Why travel far away when beauty is so close. This could be the motto for the Switzerland Sightseeing series, the first part of which

I would like to introduce you to. We set off for Bern, the beautiful capital city.

Bern

With its 131,000 inhabitants, Bern is not a typical capital city, leaving aside Vaduz, of course 🙂 Nevertheless, Bern can hold its own in the top league with its charm and, in my opinion, far overshadows cities like London or Berlin.

The great thing about Bern is its coziness, which immediately puts you in a pleasant holiday mood. The wonderful old town with its cellar shops has a decelerating effect. You absolutely must visit them when you're in Bern. Along the street, there are countless small shops nestled in the cellars of the city. You'll also find the occasional charming cafe down there.

We'll be right there first to Bear pit walked. You get there by walking down Old Town, right after the bridge that crosses the Aare river. It was the first time I actually saw the bears there. The last few times, the pit was being renovated or it was winter, and the bears are then... in the zoo? On vacation? Actually, I have no idea where the bears are when they're not in the bear pit.

But check out the website of the Bern Animal Parks before, because there you will find information on whether it is worth walking the extra 100 m 😉

Besides the bear pit, you can also do some great shopping in Bern. My favorite shop is the LOEB department store. Incidentally, this is a popular meeting spot in Bern, the so-called Loebegge. And indeed, we meet a buddy there. Loebegge Thank you.

Restaurant tips Bern

I could give you a whole range of tips here. I'll limit myself to three good restaurants/cafes.

Restaurant Verdi

I love this place. You eat in an old vaulted cellar with a unique atmosphere. Besides delicious food with a distinctly Italian flair, the exceptionally good wine selection is noteworthy. I can recommend anything here that includes white truffle. Delicious!!!

Oh, definitely book in advance. The place isn't small, but it's also correspondingly busy.

The Verdi is located right in the old town, virtually impossible to miss.

Restaurant Altes Tramdepot

Great atmosphere in an old tram shed. Accordingly, the tram depot offers about 500 seats. It is therefore quite loud. But: It's a brewery, and if you want to drink good local beer, this is the place to be.

Here you'll find good, traditional cuisine, and the place is perfect for refueling before your next sightseeing tour of Switzerland *lol*

The tram depot is located directly at the bear pit.

Einstein Coffee and Smoking Lounge

What would a visit to Bern be without a visit to the Einstein House. There is now a lovely café there that offers delicious food. Not only coffee and cake, but also tasty vegetarian dishes. It's very cozy to sit there and, depending on your preference, you can also watch the goings-on in the old town.

Of course, you should also pop into the museum briefly 🙂

The café is also located directly in the old town.

Thun, Interlaken and Meiringen

There are many ways to travel back from Bern to Chur. On one possible route are the cities of Thun and Interlaken. We decide to take this route on our Sightseeing Switzerland Tour.

In Thun, we only have the Castle seen, which presides over the city. From up here, you have a beautiful view of the valley and the city. What struck me was the quiet up here. You can relax at many viewpoints and let your worries drift away.

The city center is located right on the Aare River, which offers a great atmosphere. Many small cafes invite you to linger. Nevertheless, we decided not to stay here and drove on to Interlaken.

Interlaken

The drive itself is breathtakingly beautiful. Along Lake Thun, the road goes through forests and many tunnels towards Interlaken. There are several viewpoints along the route, allowing you to comfortably capture the stunning landscape with pictures and sound. We did this in parts, as you can see in the picture gallery below.

Interlaken lies between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. With its 5,500 inhabitants, it resembles a larger village rather than a city. All in all, a charming little town with many small shops and what feels like 1,000 souvenir shops. Despite the off-season, the streets are filled with people. People who come from everywhere. From Chur, but also from Tokyo, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi. Many of the shops have their advertisements exclusively in Arabic (?). Why? Most of the shops that offer excursions even display their advertisements in Mandarin, Japanese, and English. In some side streets, you actually feel like you're in Asia.

Nevertheless, the old town center is reminiscent of an idyllic, small Swiss town. We enjoy the sunshine and find a good café and restaurant right next to the Grand Resort Victoria Jungfrau. From there, you can wonderfully watch the Chinese people who have booked a tandem flight and are about to crash to the ground with their paragliders. Amusing! *g*

Meiringen

On our way back to Chur, we'll make a short stop in Meiringen. This small village is known for the Aare Gorge. Check the opening hours on the website. We didn't go there, but instead discovered a waterfall.

It probably goes without saying that you can enjoy excellent hiking in the Bernese Oberland. The network of hiking trails here is vast, which naturally makes the area very attractive in the summer. After soaking up a few more rays of sunshine, it's off over the mountain towards Zurich.

Lucerne

We're just making a short stop here for dinner. Of course, a walk across the Chapel Bridge is a must. The city's landmark is a bridge over 200 meters long, connecting the old and new towns. So, you should definitely visit if you're ever in Lucerne. By the way, this bridge burned down in 1993, unfortunately destroying most of the old paintings that were in the gables.

Enough culture, we're looking for the next Japanese person and eating our dinner. We'll find what we're looking for at Negishi Sushi. Located right next to the train station, we'll eat a delicious sushi platter. You can sit very comfortably here on the first floor and watch the people on the street from above 🙂

If you're in Lucerne, you should definitely take the cogwheel railway up to Pilatus. It starts in Alpnachstad, which is only a few minutes away from Lucerne.