Explore Bern

About Bern

Bern is one of the most beautiful and underrated capital cities in Europe — a UNESCO-listed medieval Old Town wrapped in a dramatic horseshoe bend of the deep turquoise Aare river, with the highest concentration of original 12th-15th century arcaded sandstone buildings of any European city. The compact pedestrianised centre is the most rewarding 2-hour walk in all of Switzerland: the famous 6km of covered shopping arcades along Kramgasse and Spitalgasse (the largest preserved arcades in Europe), the dramatic Zytglogge clock tower (1218, with its 16th-century astronomical clock and 4-minute mechanical figure performance every hour), the late-Gothic Bern Minster (the tallest church in Switzerland, climb its 254 steps for the panorama), and the brilliant baroque Federal Palace (Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss government). The historic Bear Park (Bärenpark) on the river holds the city's symbolic brown bears in their riverside enclosure (a 700-year tradition). Don't miss the brilliant Einstein House on Kramgasse 49 (where Albert Einstein wrote four breakthrough papers in 1905 — the so-called Annus Mirabilis — while working at the Swiss Patent Office around the corner), the Zentrum Paul Klee (an extraordinary undulating Renzo Piano-designed museum housing the world's largest Paul Klee collection), and a long lazy swim down the Aare in summer (the city's most beloved local tradition).