Bern is the capital of Switzerland, and a truly gorgeous city. There's tons of history here, as well as some great views of the mountains and rivers. To be totally honest with you though, if you're looking to see the alps and have some fun, I would skip Bern on your trip to Switzerland. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great city, but there's a lot of cooler cities in Switzerland. But since I went here, I'm gonna write about it, just in case you're looking for stuff to do in Bern. So here goes!
Great views of the city:
-Munster Turm Bern aka The Cathedral of Bern - This gorgeous Gothic style cathedral, built in 1421, is the tallest cathedral in Switzerland. You can go up in it's tower for 5 CHF, and see Bern in all her glory, including turquoise blue rivers, mountains, and all the cute little Swiss homes. Also, the inside of the cathedral is gorgeous, so be sure to check out the architecture before going up into the tower.
-Rosengarten Bern aka Rose Garden of Bern - This is a gorgeous little park on the edge of the city that includes a garden (obviously), a playground, a restaurant, and a great view of the city. It's just a short walk up a hill, and totally worth it. The restaurant at the top is a great place to sit and have some coffee and just enjoy the view.
Things to do:
-Find the four Albert Einstein statues - So I'm a huge physics nerd, so this was pretty fun for me. Unfortunately though, I only found 3 of the 4. In case you didn't know, Albert Einstein lived in Bern for a bit and developed the theory of relatively while here. So to commemorate him, there are 4 statues of Einstein sitting on benches scattered throughout Bern. (hint- one of them is at the Rosengarten).
-Go to the Bernisches Historisches Museum aka The Bern history museum - So again, huge physics nerd here, and in this museum there is a whole section dedicated to Albert Einstein's life. Not gonna lie, super neat. I learned a ton about Einstein that I didn't know. There's also other stuff in the museum to check out and it's about 13 CHF for entry.
-Check out the real live bears! - So Bern means "bear", which apparently is the first animal the Duke caught when he lived here. So there's a bunch of big 'ol big brown bears in a little zoo in the city.
-Visit the Federal Palace - This gigantic building is beautiful. I honestly have no idea if you can go inside or not, but just walking around it is super cool. The architecture is awesome, and there's tons of really cool (and weird) statues and fountains surrounding the palace, as well as all over the city.
-Go shopping! - There's tons of cute little stores and boutiques down the main street. I bought my mom a beautiful handmade bracelet in one of these boutiques.
-Eat! - There are a ton of Michelin star restaurants scattered throughout Bern. I am poor, so I didn't eat at any of them, but I assume they're delicious. I did eat a place called Ringgenberg and got some goat cheese thing that they crisped the top of, and it was amazing.
And there you have it. I am sure there of tons of other things to do in Bern, but I was only here for a day and it was pouring rain the entire time.
