Guide · On a budget

Free walking tour in Bern: walk it yourself or pay a little

The streets, fountains and bears cost nothing, and a free walking tour in Bern can simply be you, a map and a refillable bottle. Here is the route, the audio options and the cheapest ways to add a guide.

Check availabilityfrom $33 · cancel at no cost

Editorial team, walkingtourbern.comUpdated October 21, 20268-minute read56 sources

The tour that goes with it Bern Old Town walk, 90 minutes 4.4 (713 reviews) 1.5 hoursFrom the Tourist Information at the stationGuides in 4 languages from$33per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

In short

01Tourist office walk: Bern Welcome's own Old Town stroll is paid: CHF 26.00 for adults, 1 h 30 min.¹
02Free route: Follow the red line on our map from the station past the Zytglogge and the Minster to the Rosengarten.
03Audio: Bern Welcome's audio tour has 20 stations over 2.5 kilometers for CHF 14.90.²
04Cheapest guide: Group walks start from $31 for 135 minutes or $33 for 90 minutes.
05Free stops: Drinkable fountain water, the BärenPark and entry to the Minster church.³ ⁴ ⁵

What free really means on a Bern walk

The Old Town of Bern is a public space from end to end. Its arcaded streets, squares and fountains cost nothing to walk through, and the whole Old City has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1983.⁶ The main station stands in the city center, and most sights can be reached from it on foot, so you need neither a ticket nor a bus to begin, only a little time and decent shoes.⁷

A guide is a different matter. Bern Welcome, the official tourist office, sells its public stroll through the Old City rather than giving it away: CHF 26.00 for adults, CHF 21.00 for seniors and CHF 13.00 for children aged 6 to 16, for 1 h 30 min in groups of up to 20.¹ Bern Welcome also says it runs the walk bilingually when enough people book, so you may hear your guide switch languages along the way.⁸

Tip-based walks, where you pay what you think the guide earned, appear on booking platforms in many cities. Before you plan your day around one in Bern, check that its page names a meeting point, a date and a real operator, and that it is still running in the week you visit. If any of that is missing, the self-guided route below gives you the same streets without the uncertainty.

The free route

Station to Rosengarten, stop by stop

Start

Tourist Information

Bahnhofplatz 10a, open from 09:00 every day.⁹
Then

Käfigturm

A gate tower built in 1256, later a prison.¹⁰
Next

Bundesplatz

26 jets of water for the 26 cantons.¹¹
Mid-route

Zytglogge

The figures move every hour on the hour.¹²
Lower town

Minster portal

294 sculptures of the Last Judgement.¹³
Finish

Bears and roses

The free BärenPark, then the Rosengarten view.⁴ ¹⁴

The upper town, from the station to the clock

A self-guided walking tour of Bern starts at the Tourist Information at Bahnhofplatz 10a, by the station's eastern exit, which opens from 09:00 every day.⁹ ¹⁵ Walk east along the arcades. The first landmark is the Käfigturm, built in 1256 as a defense tower and city gate and used as a prison after the fire of 1405.¹⁰ From Monday to Saturday it opens its doors, since it houses the country's political forum.¹⁶ ¹⁷

Turn right toward the Bundesplatz and the domed Federal Palace. On the square, a fountain with 26 jets of water stands for the 26 cantons of Switzerland.¹¹ Walk round to the Bundesterrasse behind the building for a view down to the river; Bern Welcome puts the Marzili and the Aare about ten minutes away from there on foot.¹⁸ If Parliament is not in session, free tours of up to 60 minutes run inside.¹⁹ ²⁰

Back on the main street, head to the Kornhaus and the Kindlifresserbrunnen, whose figure is most plausibly a warning meant to keep children in line.²¹ ²² A few steps on stands the Zytglogge. Every hour on the hour its puppet show starts, with bears, a jester, a golden rooster and Cronos ringing in the new hour.¹² Get there a few minutes early, because the show begins just before the hour.²³

Tourist office prices

What Bern Welcome charges an adult

CHF

Adult prices on Bern Welcome's pages for its audio tour, its public Zytglogge tour and its public Old Town stroll.²⁴ ²⁵ ¹

Your options

Walking the Old Town alone or with a voice

Option	Adult price	Length	Guide
Route on our map	Free	Your own pace	None
Bern Welcome audio	CHF 14.90	About 2 hours	Recorded
Bern Welcome stroll	CHF 26.00	1 h 30 min	Live
Zytglogge public tour	CHF 25.00	1 hour	Live

Bern Welcome's published adult prices and durations; the map route is our own suggestion.²⁶ ²⁴ ¹ ²⁵

If you add a guide

The lowest-priced ways to walk with someone

Lowest live price

Discover Bern

Bernabrunnen, Federal Palace

Time: 135 minutes
Guides: English, Spanish
Price: from $31

View the walk

Bern: 90-Minute Stroll Through the Old Town

This site's tour

Old Town walk

Tourist Information, station

Time: 90 minutes
Run by: Bern Welcome
Price: from $33

View the walk

No live guide

Audio city tour

Starts at the Zytglogge

Valid: 365 days
Format: Link after booking
Price: from $13

View the walk

Decision helper

Spend nothing, a little or a bit more

Choose the version of the walk that suits your budget

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Our map route

Station to Rosengarten past the Zytglogge and the Minster, free of charge.⁴ ⁵

Bern Welcome audio

CHF 14.90, 20 stations, playable for 24 hours.²⁴ ²⁶ ²⁷

Discover Bern walk

From $31 for 135 minutes.

The 90-minute walk

Bern Welcome's own walk from the station, from $33.

The audio tour

Bern Welcome describes its audio route as barrier-free.²⁶

The tour takes you to a total of 20 exciting and informative audio stations over a distance of 2.5 kilometres.

Bern WelcomeSource 26

The lower town, from Einstein to the roses

Pass under the clock and walk down Kramgasse. At number 49, Albert Einstein rented a second-floor flat from 1903 to 1905, now restored and open to visitors for an entry fee.²⁸ Notice the Zähringerbrunnen nearby, where an upright bear stands with a cub at its feet eating grapes.²⁹ Then turn toward the Minster, whose church you can enter without paying, a cool and quiet break from the street.⁵

Stop at the Minster's main portal, where Erhart Küng's Last Judgement fills the arch with 294 sculptures.¹³ Next door, the Minster terrace offers chestnut trees and views of the Aare, the Alps and the Matte below.³⁰ Back on the main street, the Justice fountain shows a blindfolded Lady Justice standing above a pope, an emperor, a king and a sultan, a scene worth a closer look before you move on downhill.³¹

At the foot of the Old Town, cross the Nydegg bridge to the BärenPark, open to all around the clock and free of charge.⁴ Its bears are Björk, Finn and Ursina.³² Finish by walking uphill to the Rosengarten, where around 250 rose varieties bloom in summer and the view sweeps back over everything you just walked.³³ ¹⁴ At dusk, the wall in front of the gardens is one of Bern Welcome's favorite sunset spots.³⁴

Map

Bern's Old Town on foot, from the station to the roses

A walking line through the Old Town past its towers, fountains and the Minster to the bear park and the Rosengarten, then the wider city with the river, the Gurten and the museums.

Street map of Bern's Old Town with a red walking line from the station past the Käfigturm, the Federal Palace, the Zytglogge and the Minster to the Nydegg bridge, the bear park and the Rosengarten — The Old Town walk

Map of Bern with the Old Town in the loop of the Aare, the Marzili, the Gurten to the south and the Zentrum Paul Klee to the east — Bern around the Old Town

1
Tourist Information at the station
Bern Welcome's desk at Bahnhofplatz 10a, by the station's eastern exit, opens 09:00-18:00 on weekdays and 09:00-17:00 at weekends.⁹ ¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗
2
Käfigturm
Raised in 1256 as a defence tower and gate, it held prisoners after the fire of 1405.¹⁰
In Google Maps ↗
3
Federal Palace
Inaugurated on 1 April 1902; free tours of up to 60 minutes run when Parliament is not sitting.³⁵ ¹⁹ ²⁰
In Google Maps ↗
4
Kindlifresser fountain
Stands by the Kornhaus; one of the city's 11 historical fountain figures.²² ³⁶
In Google Maps ↗
5
Zytglogge
The figures move every hour on the hour; the astronomical clock and its mechanism date from 1530.¹² ³⁷
In Google Maps ↗
6
Einstein House
The second-floor flat at Kramgasse 49 that Einstein rented from 1903 to 1905, open to visitors.²⁸
In Google Maps ↗
7
Bern Minster
The spire reaches 100.6 m; 344 steps climb to the octagonal gallery at 64 m.³⁸
In Google Maps ↗
8
Justice fountain
A blindfolded Lady Justice above a pope, an emperor, a king and a sultan.³¹
In Google Maps ↗
9
Nydegg bridge
The crossing at the foot of the Old Town, over the Aare towards the bear park.
In Google Maps ↗
10
BärenPark
Free and open around the clock, home to Björk, Finn and Ursina.⁴ ³²
In Google Maps ↗
11
Rosengarten
About 250 rose varieties on a hill above the Old Town, with a view across its roofs.³³ ¹⁴
In Google Maps ↗
12
Marzili
A free riverside pool on the Aare that draws over 10,000 people on peak days.³⁹ ⁴⁰
In Google Maps ↗
13
Gurten
Bern's local mountain at 858 m, 5 minutes up by funicular from Wabern.⁴¹ ⁴²
In Google Maps ↗
14
Zentrum Paul Klee
Renzo Piano's building of 2005, holding around 4,000 works by Klee.⁴³ ⁴⁴
In Google Maps ↗
15
Bern History Museum
Half a million objects, with the Einstein Museum inside.⁴⁵ ⁴⁶
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Set for a walk on your own

Bring

An empty bottle for the fountains
A charged phone for the map pins
A few francs for the Minster tower

Plan

Reach the Zytglogge just before the hour
Save the Rosengarten for late afternoon
Use the free lift in the bear park

Cost calculator

Price a cheap guided version for your group

Set how many of you are walking to compare live and recorded guides.

Discover Bern135 minutesfrom $31 Old Town walk90 minutesfrom $33 Audio city tourSelf-guidedfrom $13 Reading tourSelf-guidedfrom $7

People 2

Total from$62

per head from $31

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

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Using our map on the go

The Bern walking tour map on this page has two panels. The first shows the Old Town with a red line that follows real footpaths from the station past the Käfigturm, the Federal Palace, the Zytglogge, the Einstein House and the Minster to the Nydegg bridge, the bear park and the Rosengarten. It is a suggested order for walking on your own, not the route of any paid tour, so feel free to cut corners.

The second panel pulls back to show the wider city: the Marzili by the river, the Gurten to the south, the History Museum across the river and the Zentrum Paul Klee to the east. Each pin opens in Google Maps, so you can switch to your phone's navigation for the last stretch. The map also works as a checklist; tap off each pin as you pass it and you will always know which stop comes next.

The arcades make the route usable in any weather. Bern Welcome describes six kilometers of them, from the station almost to the Nydegg bridge, so you can walk long stretches without getting wet.⁴⁷ Pace matters more than distance here. Allow time to stop under the arches, look up at the guild houses, refill your bottle at a fountain and step into a doorway when a tram passes close by.

Recorded guides for less than a ticket

If you want commentary without a group, Bern Welcome's own Bern audio tour covers 20 audio stations over 2.5 kilometers and takes around two hours.²⁶ It costs CHF 14.90 and runs in your web browser, with no app to install.²⁴ The route is barrier-free, which suits travelers with strollers or in a wheelchair, and the commentary comes in six languages, including Bernese dialect, alongside English.²⁶ ⁴⁸

You can start it anywhere between the station and the bear park, although the suggested order begins at the station.⁴⁹ Once activated, it stays available for 24 hours and can be paused and resumed, so a lunch break or a museum detour does not waste your purchase.²⁷ That flexibility makes it a sensible companion for a slow day rather than a single fixed walk squeezed between trains.

GetYourGuide sells two cheaper digital routes too. The self-guided audio city tour starts at the Zytglogge and costs from $13; it holds 4.40 stars from 24 reviews. The reading version, with text instead of audio, costs from $7 and holds 4.01 from 23 reviews. Both send a link right after booking and stay valid for 365 days, so you can buy well before you travel.

When a live guide earns its price

A recorded voice cannot answer questions, adapt to the weather or point out the detail you just walked past. The cheapest live option in the listings is a walk of 135 minutes in English or Spanish that starts at the Bernabrunnen fountain next to the Federal Palace and takes in the Matte quarter and the Aare. It costs from $31 and holds 4.96 from 63 reviews, and it runs rain or shine.

This site's tour is the tourist office's own: Bern Welcome's 90-minute walk from the Tourist Information at the station, with guides in Italian, English, German or French. It costs from $33 and is rated 4.41 from 713 reviews. The listing names the fountains, the arcades, the Zytglogge and its show, the late Gothic Minster and the Parliament building, all seen on foot along the way.

If the clock tower is what fascinates you, the guided tour inside the Zytglogge lasts 1 hour and climbs about 130 steps to a lookout platform, with the clockwork and the figure show up close. It costs from $31 and holds 4.76 from 803 reviews. Those prices sit close together, so choose by length, language and starting point rather than by the small difference in price.

Free extras you can add to the walk

Water is free all day. Bern's Old City has over 100 historic fountains, and the water in all of them is drinkable.⁵⁰ ³ Bern Welcome even suggests bringing your own bottle on its stroll to fill at the fountains.⁵¹ Of the city's 11 historical fountain figures, 8 were carved by Hans Gieng, who worked in Bern in the 1540s, so the free art comes with the free water at nearly every corner.³⁶

Entry to the Minster church costs nothing, and the bear park charges nothing at any hour.⁵ ⁴ In the bear park, the BäreBähnli inclined lift between the river path and the upper level is free as well and runs from 08.00 to 17.00.⁵² The Rosengarten is a public park, open as an ordinary green space since 1913, with a restaurant on site if you want to sit down and stay a while for the view.⁵³

If you stay overnight in Bern, the Bern-Ticket comes free from your first night and covers trams, buses and trains in zones 100 and 101 for the whole stay.⁵⁴ It includes the Gurten and Marzili funiculars and the Mattelift beside the Minster terrace.⁵⁵ Combine it with the walking route and your only real costs are a tower climb, a museum or a coffee and a pastry somewhere in the arcades.

Your Old Town hour