Bern

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Bern "Capital of Switzerland" Country: Switzerland Region: Europe More Information: CS Group Wikipedia Wikitravel City-Ambassadors: Motherandson , Rafael, Hannes, Kaja

Contents 1 Meetings 1.1 Recurring Meetings 1.2 Upcomming Events 1.2.1 Openair Kino 1.2.2 Buskers Bern 2 Tips 2.1 Free bike "rental" 2.2 Internet 2.3 Hangouts 2.3.1 Indoors 2.3.2 Outdoors 2.4 Things to do and see 2.4.1 Sightseeing 2.4.2 Swimming in the Aare 2.4.3 Thun-Bern 2.5 Going out 3 CouchSurfers 4 Emergency couch system 5 Trivia

Bern is the capital of Switzerland.

Meetings

Recurring Meetings

• There's a regular Berne Meeting (Stammtisch). Normally it takes place the 5th every month. The meeting-location changes -> check the local CS Berne Group.
• If you're in town and want to meet somebody, organize a spontaneous come together or so, contact Riffraff or better post and inform yourself what's already up in the CS Berne Group (very active).
• In the CS Berne Group you also find the calendar with local (and not so local) meetings.

Upcomming Events

Openair Kino

Openair cinema on the "Grosse Schanze" in Bern from 24. of July till 24. of August: Openair Kino

Buskers Bern

A busker-festival all over the town from 7. - 9. of August 2008: Buskers

Tips

Free bike "rental"

You may get a bike for free for one day at the booths at the station for instance. You have to leave some sort of ID, Passport, driver's licence, etc and 20 Francs (summer of 2007) deposit which will be returned once you bring the bike back. If you don't return the bike before closing time there will be an extra charge.

Internet

• The bookshop Thalia, in Loeb has a quite good price (1.- per 15 min) Internet cafe (Floor -2).
• There is another internet point, a bit more expensive....2/3 Francs per 15 minutes in the Gerechtigkeitsgasse, on the left side.
• Copyquick int the main station Copyquick
• Inside Internet-Bar in the Aarbergergasse 46
• InternetPoint AG in the Waaghaus-Passage 8 InternetPoint AG
• Kornhausbibliothek (a library) at the Kornhausplatz 18 Kornhausbibliothek
• Weblane Internetcafé Bern in the Kramgasse 47 Weblane
• i'land internet&gaming in the Christoffelgasse 5

Hangouts

Indoors

• Reithalle the alternative place to have a drink, watch a movie, party, hang out, whatever ...there's concerts too (check Dachstock). Don't be scared off by the drug-addicts hanging out in front of the building (Neubrückstrasse 8).
  • There's the restaurant "sous le pont" in Reithalle, they have international good-price specialities every wednesday evening from a different country and open stage the last wednesday of the month. For the ganja-lovers reading this, after 10 pm you're allowed to smoke your spliffs inside.
  • There is also the bar ifluss. Don't know what is the actual state, if it is open again or not.
  • Then there is also the cafete/cafeteria in Reithalle, mainly a place to hang out after 4 am, when all the clubs are closed.
• Altes Tramdepot (restaurant and brewery): best beer here, they make it there (the production place can be seen by going to the toilet)! Can be very crowded though. Grosser Muristalden 6, just next to the bear pit.
• Zsa Zsa: must be the smallest bar in town. Brunngasse 11.
• Kreissaal is the only place in berne, where you may hang out till late in the night (about 4 am) even during the week.
• Kairo
• Brasserie Lorraine
• Turnhalle/Progr (Waisenhaus 30)- An old Highschool (?) where the gymnasium was turned into a bar and the upper building host artists in residency. They usually have good exhibitions, the bar is good with ecletic music (Nirvana to Thievery Corporation to swiss music I can't recognize yet) and an artsy crowd. Very good concerts, specially the Jazz ones. And if you are lucky you might just get a good rehearsal on saturday afternoon, for free.
• Musigbistrot (Mühlemattstrasse 48) - maybe an older and more quiter group of people, but students give concerts there too, so...maybe I have been there on quiet days. Food is very good but not really cheap. Also good Jazz concerts.
• Lichtspiel is a special cinema. It contains a huge collection of cinematic stuff from all periods. Every Sunday they are showing a film from their collection. During the week they are showing different films to one special thema. It's allways worth a visit - not only because of the museum part, but also for the lost pearls on celluloid. In the cinema there's also a bar.

Outdoors

• Eichholz (just right of the Camping indicated) is a place at the river Aare. In summer there are a lot of people hanging around, relaxing, sunbathing, juggling, having fun,... On the riverside part of it you may also make a barbeque. It's also a place people go to swim, down to Marzilibad (see later), situated at Marzilistrasse 29. Attention: Swimming in the Aare is only for very experienced swimmers. Also in the evening, a lot of people are there having a BBQ and just hanging out.
• The Münsterplattform (Pläfe) is a very popular place to hang out outside in down town. It's just beside the Münster (situated beside the cathedral on Münsterplatz). There's also a garden restaurant there and you have a very nice view from there.
• What you see from the Münsterplattform is the dam "Schwellenmätteli" with a restaurant. The terrace is built half on the dam and you can see rushing the water through glass tables.
• Grosse Schanze
• Kleine Schanze- Great view of the mountains on clear days and a nice café with tables outside in summer.
• Rosengarten- Great view over the old town and the mountains. Too bad the café up there is closed in Winter....once you go up there you have to hope for the industrious coffee seller to be there with his basket and coffee thermos.
• Elfenau
• Gurten: "just a hill", it offers a good view of bern and the mountains. It is also a nice place to hike to, either from Wabern or from Köniz. And every summer there's the famous Gurten Festival
• Zehndermätteli is a peaceful place in the middle of the forest beside the aare. The restaurant has good stuff like home-made syrup and all for a break on a sunny sunday walk. It's not far from the ruins of a roman bath.

Things to do and see

• Be sure not to miss the large fleamarket on the first sunday of each month in Reithalle.
• Ropetech park in summer.
• Tierpark.
• Markt.
• Zentrum Paul Klee for Art and Architecture lovers. The building is really beautiful and different and the exhibitions are usually interesting.
• Museum für Komunikation- Everything you ever wnated to know about comunications. The exhibitions tend to be very interactive, so it is a good place to take kids.
• Kunstmuseum Bern- An old building with a very good Art Collection with all the usual names for the XIX and XX century, but more interesting, a very good collection of swiss art.
• Historisches Museum Bern- Has a very good exhibition about Einstein (He developed the theory of relativity while living and working in Bern) that became permanent a few months ago.

Sightseeing

• Bear pit.
• Rosengarten.
• "Foundation Point" of Berne in the Matte (a mural painting, just beside the aare)
• Cellars in down town (eg. Cafe Roma).
• Münster (and also climbing the tower).
• Münsterplattform (Pläfe).
• Rathaus.
• Marktgasse, Spitalgasse and Gerechtigkeitsgasse (from station to bear pit).
• Zytglogge.
• Botanical garden.
• Blutturm

Swimming in the Aare

Attention: Swimming in the Aare is only for very experienced swimmers, there's quite a current and several people die per year. Furtheron, there's no supervision.

• Marzilibad.
• Lorrainebad.
• Loop in Bremgarten.

Thun-Bern

Attention: This is only for experienced swimmers and life jackets are absolutely recommended!

River-map (downloadable) with important information for rafters and swimmers: river-map

Take a rubber boat, the next train to Thun, go to Thun Schwäbis and float to Bern. There's the possibility to put in in Thun Schwäbis, in Uttigen, in Rubigen or Münsingen. Thun and Uttigen have direct access to trainstations. The whole Thun-Bern will take you about 3-4 hours (30km) and can be a day program if you go for a picknick.

In Uttigen, about 20 minutes after Thun there is an iron bridge (you pass it with the train from bern to thun) with the only dangerous situation of the trip. Here, no-one should pass without life jacket! It is possible to get out either left or right side of the river and set in after the waves again. If you want to get trough it, go either on the left or right side of the river, NOT in the middle (you risk to hit some rocks)

Get out in Eichholz, near the Camping or latest under the Monbijou bridge, it is signed. You can NOT get further, there's a dangerous barrage downstream, which can not be passed!!!

You can rent a raft with or without guide for this trip. This is highly recommended, you will get a safety instruction and life jackets as well as drybags are included normally. siesta oppi or aarebootsvermietung

Going out

• Dachstock, a very alternative place, but cool and quite big: Concerts (Punk, Rock, Ska), HipHop, Drum n'Bass: Neubrückstrasse 8.
• Wasserwerk: HipHop, Ragga, Dancehall, Drum n' Bass, Goa. Adress: Wasserwerkgasse 5.
• Bierhübeli is bit a more chic place to go out (surely more than Reithalle), but still good things sometimes. Situated atNeubrückstrasse 43.
• ISC (International Students Club Berne), quite small but cozy. A lot of styles, at Neubrückstrasse 10.
• There's some more. But anyway, to find out what's going on: bewegungsmelder.ch.

CouchSurfers

Emergency couch system

In case of a last minute couch needed, write your mail to cs.berne.emergency.couch@gmail.com. Write "couch" in the subject and also for sure a link to your profile in the body. You'll get an automatically generated mail back with the infos of a few CSers who'll also host you on short notice.

Trivia

wikitravel:Bern