Things to do
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Lake Thun
Covering about forty-eight square kilometres, this is the largest Swiss lake entirely within a single canton, with the Niesen at its southern end and Interlaken to the east. BLS boats sail it all year; from May to mid October they include the 1906 paddle steamer Blüemlisalp. Castles stand at Thun, Oberhofen, Spiez and Hilterfingen, all reachable by boat.
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Schloss Oberhofen
A castle standing in the water on the north shore, thirteenth century with a Turkish smoking room added in the nineteenth, in an English park of exotic trees running down to the lake. The boat calls at its own pier.
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Thun Castle
On the hill above the old town, this keep from around 1190 carries four corner turrets under one huge roof. Its museum runs over seven levels, from the cellar up through the tall Knights' Hall, and tells the story of the castle and the town. From the turrets the view runs over the lake to the Bernese Alps.
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Thun-Panorama
Marquard Wocher's circular painting of Thun around 1810, about thirty-eight metres long, is the oldest panorama painting to survive anywhere. It hangs in a round pavilion in Schadau Park, viewed from a platform in the middle as if from a rooftop in the old town. The pavilion opens from March to November and closes on Mondays.
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Waterfront
Flussbad Schwäbis
Swimmers have used this stretch of the Aare in town since 1884, and the river pool now has lawns, a section for non-swimmers, a paddling pool for children and a restaurant. It opens from May to September. A short, quiet stretch of the river is set aside for swimming, which makes it a calm first taste of the Aare.
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Castle
Hünegg Castle
Standing in a lakeside park at Hilterfingen, a short boat ride from Thun, this nineteenth-century castle keeps its original furnished rooms, decorated in the historicist and art nouveau styles of the period. It opens from mid May to mid October, mostly in the afternoons. The park and the shore path beside it are pleasant even on a day the house is shut.
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Niesen
A near-perfect pyramid rising to 2,362 metres at the south end of the lake, often called the Swiss Pyramid. A funicular from Mülenen, completed in 1910, climbs to the summit. Beside it runs a service stairway of 11,674 steps, the longest in the world, opened to the public only for one stair race a year.
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Landmark
Obere Hauptgasse
Along the old town's main street the pavements run on the roofs of the ground-floor shops, so a second row of shops and cafés opens off a raised walkway above the cobbles. Flags and window boxes hang over it in summer. At the top end the covered Kirchtreppe climbs to the town church and the castle gate.
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Castle
Schadau Castle
Pink and neo-Gothic, this castle was finished in 1854 on the spot where the Aare flows out of Lake Thun. It now holds a hotel and restaurant, and its park is open to walkers, with lawns running down to the water and the Bernese Alps across the lake.
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Bridge
Sigriswil Panorama Bridge
Strung for 340 metres between the villages of Sigriswil and Aeschlen, this footbridge hangs about 180 metres above the Gummischlucht gorge, with Lake Thun and the Bernese Alps beyond. A fee is paid on site for the crossing. Paths drop into the gorge below for a loop back to the start, and the bridge is open in all weathers.
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Castle
Spiez Castle
Above a small harbour on the south shore, this castle stands among vineyards, with a Romanesque church beside it and a tower that looks down the length of the bay. The museum opens daily from May to October, from late morning except on Mondays, when it opens in the afternoon. Trains from Thun take about ten minutes, and the lake boats call at the pier below.
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Viewpoint
Stockhorn
Reached by cable car from Erlenbach in the Simmental, the 2,190-metre summit looks over Lake Thun to the Alps on one side and across the Swiss lowlands on the other. The cars change at the Chrindi middle station, where a short, easy path circles the Hinterstockensee lake. The lift runs in a summer season and a shorter winter one.
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Bridge
Untere Schleuse
Built in 1723 and 1724, this covered wooden lock still controls the Aare as it leaves the lake, and a footpath crosses on top of it. Window boxes line its rails in summer. Below the town's locks the river forms standing waves, and on warm evenings surfers take turns on them while the cafés of Mühleplatz look on.
