Berne

Although Berne (German: Bern) is the seat of most of the institutions of the Swiss Confederation, The remarkable design coherence of Berne's old town has earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It has 6.4 km (4 miles) of arcaded walkways along streets decked out with fountains and clock-towers.

In 2018, it had a population of about 134,000 in the city, and roughly 420,000 in the urban agglomeration. It sits on a peninsula formed by the meandering turns of the river Aare.

Understand
Berne 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 Berne joined the Swiss Confederation. After conquering several rivals, Berne 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

 * There are Tourist Information Centres outside the main railway station, and in the Old Tram Depot next to the Bear Pit.
 * There are Tourist Information Centres outside the main railway station, and in the Old Tram Depot next to the Bear Pit.

Talk
The main language spoken in Berne is (Bernese-)Swiss-German, a Swiss dialect of the Alemannic language. Swiss-German is mostly a spoken language, but also used in text messages, etc. In official publications and announcements, Standard German is used.

English seems to be supplanting French as the favourite second language of the Bernese, even though the canton of Berne is a bilingual German and French-speaking canton. However, many people you encounter as a tourist will be able to speak both so it's certainly worth a try.

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

By plane


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 40 Fr and takes 20 mins.

For a better choice of flights, fly into Geneva, Zurich or Basel  then take the train to Bern.

By train
Berne is at the hub of the Swiss Federal Railway 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.

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.

By car
Berne 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.

Get around


Berne 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 Berne, 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 can be bought at vending machines at most stops, or with a smartphone using the SBB mobile app. They 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).

Since June 2014, all hotel accommodations 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.

By foot
The city centre of Berne 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.



By rail
Berne's S-Bahn rail system will take you to many places in the suburbs and to nearby cities like Biel, Thun, Fribourg or Solothurn.



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 transport to the centre of town. Using the car in the old town is very difficult and not recommended.

Motorbikers will find free dedicated parking spaces in several places around the perimeter of the old town, including near Waisenhausplatz and at the main train station.

By bike
Berne is a bike-friendly city, and most thoroughfares include dedicated bike lanes. There are a few challenging spots where bike traffic interweaves with motor traffic, but motorists are used to sharing the road with bikers and will normally pay attention. Because of the city's topography, some stamina may be required, or an electric bike.

The local branch of the Swiss-wide bike sharing Publibike charges Fr. 3 for the first 30 minutes. The formerly free local bike-share "Bern Rollt" has been terminated.

By taxi
Several taxi companies operate in Berne, including Nova Taxi (+41 31 331 33 13), Bären Taxi (+41 31 371 11 11) and Taxi Bern (+41 31 333 88 88). Taxis can be booked by phone, or at the main train station.

See


Berne 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.





Do

 * 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 hosts matches in the UEFA Women's Euro Finals.
 * 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 hosts matches in the UEFA Women's Euro Finals.
 * 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 hosts matches in the UEFA Women's Euro Finals.

Learn
Berne is home to the prestigious University of Berne which enrolls 17,431 students (2015). In addition, the city has the University of Applied Science also known as Berner Fachhochschule. There are also many vocational schools and offices of the Goethe Institute and the Alliance-Francaise (German and French cultural institutes).

Buy
As with most other cities in Switzerland, store opening and closing hours in Berne 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.



There are several used bookstores that carry cheap books in German, English and French:

Eat
Eating in Berne (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.

Drink
Many Bernese will tell you that the nightlife in Berne 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:



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.



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 Berne is a capital city; the budget hotels do tend to fill up on the weekends.

Connect
As of Sep 2021, the city has 5G from all Swiss carriers.

The city center is mostly covered by WiFi networks that have limited speed and access as open access after obligatory registration with SMS.

Stay safe
Berne is a very safe place with nearly no violent crime. However, as it is the capital of Switzerland, it sees political demonstrations every few weeks on a variety of subjects, occasionally leading to police intervention.

LGBT+ people feel safe in the city center and around major spots in the city, though not many explicitly LGBT+ spaces are available.

The drunks and vagrants often congregate at the central railway station at night, which is a nuisance but in general not dangerous.

There has been a slight increase in violence from young people. Try to avoid groups of drunk teenagers that look suspicious and you should be fine.

While police officers in Berne will happily help you out if you are in trouble or need information, they are also known for approaching "suspicious" persons in order to check their papers. This procedure is annoying, but legal as you will probably have a hard time proving you were not acting suspicious. Carry a photocopy of your passport and your onward ticket with you, stay calm and polite and you won't have much trouble.

Embassies

 * 🇫🇮 Finland
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇷🇴 Romania
 * 🇹🇼 Taiwan

Go next
Berne 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.