and the common spaces include a formal sitting room, a small library, and a shared kitchen that would not look out of place in a boutique hotel. Monthly rates hover around CHF 1,800, which is steep, but the target demographic is senior freelancers and consultants who want Swiss reliability and a certain atmosphere. The internet is enterprise-grade, and there is a dedicated quiet room that functions as a phone booth and mini-studio for recordings.
During my visit in September 2023, the most memorable moment was purely architectural. The main staircase has a stained-glass window installed in 1911 that catches the afternoon sun and casts colored patterns down the stairwell. Other residents told me they schedule their afternoon breaks specifically to watch the light move across the floor. That kind of detail does not appear on any booking website.
My one real critique: the building's age means the heating system is original in some sections, and certain rooms run cold in even mild autumn weather. Bring layers, and specifically request a south-facing room if you have the option. Also, Höheweg can get genuinely loud in summer as tour groups flow between the two train stations. If you are sensitive to street noise during calls, request a courtyard-facing room.
Local Insider Tip: "The ground-floor common room has a guest history book that dates back to 2017. The management encourages residents to add entries. Reading through it, I found contact details for a software developer and a documentary filmmaker who both ended up collaborating. Sign the book. Lead with your name and what you do. This works here in ways it does not in bigger cities."
Bären Area Work-Stay: Converted Farmhouse Living
North of the main town, past the Bären residential pocket near Unterseen, a cluster of converted farmhouses offers a style of remote work accommodation Interlaken that feels worlds away from the tourist center. The property I visited is on a quiet lane off Morgenstrasse, and it operates as a hybrid between a guesthouse and a coliving arrangement. The owner, a woman named Annelise whose family farmed this land for three generations, converted the upper floors into furnished apartments when the agricultural income stopped keeping pace with the cost of living in the Oberland.
What you get here is space. My unit had a separate bedroom, a living area with a wood stove, a kitchenette, and a workspace by a window overlooking the garden. The monthly rate was CHF 1,050, which is among the lowest I have found for a private apartment setup in the Interlaken area. Wi-Fi is decent, not spectacular, I measured around 45 Mbps download during midday in March 2024, but sufficient for most remote work tasks. There are currently four other long-term residents in the building, and the common garden has a table where people work when weather permits.
The location is a 20-minute walk to Interlaken Ost station, or a quick cycle if you rent a bike, which I strongly recommend. The ride along the Aare is flat and gorgeous. What surprised me most was the silence at night. In a town that can feel overrun with activity during the day, this pocket of Unterseen returns to a rural quiet that makes sleep almost aggressive in its quality.
The trade-off is limited social infrastructure. There is no structured community programming, no weekly dinners, no shared coworking room. You get the space, the internet, and Annelise's occasional plate of Älplermagronen on a Sunday. If you are the type of nomad who builds community intentionally, this works. If you need the social energy handed to you, look elsewhere. Also, the nearest proper grocery store is a 10-minute walk, and the closest café is in the center, so errands add up.
Local Insider Tip: "Annelise grows raspberries, red currants, and gooseberries in her garden and leaves baskets of them on the common table in summer when they ripen. She asks nothing in return. If you stay long enough and help her with the harvest in August, she has been known to knock CHF 100 off the following month's rent. This is not advertised. Just show up with gardening gloves."
Harder Kulm Base Lodge: The Mountain Perch
If you are willing to split your time between working in town and retreating to a mountainside, the area around Harder Kulm, Interlaken's local mountain, offers something no other nomad coliving Interlaken setup can replicate: altitude and panoramic isolation. There is no formal coliving space at the top, but the Harderbahn funicular runs from Interlaken to the viewpoint station in 10 minutes, and the small cluster of chalets and guesthouses along Harderstrasse at the base of the line rents furnished apartments for monthly stay Interlaken terms.
I stayed in one such apartment for three weeks in May 2024. It belonged to a local family that rents out their grown-child's former home during the months it sits empty. The price was CHF 1,300 per month, the apartment had three rooms, and the internet, provided by Sunrise, was reliable at around 60 Mbps down. The view from the living room encompassed the entirety of Interlaken, both lakes, and the full sweep of the Jungfrau region's three famous peaks. I kept that window uncovered from morning until the last light left the sky.
The neighborhood itself is residential and quiet. There are a few other houses along Harderstrasse, all well-kept, all occupied by families who have lived in the Oberland for generations. A small path leads from the street down to the Harder stream, where the water is snowmelt-cold even in June. I used that path every evening for a decompression walk after long screen days, and the sound of the stream helped me transition out of work mode more effectively than any app I have tried.
The practical limitation is that this location depends entirely on your tolerance for being slightly removed from town. The funicular runs regularly from about 9 AM to 6 PM in the off-season hours, and food options near the base are sparse. You will cook at home most nights, and your social life will require planning. That said, the Harder Kulm summit restaurant, a five-minute funicular ride up, serves a käseschnitte that is worth the trip alone.
Local Insider Tip: "The last funicular down from Harder Kulm departs earlier than most people realize. In shoulder season, it can be as early as 5:30 PM. I got stranded twice sitting at the summit enjoying the silence. Download the SBB app and set a personal departure alert. Also, the Knecht welding shop on Harderstrasse, which looks like nothing from the outside, has the best espresso in this part of town. The owner drinks three cups a day and has been roasting his own beans since the 1990s. Ask for a 'kleinen Käaffi.'"
Unterseen Riverside Coliving: The Underrated Side of Town
Most first-time visitors to Interlaken stay on the west side of the Aare, in the town center surrounded by hotels and tour operators. The east side, Unterseen, is where actual local life happens, and one of the best coliving spaces for digital nomads in Interlaken operates out of a converted townhouse near the Unterseen lido on Seestrasse. The building is four stories, with the top floor dedicated to coliving: five private rooms, a shared kitchen, a work room with two standing desks, and a balcony that overlooks the lake.
I stayed here in April 2024 and found the atmosphere distinctly different from spaces in the Interlaken center. The residents were mostly long-term, people staying two to six months rather than the week-long transients you meet near Höheweg. There is a German-speaking Swiss digital marketer who has been here for eight months, a Finnish game developer researching Alpine environments for a project, and a British copywriter who originally came for two weeks and kept extending. The kitchen conversations alone were worth the stay.
Monthly rates are approximately CHF 1,250 for a private room, with utilities, cleaning once per week, and Wi-Fi included. The internet is the standard Swisscom fiber package, consistently delivering above 80 Mbps in my tests. What stands out here is the balcony workspace: four chairs, a long table, and an unobstructed view of Lake Thun. On clear mornings, you can see the Niederhorn summit reflected in the water. I did my best writing of that entire trip sitting there before 8 AM, when the light was soft and the lake was glass-still.
The neighborhood has a payoff the center cannot match. The Unterseen lido opens in late May and offers lake swimming for a fraction of what the center's swimming experiences cost. There is a weekly farmers' market on Fridays at the town square, and the overall cost of groceries and meals tends to be 10 to 15 percent lower than in Interlaken proper. The honest downside is that the building is near a road junction, and in summer, traffic noise from the lakeside route can intrude during the day. Noise-cancelling headphones were a genuine necessity for me between 10 AM and 4 PM.
Local Insider Tip: "The owner of the building, a man named Beat, also manages a second property three streets away that is not listed on any website. It has only three rooms and a larger common area. If you are looking for a quieter, more communal experience rather than the main house, knock on the door of number 14 Seestrasse and ask. He speaks English and responds to directness. Mention that Lukas sent you. It opens doors here in a way that a booking inquiry never will."
Camping & Lakeside Remote Work: The Wildcard Option
This one sounds unusual until you understand how Swiss camping culture works. The Interlaken Camping sites, particularly the one on the banks near Matten, offer long-term pitches and static caravans that remote workers have quietly adopted as ultra-minimalist monthly stay Interlaken solutions. I spent two weeks in June 2024 testing this, parking a rented equipment room (a fixed caravan unit) at the Matten campsite for CHF 900 per month.
The setup is bare bones by design. You get a bed, a small kitchenette table, heating, and access to the shared camp facilities. Internet is delivered via the campsite's shared Wi-Fi, which is adequate for emails and video calls at around 30 Mbps but drops off during evening peak hours when other campers stream movies. For serious bandwidth needs, I tethered to my Swiss phone plan as a backup, which worked fine for most tasks.
What this option buys you is an experience no apartment can provide. Falling asleep to the sound of the Aare. Walking two minutes to swim in water so clear you can see the bottom at four-meter depth. Having breakfast on a picnic table with the mountains filling every gap in your peripheral vision. A German couple at the next pitch, who had been working remotely from campsites across Europe for two years, told me this was their single favorite location on the entire continent. I understood why before they finished the sentence.
This approach is obviously not for everyone. If you need a proper desk, reliable dedicated Wi-Fi, or a social scene beyond neighboring campers, look at the other options in this guide. Also, the campsite's shower and washing facilities operate on a token system that becomes annoying after the novelty wears off. Weather is a real factor: a stormy week in the mountains can feel isolating when your "office" is a caravan on a field.
Local Insider Tip: "If you go the campsite route, request pitch number 7 or 8. They are the furthest from the shower block, which sounds like a disadvantage, but they are right against the riverbank and get afternoon shade from a row of linden trees. In July, this shade is the difference between a comfortable workspace and an oven. The site manager will give you these pitches if you ask nicely and explain you are staying for work."
The Seasonal Chalet Network: Winter Coliving in the Oberland
From December through March, a network of seasonal chalet rentals across Interlaken and its surrounding villages converts into informal nomad coliving Interlaken arrangements. These are not managed coliving operations. They are properties listed on Swiss rental platforms or through local agencies, typically furnished alpine chalets that come available when owners leave for warmer months. The key is finding the ones where other nomads have gathered through the Slack channel called "Interlaken Digital," which has roughly 250 members and serves as the de facto bulletin board for the town's remote worker community.
I rented a room in a shared challet in Bönigen, a village about four kilometers east along the shore of Lake Brienz, during January 2024. The four-bedroom chalet housed three remote workers and the owner's son, who was home from university. The total cost per person was approximately CHF 1,000 per month including everything. The internet, a local provider's fiber line, performed at above 100 Mbps, which was the fastest connection I tested anywhere in the Interlaken area. The living room had a fireplace, a long work table, and windows facing south toward the lake. Working there on a Tuesday morning with fresh snow on the ground and the Faulhorn peak white against blue sky was the closest I have come to understanding why people choose to stay in the Alps permanently.
Bönigen is a five-minute train ride from Interlaken Ost, and the village itself has a bakery, a small grocery store, a church, and almost zero tourist traffic. The shoreline path along the lake is plowed regularly in winter, and I ran or walked it nearly every day. The sense of community among the international remote workers in the area during winter is notably stronger than in summer, partly because everyone is partly weather-bound and partly because winter slows the pace of the region enough that people make genuine time for each other.
The challenge with this model is the lack of infrastructure support. You are essentially a tenant in a shared house, responsible for your own office chair, your own work setup, your own food, and your own social calendar. If the chalet has a broken heater at 11 PM, you are waiting until morning. And the mountain weather of January and February means that on some days, the funiculars slow, the buses run on reduced schedules, and your world contracts to the room you are in. That can be peaceful or claustrophobic depending on your wiring.
Local Insider Tip: "In winter, the Bönigen lakeshore freezes at the edges and creates glass-clear plates of ice that you can walk on in some spots. A local who has lived here for 60 years told me the safest stretch is near the old boathouse. He checks the thickness himself every January. Ask at the bakery, they will point you to him. Walking on a frozen lake with mountains on every side is not something you forget. But actually check the ice thickness yourself before you step out."
When to Go and What to Actually Know
Interlaken operates on a dual-season calendar that directly affects the availability and character of remote work accommodation Interlaken. Summer (June to September) brings the most tourists, the warmest weather, and the highest rental prices. Winters (December to March) attract skiers and have different pricing dynamics, with some coliving spaces offering discounted monthly rates. The shoulder seasons, April to May and October to November, are when the nomad community is most visible and the town feels least overwhelmed.
Budget realistically. Even with affordable coliving or chalet arrangements, expect to spend a minimum of CHF 2,500 to CHF 3,000 per month all-in when you add food, transport, coworking fees if applicable, and personal expenses. Swiss grocery prices will surprise you if you are coming from Southern or Eastern Europe. A honest mid-range daily food budget is CHF 30 to CHF 45, and eating out regularly will double that quickly.
Transport is handled by the Swiss Travel Pass or the Half-Fare Card. Get the Half-Fare Card if you are staying more than a month; it costs CHF 120 and cuts all train, bus, and boat fares in half. It pays for itself within the first week of regular travel. For daily local use, the buses between Interlaken, Unterseen, Matten, and Bönigen are frequent and clean, and they accept contactless payment.
"Respect the quiet hours. In Swiss residential areas, the expectation of silence from 10 PM to 7 AM is real and enforced. If your coliving space is in a converted house next to Swiss families, do not be the one who keeps them awake. Relationships with neighbors here last generations, and your landlord's reputation is on the line."
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the average internet download and upload speeds in Interlaken's central cafes and workspaces?
Most cafes and coworking spots in Interlaken center deliver between 50 and 150 Mbps download on Swisscom or Sunrise fiber connections, with uploads typically between 20 and 80 Mbps. Dedicated coliving spaces and private rentals generally offer higher and more stable speeds than public cafés, where bandwidth drops during lunch hours. A few locations near Unterseen and Matten, where newer fiber infrastructure was installed in the last three years, can exceed 200 Mbps download.
How easy is it find cafes with ample charging sockets and reliable power backups in Interlaken?
Charging sockets are widely available in Interlaken's main cafés, particularly along Höheweg and in the larger establishments near Interlaken Ost station. Backup power systems are rare in most café settings, as Switzerland's electrical grid is exceptionally reliable and extended outages are uncommon. For guaranteed power continuity, coliving spaces and private rentals are a safer bet than public cafés, though power disruptions are unlikely anywhere in the region.
Is Interlaken expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.
A mid-tier traveler in Interlaken should budget approximately CHF 150 to CHF 220 per day. This breaks down to roughly CHF 70 to CHF 100 for accommodation (coliving or mid-range rental), CHF 35 to CHF 55 for food, CHF 15 to CHF 25 for local transport, and CHF 30 to CHF 45 for activities, coffee, and incidentals. Costs rise noticeably in July, August, and December through February due to seasonal demand, and dropping by 15 to 25 percent in April, May, October, and November.
Are there good 24/7 or late-night co-working spaces available in Interlaken?
Interlaken does not have dedicated 24/7 coworking spaces comparable to those found in larger European cities. Most work environments, whether coliving common rooms or cafés, are accessible from early morning until between 8 PM and 10 PM. For late-night work, your own rental or accommodation is the practical option. The SBB waiting rooms at Interlaken Ost remain open after hours and offer seating and Wi-Fi, though they are not designed for productive work sessions.
What is the most reliable neighborhood in Interlaken for digital nomads and remote workers?
The area encompassing Matten and the eastern edge of Unterseen is generally considered the most reliable base for remote workers in Interlaken. This zone offers the best combination of affordable monthly rentals, stable high-speed internet, proximity to grocery stores and daily amenities, quick bus connections to both train stations, and access to trailheads and lakeside paths. It also experiences significantly less tourist congestion than the Höheweg and Interlaken West area, making long-term daily life more practical.
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