Bern

Understand

Bern was founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V von Zähringen and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was made a free imperial city by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1218 after Berthold died without an heir. In 1353 Bern joined the Swiss Confederation. After conquering several rivals, Bern became the largest independent city-state north of the Alps. It was occupied by French troops in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was stripped of a large part of its territory. The city became the Swiss capital in 1848. Bern was one of the eight host cities in the 2008 European Football Championships.

Bern hosted EuroGames in 2023 - the biggest annual LGBT+ sports event in Europe.

Tourist information Tourist information website. (updated Feb 2024) There are Tourist Information Centres outside the main railway station, and in the Old Tram Depot next to the Bear Pit.

Getting there

Situated in the middle of Switzerland, Bern is easy to reach from all parts of the country.

By plane 1 Bern-Belp Airport (10 km south of the city, off Hwy 8 west of River Aare). This airport is a small affair. (updated Mar 2019) To reach the city take Bus 334 or 160 to Belp railway station (10 min). Frequent S-bahn local trains connect Belp to Bern's main station, 40 min altogether. The bus runs every 30 min between 05:10 and 23:10, with the first and last buses of the day running directly to Bern railway station. The transfer is free if you have booked accommodation in Bern, just show your confirmation letter; otherwise Fr. 7 each way. A taxi to the city is about Fr. 40 and takes 20 min. For a better choice of flights, fly into Geneva (GVA IATA), Zurich (ZRH IATA) or Basel (BSL IATA) then take the train to Bern.

By train Bern is at the hub of the SBB network. Express (InterCity) trains connect twice per hour to Geneva, Basel and Zurich as well as Zürich and Geneva airports. Hourly express trains connect to most other cities, including Interlaken, Brig, and Lucerne. 2 Bern Railway Station. In a mall surrounded by cafes and other shops. The info kiosk and main bank of ticket machines are at the back, beneath the big departures board. For timetables and connections see Swiss Federal Railway. For best travel deals see the Swiss Travel Planner - walk-up full fare tickets are expensive. And see also Switzerland#Get around#by rail.

By car Bern is easily reachable with the national motorway network from all directions and has several exits from motorways A1, A12 and A6.

By bus Eurolines, Flixbus and RegioJet connect Bern to several European cities by bus. Twiliner buses take 12 hr 30 min from Barcelona via Girona, heading for Zurich. Their seats fold flat into a bunk: there's some disturbance from bumps in the road and noise at intermediate stops, but no worse than in a railway sleeping car, for similar comfort and half the price.

Getting around

Bern has an excellent public transportation system, with frequent local city services provided by trams, trolleybuses and buses, together with an S-Bahn rail system for longer journeys into the surrounding suburbs. Tickets are valid for all modes of transport within a given zone and time. The suburbs of Bern, Biel and Solothurn form a common public transport network named "Libero-Tarifverbund". Tickets can be purchased as single ticket, saver ticket with six rides, day pass as well as weekly, monthly or yearly passes. Tickets and timetable information for Switzerland is available on sbb.ch or can be obtained using the SBB Mobile (iOS, Android apps) (requires a working internet connection). Alternatively, you can use a ticket vending machine. Tickets are valid for all modes of public transport within the zones they encompass. A ticket valid in the central urban zones (100 and 101) for 60 minutes costs Fr. 4.60 (March 2019). All hotel bookings in Bern include the “Bern-Ticket", which allows the free use of public transport within the city (zones 100 and 101) for the duration of the stay, including the Gurten funicular and transfer from and to the airport. Most hotels allow to print your public transport ticket, so you don't need to install the official app on your phone (which is proprietary software, and available only for Android or iOS).

By foot The city centre of Bern is easily accessible by foot. The relatively small old town and the area around the main train station are best explored by walking.

By tram and bus The bus and tram lines operated by Bernmobil are complemented with yellow Postauto bus lines connecting to the suburbs. Almost all lines are linked together at the main train station, and operate at intervals between 5 and 30 minutes.

Bernmobil, ☏ +41 31 321 88 88. Operator of the local tram and bus services, and provides timetables and other information on its website or by telephone.

By rail Bern's S-Bahn rail system will take you to many places in the suburbs and to nearby cities like Biel, Thun, Fribourg or Solothurn. Until 2034, the Bern train station will be the site of various construction projects to renovate and expand the facility.

S-Bahn Bern, ☏ +41 31 327 27 27. Web site in German only.

By car or motorbike Like in most Swiss cities, parking space is rare and expensive. There are several paid parking stations, including at the main train station. As the city centre is quite small and all of the major attractions are within walking distance, it's a good choice to park in a "park and ride" and take public transp

See

Bern is full of history and museums. It also has quite a bit of public art, all of which is marked on a walking map which is available from the tourist office in the train station for free.

1 Bern Historical Museum, Helvetiaplatz 5, ☏ +41 31 350 77 11. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. Large historic museum, combining under one roof one of the country's most important ethnographic collections together with the Bernese historical collections from prehistory to the present day. Adult Fr. 13; Fr. 18 including Einsteinhaus. (updated Jul 2018) 2 Bundeshaus (Federal Palace of Switzerland; Curia Confoederationis Helveticae), Bundesplatz 3. Inaugurated in 1902, the Swiss Parliament building is a great dome separating the two chambers: the National Council and the Council of States. Free guided tour when Parliament is not in session (German Tu-Sa, English only Sa 14:00, book online). In session, there are 25 spaces in the spectators' gallery, no advance booking. For either, you need your passport. Free. (updated Jul 2018) 3 Zytglogge. It has been a guard tower, and a prison for women convicted of having sex with priests, but since the 15th century, it's been a clock tower with an elaborate astronomical clock. Hourly throughout the day, it puts on a great display of early animatronics. The show starts a few minutes before the hour with a little song and some drumming by a jester on top. On the hour, bears and an old bearded king get into the act. As well as the time, the clock shows the month, day, sign of the zodiac and phase of the moon. There are guided tours inside the tower that will let you have a look at the clockwork while the show is displayed outside. It can be booked at the tourist office and is definitely worth it if you love mechanics. Free. (updated Jul 2018) 4 Einsteinhaus, Kramgasse 49, ☏ +41 31 312 00 91, [email protected]. Feb-Dec 10:00–17:00, closed Jan. Suppose a Bern Tram passed you at the speed of light, with Einstein peering out the window. While your own watch ticked on, his would appear stationary, and the tram's mass and dimensions would distort. Most of us would just shrug at this and await the next tram. But Einstein realised that the same occurred if you were aboard the tram looking back at the tourist standing at the tram-stop. There could be no absolute reference point: all was relative. He also inferred an equivalence of acceleration and gravity, and of mass and energy, that totally rewrote the laws of what till then was a Newtonian universe.Einstein rented this flat 1903-05 with his first wife Mileva, during his years working at the Swi

Do

1 Gurten. The Gurten is a lovely hill just outside the city. It features a park and a great view over the city on one side and a nice panorama of the Bernese Alps on the other. The park is visited heavily by locals to play ball, to barbecue or to just lie in the sun. Tourists are not an unusual sight, though this little attraction is missed by most of the many that visit the city. Hiking paths lead in all directions and you will almost certainly stumble across some cows when walking around. A wooden look-out tower allows an even better panorama than that you would already have. If you get hungry or thirsty, a good budget restaurant service and self-service provides you with all you need. Families with children should not miss the cool playground. The Gurten can be easily reached by tram number 9 from the railway station in Bern in the direction Wabern. Exit the tram at station Gurtenbahn and walk a few steps up the hill. Then take the Gurtenbahn, a panorama train that will bring you on top in just 5 minutes, round-trip tickets are Fr. 9 for adults or Fr. 4.50 for children (BernCard is valid), departure usually every 20 minutes depending on daytime. A club called up-town features various cultural events on weekends and once a year in summer national, European and a few international music stars visit it for the Gurtenfestival, an open-air music festival. Gurten is a must-see for everybody visiting the city for longer than a day. Free. 2 Rosengarten. Little park with a splendid view over the old town. Situated close to the bear pits (follow the path that goes up the hill opposite the bear-pit-roundabout. Quite popular (and populated) during lunchtime. The Rosengarten can be easily reached by bus number 12 from the railway station in Bern in the direction Zentrum Paul Klee. Football: BSC Young Boys play soccer in Super League, the Swiss top tier. They play at Stadion Wankdorf (previously called Stade de Suisse, capacity 32,000) 1 km north of the city centre. In 2025 it hosted matches in the UEFA Women's Euro Finals. SC Bern. The SCB is Bern's ice-hockey team. The stadium is the second largest in Europe and is regularly sold out, producing an impressive atmosphere in the arena. It is also mentionable that the SC Bern boasts the highest average attendance outside the NHL. To get there, just take Tram 9 towards Guisanplatz and get off at the terminal stop. Swimming in the river Aare. On hot summer days, let yourself drift for a few kilometres in the river Aare. Good (and safe) stretches are between the Kornhausbridge and the public pool of the Lorraine (o

Buy

As with most other cities in Switzerland, store opening and closing hours in Bern are strictly regulated. All stores, including grocers, close by 18:30 or 19:00 from Monday to Friday, except on Thursdays when they remain open until 21:00. Aldi supermarkets are an exception, closing at 20:00 during the week. On Saturdays everything must close by 17:00. On Sundays, all stores are closed, except for those in the main railway station, which are open 7 days a week until about 22:00, and which include Migros and Coop supermarkets. Rathausgasse and the streets parallel to it have any number of cute shops with an amazing range of handicrafts and luxury goods. This is not the normal range of Swiss souvenir stuff, but really interesting things. There are a couple of worthy examples below, but the real pleasure is in spending a few hours (or days) exploring the arcades and vitrines.

Yamatuti, Aarbergergasse 16-18, ☏ +41 31 318 26 56. M-W F 10:00–18:30, Th 10:00–21:00, Sa 10:00–17:00. Unique toys and kitsch collectables pack the walls of this cramped space. Krompholz Music, Effingerstrasse 51, 3008 Bern (Visit website for which tram lines to take and the stops.), ☏ +41 31 311 3489, [email protected]. M-Sa 10:00–17:00. The thing that makes this shop special is its huge collection of sheet music and English language music instruction materials. Pretty good CD section with lots of Swiss artists, both pop and folk. There are several used bookstores that carry cheap books in German, English and French:

Bücherbergwerk Monbijou, Monbijoustrasse 16 (on the street through which tram line 9 descends from Hirschengraben near the main station, in the basement of the building marked SWICA), ☏ +41 31 381 71 25. Tu-F 10:00–17:00 and Sa 11:00–15:00. The used bookstore of the Swiss Workers' Aid Society. Bücher-Brockenhaus Bern, Rathausgasse 34 (in the old city between the Zytglogge and the Rathaus), ☏ +41 31 311 44 59. Tu-F 14:00–18:30, Sa 09:00–12:00, 14:00–16:00.

Eat

Eating in Bern (or almost anywhere in Switzerland for that matter) can be an expensive proposition for foreign tourists. Be sure to "shop around" before deciding on a restaurant as many of them cater to foreign tourists (especially those serving traditional Swiss food) and have inflated their prices accordingly. Most Bernese natives prefer Italian, Asian, or other non-local cuisine so finding a traditional Swiss restaurant with acceptable prices can often be a daunting experience. Be patient and you will persevere without breaking the bank. In the evening, many restaurants may not offer food after 21:45.

Budget

City centre 1 Restaurant Zunft zu Webern, Gerechtigkeitsgasse 68, ☏ +41 31 311 42 58, fax: +41 31 312 20 67. M-Sa 11:00–23:00. Excellent soups, a good rendering of Swiss standards, such as cheese fondue, and a decent number of veggie choices. Many items are available in half portions. Fr. 14-24 (Oct 2021). (updated Aug 2022) 2 Coop Restaurant Bern Ryfflihof, Aarbergergasse 53. Very wide variety of dishes, a nice curry station, salad bar and lots of desserts. (updated Aug 2022) 3 Lo stuzzichino da Mohan, Rathausgasse 23. A simple Italian restaurant. The menu is mainly pasta. The food, dessert and the service are good. (updated Aug 2022) 4 Tong Fong, Brunngasse 9. It's a delicious Asian take-away restaurant. (updated Aug 2022)

Near the city centre 5 Sous le Pont, ☏ +41 31 306 69 55, [email protected]. Tu-F 11:30–14:30 and 18:00–00:00, Sa 19:00–00:00, Su 10:00–16:00. A nice restaurant in the Reitschule complex which serves excellent dishes. (updated Aug 2022)

Mid-range Beaulieu, Erlachstrasse 3, ☏ +41 31 301 24 59, fax: +41 31 305 86 55. M-Th 08:00–11:30, F 08:00–00:30, Sa 10:00–22:00. Old-fashioned restaurant serving traditional Swiss and Bernese cuisine at very affordable prices. Popular among students due to its situation close to the university; it is equally popular among the local workers. Definitely not a tourist restaurant—go here if you want to meet the Bernese among themselves. (updated Aug 2022) Old Tram Depot (Altes Tramdepot), Grosser Muristalden (across bridge at the east end of the city centre, next to bear pit), ☏ +41 31 368 14 15. 11:00-23:00. The trams used to terminate here: nowadays it's a trolleybus route. Good, hearty Swiss food. Range of dishes from budget price rösti to higher-priced meat specialities. On-site brewery with traditional beers available. Bench seating with a great atmosphere. Fr. 20-40. (updated Jul 2018) Café Fédéral, Bärenplatz 31, ☏ +41 31 311 16 24. Stylish, modern atmosphere and internation

Drink & nightlife

Many Bernese will tell you that the nightlife in Bern is not exactly what you might call spectacular, but they're probably comparing it to Zurich or Paris. There are quite a few good spots to hang out. For a drink or two, there's a wide choice of bars all over town. However, you might be disappointed with most central options as they tend to be annoyingly conventional, though there are an ample number of exceptions:

Du Nord, Lorrainestrasse 2 (across Lorraine Bridge from the city centre), ☏ +41 31 332 23 38. Café Kairo, Dammweg 43, 3013 Bern. Another nice choice in the same area as Du Nord. Cuba, Kornhausplatz 14, ☏ +41 31 311 64 86. With Latin-influenced Cuba Bar next door. Most of the town's cooler bars are around the main clubbing venues though. In the ancient Matte neighborhood, which is well worth a daytime visit too, you'll find nightlife options for almost every taste.

1 Dampfzentrale, Marzilistrasse 47, ☏ +41 31 310 05 40. In this former electricity facility you'll find an excellent restaurant and bar, along with lots of cultural pearls. They specialize in urban, jazzy, electronic music and dance performances. Definitely a gem! 2 PROGR_centre for cultural production, Waisenhausplatz 30/ Speichergasse 4, ☏ +41 31 318 82 70. Close to the Reithalle and even closer to the city centre, you will find the PROGR. More than 100 artists, dancers, actors and musicians have their studios here. Its large courtyard with the CaféBar Turnhalle is a real oasis. From September to June, they offer a cultural program with exhibitions of experimental and contemporary art, theatre, performance, lectures and regular concerts on Sunday nights (jazz-connected, world women voices). 3 Reitschule, Neubrückstrasse 8, ☏ +41 31 306 69 69. Next to the central train station is Bern's most important centre for alternative culture. The huge brick building is visible from afar, easy to recognize by its abundant graffiti art on the façade and roof. Reitschule has the status of an autonomous cultural centre, which means in firm language that it's a no-police zone. This of course gives it a bit of an anarchist touch, a touch of "anything goes". And indeed, anything does go: Reitschule features a theatre, a cinema, a women's room and two concert/dancing venues, all dedicated entirely to alternative culture. Concerts included RJD2, Metalheadz and DJ Babu. The centre as a whole is a unique experience and a must-see for anyone who has an interest in contemporary urban culture. Wasserwerk Club. This is one of Bern's traditional clubbing and concert venues for urban music. It a

Sleep

The main train station has a tourist office on the west side on the ground floor. They'll try to help you find a hotel room, if you arrive without booking. However, it is better to book ahead if you can, as Bern is a capital city; the budget hotels do tend to fill up on the weekends.

Budget Landhaus, Altenbergstrasse 4 (near the bear pit), ☏ +41 31 331 41 66, fax: +41 31 332 69 04, [email protected]. Check-out: Reception is open until 22:00. A cute, friendly, and well-kept place with a good restaurant and bar downstairs. (If they are fully booked ask to crash in the TV room, Fr. 34) Fr. 90-160. Bern backpackers - Hotel Glocke, Rathausgasse 75, ☏ +41 31 311 37 71, fax: +41 31 311 10 08, [email protected]. A member of the Swiss Backpackers Association in the centre of the old town this highly favored backpackers' hotel is a 10-15 min walk from the central train station they have Internet, games and laundry facilities, solid security and no more than six beds in a room. There are also kitchen facilities, a big common room with a TV, a pool table, games, movies at night, and a gift shop. Prices from Fr. 31 per person, per night. Youth Hostel, Weihergasse 4, ☏ +41 31 311 63 16. 187 beds in all, consisting of two, four, five and six-bed rooms and two group rooms, one with eighteen and one with 20 beds. Showers and WC on each floor, the security is lacking though, and theft is common in the dorms, given the area the hostel is in.

Mid-range Astoria Swiss Quality Hotel, Zieglerstrasse 66. Tastefully renovated 3*-hotel with a friendly and informal atmosphere, close to the city centre on the “Eigerplatz” (motorway exit “Bern Forsthaus”). Awarded Swiss Tourism’s Quality Award I, the hotel has 62 spacious and comfortable rooms, a restaurant with a bar, conference rooms, a w-lan and parking for cars and coaches. Bern Swiss Quality Hotel, Zeughausgasse 9, fax: +41 31 329 22 99, [email protected]. Charming hotel in the city centre of Bern, 600 m from the main station away and 10 km from the airport Bern Belp. Single room from Fr. 245, double room from Fr. 280. Kreuz, Zeughausgasse 41 (500 m from the railway station directly in the city centre), fax: +41 31 329 95 96, [email protected]. Member of Swiss Quality Hotels International. Double from Fr. 225. (updated Apr 2018) Metropole, Zeughausgasse 26 (600m from the railway station), fax: +41 31 329 94 95, [email protected]. Member of Swiss Quality Hotels International. Double from Fr. 129. (updated Apr 2018)

Splurge 1 Hotel Schweizerhof & The Spa, Bahnhofplatz 11, ☏ +41 3

Go next

Bern is an ideal gateway to the Bernese Highlands. You can make day trips to beautiful locations like Spiez, Thun, Interlaken, Grindelwald and all the way up the Jungfrau to Jungfraujoch. Other pleasant day trips are to Biel, Fribourg, Gstaad, Murten, Neuchatel and Solothurn. Geneva, Basel and Zurich can easily be done as day trips but deserve a longer stay.