Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 188 Transcript

Things to Do in Bern, Switzerland: A Two Day Itinerary for First-Time Visitors

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Carolyn Schönafinger: If you’re looking for a city that feels like stepping into a storybook, Bern might just be your perfect stop. In this episode, I’m joined by Kathrin Spinnler to discover exactly how to spend 2 unforgettable days in Bern. Think medieval streets, riverside views, iconic landmarks, and plenty of hidden corners that most first-time visitors miss. Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. I’m Carolyn Schönafinger, your Switzerland destination expert and the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com. Each week, together with my expert guests, I introduce you to the Switzerland that I know and love and share inspiration and practical tips to help you plan your dream Swiss vacation. Before we dive in, a quick thank you to our podcast sponsors, Switzerland Tourism and Eco Rails. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, you’ll know just how much there is to consider. With so many incredible places to visit, figuring out your itinerary, booking accommodation, and choosing the right rail pass can quickly start to feel overwhelming. So that’s where Eco Rails comes in. Their small group rail tours are carefully curated so that everything is taken care of for you. From the moment you arrive at the airport, your accommodation, transport, daily breakfasts and dinners, scenic excursions, and a knowledgeable local English-speaking guide are all included, so you can simply relax and enjoy the journey.

Carolyn Schönafinger: If travelling through Switzerland with a small group tour sounds like your ideal way to explore, you’ll find more details via the link in the show notes, along with an exclusive 5% discount code. Now let’s get into this week’s episode. Hello, Kathrin, and welcome back to the podcast. It’s lovely to have you here chatting with us today. Please introduce yourself to our listeners who haven’t heard you on the podcast before.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, thanks for having me again. So, um, I’m Katherine and I grew up in Switzerland, Bern more specifically, and I spent about 22 years living there. And nowadays I live in London and I’m a language teacher, so I teach German and English and of course some Swiss German. I used to run the Living in Switzerland podcast for 2 years, but these days I’m focusing on my language teaching and also writing educational material.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, fantastic. Well, when I was thinking about this topic, because we’re having a series, 2 days in different cities around Switzerland, and when I thought of Bern, I thought, who else could I ask? There’s no one better than Katherine, having grown up and living there for 22 years. So I’m going to ask you shortly to talk us through how visitors should spend a couple of days in the city. But before that, I think Bern is often overlooked by first-time visitors to Switzerland. So why would you encourage our listeners to include Bern in their Swiss travels?

Kathrin Spinnler: Well, I mean, probably exactly because of that. So it’s a bit less busy, less touristy. It’s a very small town. It’s got less than 200,000 inhabitants. So really it’s more of a town than a city. But that also makes it maybe more authentic, like an experience that not everybody else has. And of course it’s very historic despite its small size. It’s quite dense in terms of what you can see there. You can walk around and see lots of different historic buildings and statues and fountains. And of course the entire old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so it’s got very beautiful mediaeval architecture. And it’s quite special just to, to see, especially on a nice day. Mm-hmm.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, it, it’s certainly that it, it’s got all that history, but, but you don’t sort of feel overwhelmed because it, it is just a nice size and it’s very walkable, isn’t it? Which I’m sure you—

Kathrin Spinnler: Yes.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. I’m sure you’ll tell us more about that. So let’s assume that our listener has 2 full days to spend in Bern. What would you recommend that they do on their first day?

Kathrin Spinnler: So I think if you arrive, it’s nice to just have a little look around, maybe explore the Old Town on foot. What’s really nice about the Bern Old Town, and it’s a bit special, is that it has arcades called Lauben, which are basically covered pavements all down the old street. So you can walk down no matter what the weather, if it’s raining, if it’s snowing, it doesn’t matter because you’re covered. On these pavements. And so you can go into the little shops, you know, many small independent shops in the Old Town, no matter the weather. So definitely if you can have a little look around on foot, you’ll walk past the Swiss government building, the Bundeshaus, and yeah, just get oriented.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So when people are wandering around the Old Town, what are some of the historic buildings that they should keep an eye out for?

Kathrin Spinnler: I mean, there’s two really big ones. Of course, there is the Swiss government building and that’s really, I think, special just to be able to walk straight up to it. There’s a big square in front of it. If you go in the winter months, there’s a free ice skating rink in front of it where you can ice skate while looking at the government building. In the summer, you can walk all around. People often go there because it’s like a kind of set in some park grounds and it’s also overlooking the river and everything. So people go there for lunch, they sit there on the floor or on a bench and eat some lunch. And so that’s a great one to visit. They also sometimes have light shows. So maybe look at, you know, an events calendar and see if there are any lights showing up on that building. And then the other really big one, of course, is the Münster, which is the big church. It’s really quite tall and you can go all the way up if you’re very fit or you are up for a challenge. I did it when I was really little with my mum once and yeah, we were quite tired by the end of it.

Kathrin Spinnler: But I, I do believe someone actually lives up there as well, which is interesting. There’s like an apartment there. Wow.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. So those are like the really big ones. Of course, then you have the Einstein House and other ones. All the big museum buildings look really nice. There’s a neighbourhood with all the big fancy embassies. Because a lot of them are in Bern as well. But yeah, definitely if you’re just starting out and you only have 2 days, make sure you sort of walk past these 2 buildings.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm. Okay. And there’s a lot of fountains around the city too, isn’t there?

Kathrin Spinnler: Yes. You’ve got one very special one, which is a child-eating fountain. Not too far away from the government building, there’s this big fountain with a statue of a quite scary-looking man eating children. And it sounds really gruesome and it is, but as a child I would always sort of sit on my dad’s shoulders and I would be like, can we go to the Child Eating Fountain? And it was this thing that was sort of semi-funny, semi-scary. And I think a lot of the local children feel that way. So that one’s definitely worth a visit. And then also remember that the water is really clean in these fountains, so you can wash your hands, maybe you can even fill up your water bottle. So, Yeah, that’s really nice.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. And what about the clock? It’s the clock, the Zytglogge, I think it’s pronounced. That’s a very unique or very famous site in the old town as well.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yes. And you can, I mean, there’s always a small crowd when it starts chiming, especially at lunchtime. So that’s a good thing if you’re just having lunch somewhere and then walk down to the Zytglogge. And have a look at this clock chiming. It’s really very historic. Yeah. It’s also just an, as I said, as, as all the other ones, just an attractive building, you know, seeing the mediaeval architecture and the cobblestones underneath and yeah. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And it’s a, um, an astronomical clock, isn’t it? And, and every, I don’t know if it is at every hour that, um, little mechanisms, you know, make the, the figures come out. So that’s why everyone stands and looks at it. It’s not just the clock chiming, it’s actually all always figures moving.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, exactly. It depends on the time of year as well, doesn’t it? Sometimes you can really have a lot of people waiting for it 5 or 10 minutes before the hour.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, that’s right. So time your visit, get there nice and early if you’re there at a busy time of year.

Kathrin Spinnler: And then you could grab some lunch. A great place is if you go all right down all the way to the end of the Old Town, there’s the bear park, which used to be a bear pit, but now of course the bears have a better habitat with, actually they have part of the river to themselves. And so you might or might not see the bears cuz they’ve got more hiding places now. But there’s a nice restaurant called the Altes Tram Depot, and it’s like a brewery restaurant right next to this bear park with some great views. Or, you know, if that’s not your thing. There’s lots of street markets if it’s a market day, especially. There’s always some nice local organic food you can pick up there. And then the afternoon really depends on what the weather is like. So on a nice day or a summer’s day, I would suggest walking along the river that sort of loops around the city because the city was built inside this loop of a river just for protection. Back in medieval days. And so you can walk all along that Aare. And if it’s really nice, maybe you can even jump in for a swim like the locals who have, they all have these watertight little bags where you put all your things in and then you jump in the river and further down you get back out.

Kathrin Spinnler: And some people even commute that way in the summer. So that’s a fun thing to do. Yeah, it’s really clean. So you know, this capital city river that you can swim in that’s completely clean and it’s very nice. But of course sometimes the weather doesn’t play along. So in that case, you’ve got great options as well. I think a good idea is to visit the museum quarter. You can visit the art museum, Kunstmuseum, or the Paul Klee Museum. So, you know, the famous artist Paul Klee, they have a museum or just any, I mean, there’s natural history, you know, there’s all kinds of— oh, there’s a nice sort of geographical Alpine museum. Whatever you enjoy, you’ll find a nice museum to visit. And then dinner, you can have at various places. You can go— the Rosengarten is also really nice, the rose garden, depending on the time of year, of course, but it’s a nice park and it overlooks the old town, especially beautiful, of course, at sunset. So that’s a nice restaurant to go to if you want to have nice views and it’s a clear day. Or there’s another one called Lötschberg. It’s just very traditional Swiss food.

Kathrin Spinnler: You could try some fondue, some rösti. So yeah, I think that would be a nice sort of relaxed first day, just getting oriented and yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Right.

Kathrin Spinnler: Okay.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And yeah, I will add a comment about the restaurant at the Rosengarten. I actually went there last time I was in Switzerland. We went there for lunch. Amazing views and the food was great and they actually had like a meal of the day, uh, where for a set price you had, I think it was, uh, 2 courses, which was excellent value. So that’s definitely a good restaurant to try.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. This is a thing that, that a lot, most sort of more traditional Swiss restaurants do a set menu of the day. And so that’s a very common thing. And many people are just like, what’s the menu? And menu in Switzerland doesn’t mean like a card with different options, it means the set special of the day. So the menu is special. And yeah, that’s often, I mean, obviously it’s a good thing to try because it’s going to be very fresh because they’re preparing it all for that specific day.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. So that’s a good way to get, you know, get familiarised with the city on day 1. What should people do on day 2?

Kathrin Spinnler: It really depends on what your interests are or also who you’re travelling with. So if you’re travelling with kids, there’s an animal park called Dählhölzli, and it’s really easy to combine that with a walk along the river. You can eat there and then walk along the Aare, and it’s a really nice thing to do because it’s sort of a loop around this animal park and you’ll see lots of local and international families there. Get to know, you know, something that the kids I think will really enjoy. I think we used to go there quite a lot when I was younger. There’s this ant exhibit where you see the inside of an ant hill and there’s always some kids around that are just looking in a very fascinated way. So yeah, it’s quite a nice, nice thing to do. But Bern also has a local mountain, which is really nice to go up on or see. It’s called the Gurten. And you might have heard of it because there’s a big festival on it once a year in the summer, the Gurtenfestival, with all the music. But for the rest of the year, it’s also really great for kids or just anyone because you can either walk up and down or there’s a funicular ride you can take.

Kathrin Spinnler: So it’s suitable for everyone, whether you’re into walking or not. There’s great views at the top. You can see, obviously, the city, and there’s also a nice restaurant. It’s a bit casual. You can go there with kids. They don’t have to be perfectly quiet. There’s usually lots of families there. There’s playgrounds, you know, adventure playground. There’s a cute little train that’s like a mini train and kids can sit in it. And that’s another thing I used to do a lot as a child. And then, you know, it has real like steam and it makes whistling noises and it’s very exciting. And then if you’re really more into exploring and hiking, there’s a trail called the Via Berna, and it basically goes all along the canton of Bern, not just the city, but several, there’s sections, like 300 kilometres long. So you won’t be able to do the whole thing, but it’s got distinct sections and they’re designed so that they’re all accessible by public transport.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay.

Kathrin Spinnler: And so if you look at it, you can either choose one of the sections close to the actual Bern, because I think one of them, one of the end and start points is near the Aare River and then do one. Or if you feel like you want more of an adventure, you can go by train or by post bus to another location and do one of the other trails that are a bit further out. And some of them even kind of go up close to the glaciers and stuff. So really along that trail you can do any type of hiking. Some are quite flat, some are quite hilly. Yeah. So that’s a nice one. And one, um, another alternative that’s very close to where I actually grew up, cause I grew up like 20 minutes outside of Bern. It’s called the Schwarzwasserbrücke, so Blackwater Bridge. And basically you, it’s a direct train from the main Brand Station, and it takes about 25 or 30 minutes on the S6 line. And then you get to this place called Blackwater Bridge, and it’s like a gorge. And basically you feel like you’re in a completely different place.

Kathrin Spinnler: You’re not at all in a city, and it’s a nice walk with quite spectacular landscapes. Hmm.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. Well, that sounds really interesting. I’m betting none of our listeners have heard of that before. I certainly haven’t. So, that’s great to get a real insider tip there of something to do.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, because I think, I think you’ll just see Swiss hikers with their, you know, hiking boots and Swiss packed lunch or something there with a Kägi fret. Do you know Kägi fret?

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yes. It’s like a wafer kind of biscuit. Is that right?

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. Yeah. It’s a hiking food. So people will, will be along that trail with their Kägi fret in their hand and, you’ll feel very much like a local. And it’s also, um, you don’t have to worry too much because, you know, you can’t really get that lost in that area of Switzerland. And also there’s a lot of markings, so the trails are all very well marked, so you don’t have to worry. Even if it’s an area where there’s not that many tourists, you’re still gonna find your way. So it’s okay.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, great. Well, there’s certainly plenty of options there for spending 2 days in Bern. So for people that perhaps only have 1 day, in the city, maybe they’re staying elsewhere and they just want to come to Bern for the day, or they’re just staying one, one day before they move on. What would you suggest that they prioritise? What, what do you think are the must-sees if they’ve only got the one day in the city?

Kathrin Spinnler: I think, you know, if you come in the morning, you’ve got a nice day, I think definitely just visit the Old Town. It’s still very leafy and green as well. So maybe, yeah, do a, do a loop of the Old Town, see the Rosengarten, see the two buildings we discussed, the Bundeshaus, like the government building and the big Münster. Maybe think of one thing you really wanna do. So aside from just, obviously you can walk the area in maybe 2 hours. I don’t know. What would you say? About 2 hours?

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. I, I would say so.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. So you have plenty of time to do one thing. So whether you would like to visit one specific museum or you would like to go, you know, to the Gurten or the animal park, just, just sort of pick one of the options we talked about and just focus on that. Because if you try to squeeze in too much, it’ll probably be too stressful.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, definitely.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. I suppose maybe the Gurten is good because no matter if you have children or are coming as a couple or alone, that’s always a nice thing to do.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah.

Kathrin Spinnler: And also you can combine it with a nice walk if you want to take the little funicular up and walk down. It kind of has everything of all the options we’ve talked about. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And you can get a tram there from the city centre to the bottom of the funicular station, can’t you?

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, it’s easy to get to. I mean, everything, most things in Bern are reasonably easy to get to.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Okay. So what about if people have more than 2 days in Bern? Maybe they’re basing themselves there and they want to explore a bit further afield. World after they’ve, you know, familiarised themselves with Bern itself, what else can they do or what other sort of day or half-day trips would you suggest?

Kathrin Spinnler: I think they should probably go to the Emmental Cheese Factory if they like cheese. So the Emmental is a lovely valley that’s not too far from Bern. I think there’s post buses that also can get you there. The cheese factory is basically where Emmental, like, originated. It’s a lovely place to visit because you see some of the old equipment. There’s a lovely shop, there’s a restaurant. It’s a really nice restaurant. And again, you’ve got these amazing views of those hilly landscapes below. It’s really a very sparsely populated area. So even taking a trip there and seeing it from the window of, you know, the car or the post bus is amazing because it’s that very typical Swiss hilly landscape with the little farms. Dotted around, but quite sparse. And that’s really nice. And it’s very inter— I mean, I have family there, so we usually go when I visit Switzerland, we almost always go. And so it’s very interesting because life is very different there. So if you can sort of get a little bit of an insight, for example, my relatives who live there, there’s the track to get to their house is a one-car, tiny, non-paved lane.

Kathrin Spinnler: And so it’s very much like life was for many people maybe 100 years ago when, you know, things weren’t paved and you didn’t have access. And, you know, they get snowed in in the winter, they can’t go out, they can’t go anywhere. So it’s very different and a nice experience just to see that other side of, you know, Swiss life that’s maybe not so common in the city.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah.

Kathrin Spinnler: Um, and another option of course is because you can jump on trains so easily from Bern, you can take a day trip to one of the next towns over, which is Thun. Do you know Thun?

Carolyn Schönafinger: I do know Thun. It’s beautiful. Yeah, it’s kind of a mini— it reminds me of a mini Bern, actually.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yes. So Thun is really nice. It’s also got a lake, so you can do like lakeside activities, go on a boat. There’s a castle. There’s, you know, and it’s obviously the train ride is also quite nice. As always, if you get on a train in Switzerland, you’re likely to see something nice. And you know, there’s a lot of independent little shops. In Thun and you can eat in some bakery, then the food’s gonna be just delicious, even if it’s just a little bakery. So that’s another nice thing if you just wanna see a different town instead of going for a long hike or something. Mm-hmm.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. And that’s something that also the locals will do, like with my mother and grandmother, for example, when I was younger, we used to just, you know, go to Thun for the day and do a little bit of shopping and walk around it, do a loop around the town. And I think that is a thing that people do.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, why not when, when the access is so good and, and the towns are so close, it’s right.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: It’s a shame not to do that. So, okay. So is there anything that our listeners should know in terms of seasonal operating dates? Like, do certain things close at some times of the year or is there a best time of year to visit for activities or festivals or? Uh, any tips that people should know?

Kathrin Spinnler: I mean, one that maybe is a little obvious is the bears hibernate in winter. So if you are specifically wanting to visit Bern to see the bears, your best bet will be when they’re, when it’s hottest and when they’re the most active. But again, um, they’re a little bit more hidden nowadays, so it’s just, you know, maybe you’ll see them and maybe they’ll be somewhere in the bushes, which, you know, is nice for them as well. In terms of other things, I briefly spoke about the ice rink near the government building, and that is only open in winter, of course, but it’s a really nice thing to do because it’s free. You can rent skates there if you’re into that, and then you can finish and have a hot chocolate in the restaurant, which is attached to it. So if you go in winter, that’s a nice thing to do. Obviously swimming in the Aare is only, well, it depends really. I mean, there are people who swim all year round. In the river. Wow. But I think you have to accustom yourself because even in the summer, the maximum temperature of it is like 22 degrees Celsius.

Kathrin Spinnler: So most likely, unless you hit one of the hottest days of the year, it’s gonna be under 20 degrees. So really it’s only if you really come in the summer or if you’re cold tolerant and brave. Yes. What else? I think, yeah. The other thing you can, as I said, the old town has arcades, so you can really enjoy it any time of year.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, good. And what about festivals? Is there any particular festivals or events that you think people should know about?

Kathrin Spinnler: So there’s the Gurtenfestival in the summer, which is quite a popular music festival. You get loads of visitors and it’s on for about a week. So check that it varies by year, I suppose, the exact date, but it’s, it’s, in the summer. And then of course there’s the onion market in the autumn on a Monday. So some schools actually have a half day off for that because it encourages the children to visit. And it’s a market that celebrates onions. I think it originated when Bern invited the town of Fribourg to bring their onions and market them in Bern. And then ever since they’ve done it every year, it’s been going on for many, many, many years. And it’s a very nice festival, of course, centred around onions, but there’s also lots of other stuff, like there’s little plastic hammers where people hit you over the head with them. That’s a little game they play. And there’s a lot of sweets and maybe some music and just, yeah, it’s a, it’s basically a traditional festival, whereas the Gurten is more of a modern music festival. The Onion Market is really Berne’s big traditional festival that happens every autumn.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Well, definitely something to, uh, yeah, to visit if people are in Bern at that time of year. Okay. So, what is one thing that you tell everyone who you speak to who’s visiting Bern for the first time that they must do before they leave?

Kathrin Spinnler: I think the one thing is really just to visit the Aare, the river as well, because it’s so special, I think. That a capital city has this amazing, clean, beautiful river right in the middle of it. And you can literally go to the side of the river and you feel almost like you are, you know, in a very natural spot. There’s stones, there’s trees, the water flowing. And also, especially if you’re going in during, you know, not a very cold time, it’s just so nice to see the locals enjoying themselves. You can really see life. The quality of life, I think, by that river, because you can see people just taking their lunch from the office, taking a short walk, taking their lunch to the side of this river and just sitting there having a really nice break during the day. And it’s just, yeah, I think that’s what makes Bern’s quality of life, just that integration of, you know, you’ve got obviously daily life and then you’ve got these beautiful natural or historic places that people actually, like modern people actually enjoy. And it’s nice to see. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So the river is kind of like the heartbeat of the city, I guess.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. Or also, yeah, same thing with the government building that people can just go and sort of sit underneath their country’s government building, you know, central government and just have their lunch there. It’s quite interesting. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: It’s very unique. You couldn’t do that in, in many other places.

Kathrin Spinnler: I think so. Yeah. And it’s just, yeah, it’s quite nice— you can also, I think there’s open days where you can actually go inside. Okay. But you’ll have to, they vary and you have to just check on the website. Cool.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. So do you have any other tips for our listeners who are considering including Bern in their trip to Switzerland?

Kathrin Spinnler: I would say do it because it’s so easy and accessible. Take the train because no matter where, okay, if you’re staying in Zurich, if you’re staying in Basel, even if you’re staying in Geneva or Lausanne, it’s just easy to get to. You can do it in a day and it’s just worth it if you’ve got a spare day or you’ve got a little bit of time. From Zurich and Basel, it’s an hour. From Geneva, it’s about 2. So really the distance is not that big, or at least the train is very fast. And so I would say Yeah, go for it. Even if you only have a day. And also another thing to remember is that the trains run every half hour to all the other towns. So you don’t even have to look at times. You don’t have to pre-book anything. Just show up on the day really. Same with a lot of the restaurants. I mean, it might be if you already know where you wanna go or you have a very specific idea, you might wanna pre-book, but usually people just show up on the day as well. And just see what you find.

Kathrin Spinnler: Go exploring a bit. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And that makes it even more special, doesn’t it? Because, uh, you’re just waiting for, yeah, the city to unfold before your eyes and, uh, who knows what you’re gonna see and do.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah. I think that’s, again, coming back to what we said at the beginning, that’s one of the advantages of going to a place that’s a little bit less touristy, maybe that you don’t have to have 10 activities all lined up and pre-booked because they book out 2 months before. Is that you can just go there and enjoy the day and see what you find? And you’ll be sure to find something. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: The perfect day. And I think, I think what you said is right. Just do it. Go, go there and, and discover Bern for yourself.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So if anyone listening is perhaps interested in learning German or Swiss German, I know that’s what you do. How could they get in touch with you?

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, it’s always a nice idea to learn a little bit of the local language, isn’t it? So if people want to get in touch with me, I have a LinkedIn profile with my name, just Katherine Spindler. So that might be a nice way to connect. Or also you can get in touch directly through my website, which is katherinespindler.com. That website’s a little bit more about my writing, but it’ll still work if you just wanna reach out through that.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, fantastic. And I’ll put the links to both your website and your LinkedIn profile in the show notes for this episode. So that’ll make it even easier for people to click through.

Kathrin Spinnler: Great.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Thank you, Kathrin. It’s been great to get all your insights about your hometown, your home city, the capital. It’s been very interesting to learn more about some of the buildings and the attractions and things that people can see and do when they visit the city. So thank you very much.

Kathrin Spinnler: Yeah, thank you for having me.

Carolyn Schönafinger: My pleasure, and I’m sure we’ll chat again soon. And that’s a wrap on 2 days in Bern, a city that’s as charming as it is easy to explore. I hope this episode has given you an idea of just what to see, what to do, and how to make the most of your time there. You’ll find more information about Bern and the links to get in touch with Katherine if you’re interested in learning some new language skills. In the show notes for this episode. You can also get a copy of my free Switzerland travel planning kit and guide from the show notes too. They’re available at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode188. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and share it with everyone you know who is planning their own visit to Switzerland. Until next week, when I’ll be back with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration, Tschüss!

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.