Guide · Federal Palace

Bern parliament tour: how to get inside the Federal Palace

Switzerland's Parliament Building opens its doors on free guided visits between sessions. Here is how to book one, what to bring, and how to add a guide who explains Swiss politics.

Check availabilityfrom $33 · cancel at no cost

Editorial team, walkingtourbern.comUpdated October 21, 20267-minute read28 sources

The tour that goes with it Bern: Political Walking Tour with a Diplomat 5.0 (3 reviews) 2 to 3 hours from$149per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

What you need to know

01Cost: Guided tours of the Parliament Building are free and last at most 60 minutes, with 30 places.¹
02Booking: Book online, at the earliest 3 days before your visit.²
03Bring: Everyone aged 16 and over leaves an ID card or passport with security.³
04When: Tuesday to Saturday outside the sessions; no tours while Parliament sits.⁴ ⁵
05A guide of your own: A private political walk with a former diplomat starts from $149.

How the free building tours work

A Bern parliament tour costs nothing. The guided visits of the Parliament Building are free of charge, last a maximum of 60 minutes and have 30 places each.¹ When Parliament is not in session, a guided tour is the only way into the building.⁶ That makes the booking the whole trick: once you hold a ticket, the rest is a short, well organized hour inside the seat of Swiss government. Booking runs through Parliament's own online system, not through a ticket agent.

The visit takes in the domed hall, the Council chambers and the lobby, with the history of the building and an explanation of how Parliament works.⁷ Photography without flash is allowed inside, but not from the galleries, and filming is never permitted.⁸ If you want to go deeper afterwards, Parliament's free audio-tour app covers the building in the four national languages and English, for Apple and Android.⁹ Download it before you arrive if you want to listen in a language the slot does not offer.

Individuals book online, at the earliest 3 days before the visit.² On the day, show your ticket at the visitors' entrance at least 20 minutes before the tour begins.¹⁰ That entrance is on the Bundesterrasse, on the south side of the building, reached from Bundesplatz by the steps on either side.¹¹ Allow for the walk round from the square, since the front doors on Bundesplatz are not where you go in. Security takes a little time, which is why the early arrival matters.

Your visit

From booking to the domed hall

3 days before

Book online

Individuals cannot book earlier than this.²
On arrival

Show your ticket

At the visitors' entrance, at least 20 minutes early.¹⁰
At security

Leave your ID

Required for everyone aged 16 and over.³
Inside

Hall and chambers

The domed hall, the Council chambers and the lobby.⁷
Within 60 minutes

Back outside

Tours last a maximum of 60 minutes.¹
Afterwards

Bundesplatz

The fountain's 26 jets stand for the 26 cantons.¹²

Days, times and the language question

Outside the sessions, tours run from Tuesday to Saturday. From Tuesday to Friday they start at 11h30 and 15h00 in French and German, and on Saturday at 11h30, 14h00, 15h00 and 16h00 in French, Italian, German and English.⁴ With so few slots a day and a booking window of only a few days, it pays to check the calendar as soon as the window opens for your date. Saturday offers the widest choice of start times and languages.

The same page also states that there are no guided tours in English because demand fell during Covid.¹³ These statements contradict each other, so check the language offered for your slot on the booking page and do not count on an English tour until it shows one. If English matters, the free audio app and a private guide are the more dependable choices.⁹ A guide booked for your own party can then answer questions in your language before or after the visit.

No tours are offered while Parliament is in session.⁵ In 2026 the ordinary sessions run 2-20 March, 1-19 June, 14 September to 2 October and 30 November to 18 December.¹⁴ For 2027 Parliament lists 1-19 March, 31 May to 18 June, 13 September to 1 October and 6-23 December, plus a special session from 19 to 23 April.¹⁵ Plan your visit for the weeks in between. The session calendar is the first thing to check when you pick your travel dates.

Group sizes

How many people each kind of visit takes

people

Places on a guided tour, the smallest group Parliament books, and the largest group it seats in the gallery during a session.¹ ¹⁶ ¹⁷

Your options

Free visit, group visit, gallery or private walk

Option	Length	Group size	Book	Good to know
Free building tour	Up to 60 minutes	30 places	From 3 days ahead	ID from age 16
Group building tour	Up to 60 minutes	10 to 30	Up to 180 days ahead	Outside sessions only
Session gallery	A sitting	10 to 40 for groups	From 1 week before	No phone bookings
Political walk	2 to 3 hours	Private	Online	Pickup included

Parliament's own rules for tours and gallery seats, and the private walk's listing.¹ ² ³ ¹⁶ ¹⁸ ¹⁷

Add a guide

Political walk, Old Town walk or the budget walk

This page's pick

Political walk

With a former diplomat

Length: 2 to 3 hours
Reviews: 3
Price: from $149

See this walk

Bern: 90-Minute Stroll Through the Old Town

Passes Parliament

Old Town walk

From the station

Length: 90 minutes
Guides: IT, EN, DE, FR
Price: from $33

See this walk

Starts at the palace

Discover Bern

From the Bernabrunnen

Length: 135 minutes
Rating: 4.96
Price: from $31

See this walk

Decision helper

Which way into Swiss politics suits you

Find the line that fits your trip

I want to see the chambers I want to watch a debate I need English for certain I come with a school class I only have time for the outside

Free building tour

Up to 60 minutes inside, free of charge.¹

Session gallery

Seats can be reserved from one week before the session.¹⁸

Political walk

Guides speak English, French, German or Spanish.

Group building tour

10 to 30 people, bookable 180 days ahead.¹⁶

Old Town walk

Bern Welcome's 90-minute walk names the Parliament building.

Immerse yourself in the world of Parliament with our guides as you take in the domed hall, the Council chambers and the lobby and find out about the history of the building and how Parliament works.

Swiss Parliament (Parliamentary Services)Source 7

ID rules, groups and closures

Every visitor aged 16 and over must deposit an official identity document with security.³ Accepted documents are a passport, an ID card or driving licence from Switzerland or an EU state, and a Swiss identity card for foreign nationals.¹⁹ A photocopy or a photo on your phone is not on that list, so carry the original, and make sure older children in your party bring theirs as well.

Groups follow their own rules. A group tour needs at least 10 and at most 30 people and can be booked online up to 180 days in advance.¹⁶ If you travel with a class, a club or a large family, use that long window and fix the date early. Individuals cannot book that far ahead, so a group that splits into separate bookings loses the advantage of planning months before the trip. One booking for the whole party is simpler at the entrance as well.

Lighting works will interrupt the tours in early 2027. Because the ceiling lighting of the National Council chamber is being refurbished, there are no guided tours from 4 to 9 January 2027 or from 27 January to 2 February 2027, and tours resume without restrictions from 3 February 2027.²⁰ If your trip falls in those weeks, see the building from the square and the terrace instead.

Checklist

Before your visit to Parliament

Bring

Passport or ID card for everyone 16 and over³
Your online tour ticket
Enough time to arrive 20 minutes early¹⁰

Inside

Photos without flash, never from the galleries
No filming at any point
Session dates checked before you plan

Cost calculator

What a guided walk around Parliament costs

Set your group size to price the guided walks; the building tour itself is free.

Political walk2 to 3 hoursfrom $149 Old Town walk90 minutesfrom $33 Discover Bern135 minutesfrom $31

People 2

Total from$297

per head from $149

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each total takes the lowest adult price GetYourGuide shows for a Bern listing, times your group size, at the European Central Bank's rate of the day; checkout shows what you actually pay.

Video

Visiting the federal parliament building in Bern

Until you tap play, the video stays unloaded.

Watching a debate from the gallery

During a session the building opens in a different way. Individual visitors can follow debates and votes from the public gallery, and seats can be reserved at the earliest one week before the session starts, though not by telephone.¹⁸ Watching the chamber at work is a very different experience from a guided tour, and it is the one way to be inside while the tours are paused. Reserve as soon as booking opens for your session week.

Groups of 10 to 40 people book gallery seats online and gather at the visitors' entrance on the Bundesterrasse 30 minutes before the start, each member with an official identity document.¹⁷ The National Council sits on Monday from 14.30 to 19.00, on Tuesday from 8.00 to 13.00 and on Wednesday from 8.00 to 13.00 and 15.00 to 19.00 during a session.²¹ Check which chamber sits on your day before you book a seat.

The federal government meets in the same building. The seven federal councillors meet at the Federal Palace once a week, and Parliament holds its sessions there four times a year.²² Switzerland has no official capital in law; Bern is called the federal city and works as the de facto capital.²³ Knowing that makes the debates in the chamber easier to place. The building is a working parliament first and a sight second.

The square in front and the building's story

Bundesplatz in front of the building deserves time of its own. Its main attraction is the fountain with 26 jets of water, standing for the 26 cantons of Switzerland.¹² On Tuesday and Saturday a farmers' market fills the square, selling fruit, vegetables and flowers.²⁴ Come early on a market morning and the square looks nothing like the empty plaza you see in photographs. Stand back a little to fit the jets and the building's front into one picture.

The square was a car park until 2003 and was redesigned in 2003 and 2004 with slabs of dark gneiss from Vals.²⁴ The Parliament Building behind it was built between 1894 and 1902 to plans by the architect Hans Wilhelm Auer and inaugurated on 1 April 1902.²⁵ Some 95 percent of its building materials came from within Switzerland.²⁶ Its domed front faces the square and closes it off to the south.

Inside the National Council chamber, a mural by Charles Giron, 5 meters high and 12 meters wide, shows the Rütli meadow with the two Mythen behind it.²⁷ Look out for it on a Bundeshaus tour in Bern, together with the domed hall. From the Bundesterrasse behind the building, the station is five minutes away on foot and the Marzili about ten.²⁸ Walk round to the terrace after your visit for a final look.

A private political walk with a former diplomat

The free tour shows you the rooms; it does not walk you through Swiss politics across the city. For that, Bern: Political Walking Tour with a Diplomat is a private walk of 2 to 3 hours led by a former diplomat, with the Swiss political system as its theme. Guides speak English, French, German or Spanish, pickup is included and the walk runs rain or shine. It suits travelers who want context more than a list of sights.

It starts from $149 and is rated 5.00, but from only 3 reviews, so the score says less than a long record would. It can be reserved with payment due later and dropped at no cost until 24 hours ahead. Because it is private, you choose the language and the questions, which also solves the uncertainty about English on the free tours inside the building. Ask for the building's history if you could not get a slot inside.

A cheaper way to see the outside of the building with a guide is Bern Welcome's 90-minute walk from the station, whose listing names the Parliament building among its sights, from $33. Discover Bern. Understand Switzerland meets at the Bernabrunnen next to the Federal Palace, from $31. Either pairs well with a booked visit inside. Book the walk on a day without a session if you also want the free visit.

Your Old Town hour