TL;DR: A 3-hour audio companion for the Three Lakes Cruise (Drei-Seen-Fahrt) connecting Lake Murten, Lake Neuchatel, and Lake Biel via historic canals. Cruise from the medieval walled town of Murten through the Broye Canal, across the largest lake entirely within Switzerland, through reed-lined waterways, to the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne. A gentle, unhurried journey through the linguistic heart of Switzerland.
Cruise Overview
| Route | Murten/Morat -- Broye Canal -- Neuchatel -- Zihl Canal -- Biel/Bienne |
| Duration | ~3 hours (Murten to Biel/Bienne; about 4 hours for the full round trip via one lake) |
| Operator | BSG (Bielersee Schifffahrt), LNM (Navigation Lacs de Neuchatel et Morat) |
| Vessel | Motor vessel |
| Swiss Travel Pass | Fully covered (free) |
| Best Seat | Upper deck; both sides offer interest during canal sections |
| Best Time | Summer for the fullest navigation schedule; autumn for migrating birds |
Introduction
[Duration: 3 minutes | Departure from Murten pier]
Welcome aboard this ch.tours audio guide for the Three Lakes Cruise -- the Drei-Seen-Fahrt or Croisiere des Trois-Lacs -- one of the most unusual and rewarding boat journeys in Switzerland.
This cruise connects three lakes and two canals in a single journey through the Swiss Mittelland -- the broad plateau between the Alps and the Jura Mountains. Unlike the dramatic alpine lakes of central Switzerland, the Three Lakes region is gentle, pastoral, and quietly historic. The landscapes here are of farmland and vineyards, medieval towns and reed beds, canals lined with poplars and wetlands teeming with birdlife. It is Switzerland at its most understated, and at its most authentically multilingual.
You are about to cruise through the border zone between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland -- the Rostigraben, as it is informally known (the "rosti ditch," referring to the Swiss-German potato dish). Your journey begins in bilingual Murten (or Morat in French), crosses Lake Neuchatel in the French-speaking canton of Neuchatel, and ends in bilingual Biel/Bienne, where French and German coexist on every street sign, every shop front, and in every conversation.
Lake Murten (Murtensee/Lac de Morat) is the smallest of the three, at just 23 square kilometers. Lake Neuchatel (Neuenburgersee/Lac de Neuchatel) is the largest lake entirely within Switzerland, at 218 square kilometers. Lake Biel (Bielersee/Lac de Bienne) is 39 square kilometers. The three lakes are connected by the Broye Canal (linking Murten to Neuchatel) and the Zihl Canal (linking Neuchatel to Biel) -- waterways that were engineered in the 19th century as part of a massive water correction project.
The boat is leaving Murten. Let us begin with the town itself.
Segment 1: Murten/Morat
[Duration: 8 minutes | 0-10 minutes into the journey]
As the boat pulls away from the Murten pier, look back at the town. Murten is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Switzerland, and its intact city walls, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, are visible from the lake -- a continuous ring of battlements, towers, and gates encircling the small Old Town on the hill.
Murten has a population of about 8,000 and sits at the border between the cantons of Fribourg and Bern. The town is officially bilingual, with German spoken by about 80 percent of residents and French by about 15 percent. The German name is Murten; the French name is Morat. Both are used on signs and official documents.
Murten's greatest moment in history came on 22 June 1476, when the forces of the Swiss Confederation defeated the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in the Battle of Murten. The battle was one of three devastating defeats inflicted on Charles by the Swiss in 1476-1477 (the others were Grandson and Nancy), and it ended Burgundian ambitions to control western Switzerland. The Swiss victory was swift and brutal -- the Burgundian army was routed in less than an hour, and thousands of soldiers were driven into the lake, where many drowned. The Battle of Murten is still commemorated every year with a long-distance race from Murten to Fribourg, retracing the route of the messenger who carried news of the victory. The race covers 17.17 kilometers and has been run since 1933.
Walk through Murten's Old Town if you have time before or after the cruise. The Hauptgasse -- the main street -- is one of the most atmospheric in western Switzerland, lined with arcaded buildings dating to the 15th and 16th centuries. The walkway atop the city walls is open to the public and offers views over the rooftops to the lake and the Jura foothills beyond.
Lake Murten itself is shallow -- maximum depth just 45 meters -- and warm in summer, making it one of the most popular swimming lakes in the region. The water is greenish and not as clear as the alpine lakes, reflecting the nutrient-rich agricultural land that surrounds it. But on a calm day, the reflections of the Jura ridge and the medieval town on the water surface are lovely.
Segment 2: The Broye Canal
[Duration: 8 minutes | 10-25 minutes into the journey]
The boat is now entering the Broye Canal, the narrow waterway that connects Lake Murten to Lake Neuchatel. This canal is 8 kilometers long and was constructed between 1878 and 1891 as part of the Jura Water Correction (Juragewasserkorrektur) -- one of the largest hydraulic engineering projects in Swiss history.
Before the water correction, the Three Lakes region was a marshy, flood-prone lowland. The Aare River, which flows through the area, regularly overflowed its banks, creating vast swamps that bred malaria, destroyed crops, and made large areas uninhabitable. The Jura Water Correction, carried out in two phases (1868-1891 and 1962-1973), diverted the Aare through Lake Biel, connected the three lakes with canals, and lowered the water levels by about 2.5 meters. The result was the reclamation of approximately 400 square kilometers of agricultural land -- the fertile Seeland region that is now one of Switzerland's most productive farming areas.
As you cruise through the Broye Canal, the landscape on both sides is flat and agricultural -- fields of vegetables, sugar beets, and tobacco stretch to the horizon. This is the Seeland (or Grosses Moos), the drained marshland that was transformed into farmland by the water correction. The Seeland produces a significant proportion of Switzerland's vegetables, including carrots, onions, lettuce, and potatoes. It is sometimes called the vegetable garden of Switzerland.
The canal itself is arrow-straight, lined with banks of reeds, willows, and poplars. The water is calm and slow-moving. Herons stand motionless in the shallows. Cormorants perch on posts. In autumn, the canal and the surrounding wetlands attract migrating birds -- ducks, geese, and wading birds in large numbers. The Three Lakes region is one of the most important bird habitats in the Swiss Mittelland.
Segment 3: Lake Neuchatel
[Duration: 10 minutes | 25-50 minutes into the journey]
The canal opens out, and suddenly the water stretches wide before you. You have entered Lake Neuchatel -- the Neuenburgersee -- the largest lake entirely within Swiss borders.
Lake Neuchatel is 38 kilometers long, up to 8 kilometers wide, and reaches a maximum depth of 153 meters. It sits at 429 meters above sea level, cradled between the Jura Mountains to the northwest and the Swiss Mittelland to the southeast. The lake's waters are remarkably clean, and on calm days the surface reflects the Jura ridge with mirror-like precision.
The most distinctive feature of Lake Neuchatel is its Grande Caricaie -- the largest continuous lakeshore marsh in Switzerland, stretching 40 kilometers along the southern shore from Yverdon-les-Bains to the Zihl Canal. The Grande Caricaie is a protected wetland of national and international importance, home to over 1,000 plant species and 10,000 animal species, including rare amphibians, nesting birds, and the European pond turtle -- one of the few populations in Switzerland.
On the port side, as the boat crosses toward Neuchatel, you may see the Jura ridge rising as a long, forested wall along the northwestern horizon. The Jura Mountains are geologically distinct from the Alps -- they are folded sedimentary mountains, formed by the same tectonic forces that created the Alps but consisting of limestone rather than crystalline rock. The Jura is the homeland of Swiss watchmaking, and the cities along its flanks -- La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Neuchatel itself -- have been producing watches since the 18th century.
The city of Neuchatel appears on the starboard side, rising from the lake on a hillside crowned by a medieval castle and a Romanesque church. Neuchatel is the capital of the canton of the same name, with a population of about 34,000, and it has a distinctly French character -- all conversation here is in French, and the architecture, cuisine, and cultural life reflect strong ties to France.
If the boat stops at Neuchatel -- and some services do -- consider visiting the Old Town, which climbs from the waterfront to the castle in a tangle of narrow lanes and stone staircases. The Collegiale church, consecrated in 1276, contains a remarkable 14th-century cenotaph with painted figures, and the castle terrace offers sweeping views over the lake.
Segment 4: The Zihl Canal and St. Peter's Island
[Duration: 10 minutes | 50-75 minutes into the journey]
After crossing Lake Neuchatel, the boat enters the Zihl Canal (Canal de la Thielle) -- the second canal of the journey, connecting Lake Neuchatel to Lake Biel. This canal is shorter than the Broye Canal, about 7 kilometers long, and follows the course of the Thielle/Zihl River.
The canal passes through a landscape of wetlands and agricultural fields, similar to the Broye Canal but with a slightly different character -- the Jura Mountains are now closer on the starboard side, and the terrain is gently rolling.
As the canal opens into Lake Biel, look to the port side. The wooded hill rising from the southern shore of the lake, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, is St. Peter's Island (St. Petersinsel / Ile de Saint-Pierre). Despite its name, it has been a peninsula rather than a true island since the Jura Water Correction lowered the lake level in the 19th century.
St. Peter's Island is one of the most literary spots in Switzerland. In 1765, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau spent two months here, having been expelled from Motiers in the Val-de-Travers. Rousseau described his time on the island in the "Fifth Walk" of his "Reveries of a Solitary Walker," calling it the happiest period of his life. He wrote of drifting in a small boat, lying in the bottom and staring at the sky, letting the gentle rocking of the waves lull him into a state of meditative bliss.
The island today is a nature reserve and a popular destination for hikers and picnickers. The Cluniac priory where Rousseau stayed has been converted into a hotel and restaurant, and walking paths circle the island through beech forests and lakeside meadows. You can reach it by boat from Biel or by walking the causeway from Erlach.
Segment 5: Lake Biel and Arrival in Biel/Bienne
[Duration: 10 minutes | 75-100 minutes into the journey]
Lake Biel (Bielersee / Lac de Bienne) is the third and final lake of your journey. It is smaller than Lake Neuchatel but has its own character -- more intimate, with vineyards climbing the slopes on the northern shore and the Jura ridge forming a dramatic backdrop.
The northern shore, on the starboard side, is wine country. The vineyards between Twann (Douanne) and La Neuveville produce some of the finest white wines in the Three Lakes region -- primarily Chasselas, as in the Lavaux, but with a distinctly mineral, almost flinty character that reflects the Jura limestone soil. The wine villages along this shore -- Twann, Ligerz, and La Neuveville -- are wonderfully atmospheric, with stone houses, vaulted cellars, and terrace restaurants overlooking the lake. If you have time for a detour, the Twann wine trail (Rebenweg) is a 5-kilometer walk through the vineyards between Twann and La Neuveville, with tastings available at several cellars along the way.
On the port side, the southern shore is flatter, with the agricultural Seeland stretching south toward Bern. The town of Erlach (Cerlier) is visible, sitting at the base of the Jolimont hill, with its castle and medieval center.
The city appearing ahead of you at the eastern end of the lake is Biel/Bienne -- Switzerland's largest officially bilingual city, with a population of about 56,000. Roughly 56 percent of residents speak German as their primary language, and 43 percent speak French. Biel/Bienne sits precisely on the Rostigraben -- the invisible linguistic boundary that divides the French- and German-speaking halves of Switzerland. In practice, this means that every official communication, every street sign, every school, and every government document is produced in both languages. Conversations switch mid-sentence. It is a living laboratory of Swiss multilingualism.
Biel/Bienne is also the capital of the Swiss watchmaking industry. The headquarters of Rolex, Swatch Group (including Omega, Longines, and Tissot), and numerous other watch brands are based here. The Omega Museum and the Swatch headquarters (designed by Shigeru Ban, with its undulating timber structure) are notable landmarks. The watchmaking tradition in this region dates to the late 18th century and was fueled by the region's Jura Mountains heritage of precision craftsmanship.
Closing
[Duration: 3 minutes]
As the boat arrives at the Biel/Bienne pier, your Three Lakes Cruise is complete. Over the past three hours, you have traveled from the medieval battlements of Murten, through engineered canals, across the largest lake in Switzerland, past the island where Rousseau found bliss, through vineyard-lined shores, to the bilingual watchmaking capital of Biel/Bienne.
This is not a cruise of alpine drama or Mediterranean glamour. It is a cruise of quiet, layered richness -- a journey through the linguistic heart of Switzerland, through landscapes shaped equally by nature and by human engineering, through a region where the boundaries between French and German, between lake and marsh, between medieval and modern, blur and overlap in ways that are uniquely Swiss.
The Three Lakes region rewards slow exploration. If you have additional time, consider visiting Neuchatel's Old Town, walking the vineyard trail along the Lake Biel shore, or taking a boat to St. Peter's Island to follow in Rousseau's contemplative footsteps.
From Biel/Bienne, you have excellent rail connections to Bern (16 minutes by IC train), Basel (70 minutes), and Zurich (75 minutes). All are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass.
Thank you for joining this ch.tours Three Lakes Cruise. Merci and danke -- in the spirit of this bilingual journey.
Source: ch.tours | Audio Guide Script | Last updated: March 2026 | Data from BSG (bielersee.ch), LNM (navig.ch), MySwitzerland.com, SBB (sbb.ch), Swisstopo, Grande Caricaie (grande-caricaie.ch)