St. Beatus Caves

Why go

The St. Beatus Caves are dripstone caves on the north shore of Lake Thun at Sundlauenen, in the municipality of Beatenberg. The Beatushöhlen-Genossenschaft, which runs them, says the cave system has been explored for 14 kilometres, of which one kilometre is secured for visitors, and that the site also has a cave museum, a restaurant and a nature park. It tells the legend that Beatus, an Irish missionary, came to the cave, drove a dragon out of it and spent the rest of his life there, and that the legend made the cave a place of pilgrimage; the record repeats it as the operator's legend, not as history. The operator says prams cannot be taken on the cave tour and that dogs are welcome. The caves are not in Interlaken, which XTOUR treats as a travel base.