Thun

After my trip to Berne, my flatmate and I had a lot of time left in our day, and since we had the possibility to travel around for the whole day we decided to stop off at Thun before heading back to Geneva. This was one of the best ideas I ever had, as Thun is a spectacular city.

I have visited quite a lot of Switzerland since being here, and I had never really had that wow feeling when seeing a city. Of Course Berne is beautiful and Lucern's architecture is incredible and Zurich is full of life but nowhere actually stunned me... until i went to Thun. Thun is the Switzerland i dreamed of - a large lake with hills in the foreground and snowy mountains in the background.

Getting off the train at Thun station, we went searching for a tourist office just to gather some information on what to see and how to see it. So considering our lack of time we were unable to take a boat trip around the lake but we were able to have a long walk around the city center and then took a bus to a perfect photography spot (which i will share with you later on in the post).

We started our walk over to Obere Schleuse, a medieval wooden bridge from where you can take a beautiful photo of the lake with the mountains in the background. This kind of bridge is very similar to Lucern's medieval landmark bridge. We just stopped on the bridge to take in this incredbile view around us.

We then proceded to walk across the bridge and the crossed the next bridge called gottibachsteg and then walked down the aarequei. You have a delightful view over the river and the swans and it is a very peaceful walk. Following on we started our walk upto Thun Schloss. So we reached the bridge sinnenbrüke and turned right up freienhofgasse and then a right again up Obere Hauptgasse. At the roundabout you turn left up burgstrasse. You walk up the little hill for about 5 minutes and then turn left again at Schlossberg. This little road will lead you streight to the castle, by passing infront of the Stadtkirche, which is a pretty protestant church.

The castle is magnificent. A beautiful medieval structure with shining white walls. It seemed like the castle out of sleeping beauty, it was enchanting.

From the castle we walked down until we reached balliz bridge. This bridge is one of the seven bridges that connect the little island of Thun to the main land. This little island is their town centre, so anything you need shopwise you will find here; they have banks, cafés, restaurants, hairdressers and even h&m. What i find intreguing about Switzerland is that even small towns like Thun have everything you could ever need.

It was finally time to take a walk by the lake and appreciate the landscapes, so we crossed the little town centre, went over the banhofbrüke and took bus 1 to schadaupark. This is the best part of the whole town; you walk through the park along the seestrasse and following the road you will find yourself in a spot infront of the Schadau Castle. But you should be standing infront of one of the most beautiful views of the Jungrau mountains. I would spend some time here and really appreciate the landscape as unfortunately it is not something you get to see everyday.

Anyway we had to cut our trip short as time was running out, so we took the bus 1 back to the train station and cought our train for Geneva. I would definitely recommend visiting Thun; It is not something you usually see advertised online, but i guess that is what makes it a unique and a great experience.

Top Things to see in Thun:

Schloss Thun:

The magical castle of Thun was built in the twelfth century by the Dukes of Zähringen and when the Bernese In the end of the fourteenth century Berne bought Thun and Bergdorf and had them under their control. It was thanks to the Bernese that the castle today has the magnificent roof. Since the bernese control, a residential part, a prison and a museum has been added to the castle. In 2006 the city of Thun brought back the castle. The castle today houses some of the most beautiful pieces from the cities historical heritage.

For more information on this castle, check out their website: Schloss Thun

Stadtkirche:

The Stadtkirche is found on the schlossgasse and it is the cities reformed church. It is composed of a beautiful medieval clock tower that was built around the fourteenth century and the main part of the church is a late baroque architecture. The church recalls the castle and is a beautiful thing to go and visit.

Spielzeugmuseum Thun:

The Spielzeugmuseum is located on the Burgstrasse. It is a toy museum which is something interesting and the tickets are only 5 CHF.

For more information on this museum, check the website : Spielzeugmuseum Thun

Schweizer Gastronomie-Museum:

The Swiss Gastronomy museum is situated in the schadaupark inside the architectual beauty of the Schadau castle. The Castle was built between 1847 and 1854 and is a magnificent baroque building. The museum was built as a dedication of cultural comemoration of restaurants, hotels, food and drink. It is an interesting museum in terms of contents, as they hold items such as recipe books, cook books and table items.

For more information: Schweizer Gastronomie-Museum

Kunstmuseum Thun:

This museum is an Art museum found near Panorama building in the Schadaupark. This museum is definitely worth seeing if you find yourself in Thun for the day as it is strategically positionned and the exhibitions are well worth the visit. You can buy a combined ticket for the museum and the Thun panorama for 12 CHF for students and 15 CHF for adults.

For information on opening hours: Kunstmuseum Thun

Weaving Museum Thun:

This museum was founded in 1994 by a basket weaver. The weaving museum contains different materials and woven objects from different countries in Europe. I find this museum very fun and original; it contains materials and comparisons of woven items from different places such as France, Spain, Hungary etc.

For more information: Weaving Museum Thun

For longer trips:

Abegg Foundation Riggisberg:

The Abegg Foundation Riggisberg is one of the most important textile museums in Switzerland. It was founded by the Abegg couple in the 1960's. It contains some beautiful textiles from different parts of the world mainly made in silk. It is found near the village of Riggisberg and is easily accessibly in half an hour by train from Thun to Toffen; and then from Toffen to Riggisberg.

For more infromation on this museum, have a look at their website : Abegg Foundation Riggisberg

Different ways to see the Lake:

By Foot:

This will be the best way for you to have a look at Lake Thun. Of course you will have to have a lot of time on your hands as the walk can take anything varying from one hour to four, but by walking you can be sure to see every possible detail.

By Bus:

This is the root I took because my time was slightly limited, however I took the bus number 1 from the station which took me to Schadau park in 3 minutes. This gave me time to have a walk around the park and enjoy the beautiful view over the Junfrau Jura mountains and lake Thun.

By Boat:

There are numerous options for taking a boat trip however the most popular one is Thun Interlaken which takes aproximately 2Hrs. However a shorter trip is available from Thun to Spiez which I have heard is a beautiful little village that can be seen in about half an hour.

The pricing is very interesting because if you have the Carte Journalière, which is what i have, then you can enjoy the boat trip for free. With the half fare card, you get the trip for 50% off otherwise prices start at 35 CHF.

For more information look here: Trip to the lake

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