Estimated duration: 85 minutes
Overview
Welcome to Thun, a medieval gem at the gateway to the Bernese Oberland, where a fairy-tale castle stands guard over one of Switzerland's most beautiful lakes. Thun sits at the point where the Aar river flows out of Lake Thun, and it has been a strategic crossroads for a thousand years. On this walking tour, you will climb to a twelfth-century castle with panoramic views stretching from the Jungfrau to the Stockhorn, walk the Obere Hauptgasse, one of the most unusual shopping streets in Switzerland, descend covered medieval staircases, and stroll along the banks of the turquoise Aar. Thun is a town that many visitors pass through on their way to the mountains without stopping, and that is their loss.
Let us begin.
Stop 1: Rathausplatz
Start at Rathausplatz, the main square in the old town, accessible from Thun railway station by crossing the Aar on the covered Sinnebrücke.
You are standing in Rathausplatz, the town hall square and the historic centre of Thun. The Rathaus, the town hall, dates from the sixteenth century and dominates the square with its arcaded ground floor and painted facade. The square has been the centre of civic life since the Middle Ages, and it still hosts markets and events throughout the year.
Thun's strategic importance was recognised early. The town sits at the outflow of Lake Thun, controlling the water route into the mountains and the overland routes through the Bernese Oberland. Whoever held Thun controlled access to the passes leading south to the Valais and ultimately to Italy. The Dukes of Zähringen, the powerful medieval dynasty that also founded Bern, built the first fortifications here in the twelfth century.
The old town of Thun is compact and remarkably well preserved. The buildings around the square date from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and many retain their original timber frames, painted facades, and carved details. The atmosphere is intimate and human in scale, a place where you can feel the continuity of centuries.
From Rathausplatz, look uphill. The castle towers are visible above the rooftops. That is where we are heading.
Stop 2: Schloss Thun (Thun Castle)
Walk uphill from Rathausplatz via the Burghaldenweg or the Schlossberg path. The castle entrance is at the top.
Schloss Thun, Thun Castle, is one of the most impressive and best-preserved medieval castles in Switzerland. The massive donjon, the central keep, was built around 1190 by Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen, the same ruler who founded the city of Bern in 1191. The keep is a striking structure: a tall, rectangular stone tower with four corner turrets, built in the Romanesque style with walls up to four metres thick.
After the Zähringen dynasty died out in 1218, the castle passed to the Counts of Kyburg and then, in 1384, to the city of Bern, which used it as the seat of its regional governor, the Schultheiss. The castle served this administrative function for over four centuries, until the collapse of the old Bernese state in 1798.
Climb to the Rittersaal, the Knights' Hall, on the upper floor of the keep. This is one of the most remarkable medieval interiors in Switzerland: a vast, vaulted hall spanning the entire floor of the tower, with thick stone columns supporting the ceiling. The hall dates from the late twelfth century and was used for audiences, banquets, and judicial proceedings. The acoustics are extraordinary, and concerts held here have a power that no modern concert hall can replicate.
The castle now houses the Thun Historical Museum, with collections spanning from prehistory to the nineteenth century. The exhibits include medieval tapestries, weaponry, armour, and a fascinating collection of Thun-ware pottery, a distinctive folk art pottery tradition that flourished in Thun from the late eighteenth century.
But the greatest reward of the climb is the view from the battlements. From here, you can see the full sweep of Lake Thun, backed by the snow-capped peaks of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. To the south, the Niesen, a perfect pyramidal mountain, rises to 2,362 metres. To the west, the Stockhorn range lines the horizon. On a clear day, this is one of the finest panoramic views in the Bernese Oberland.
Descend from the castle toward the Obere Hauptgasse.
Stop 3: Obere Hauptgasse
Descend from the castle and walk along the Obere Hauptgasse, the upper main street of the old town.
The Obere Hauptgasse, the Upper Main Street, is one of the most unusual and delightful streets in Switzerland. What makes it unique is that the shops on the lower level have flat rooftops that serve as an elevated sidewalk for the shops on the upper level. You are effectively walking on the rooftops of the ground-floor businesses, with the upper-level shop fronts at your side.
This ingenious arrangement dates from the medieval period and arose because of the steep terrain of the hillside on which the old town is built. Rather than fighting the slope, the builders worked with it, creating a two-tier shopping street where both levels have ground-level access. The lower shops are entered from the street below, and the upper shops are entered from the elevated walkway, the Hochtrottoir, that runs along their roofs.
Walk along the Hochtrottoir and look down at the street below through the gaps in the railing. The effect is disorienting and charming. You are walking on what appears to be a normal pavement, but it is in fact the roof of the shop below you. The buildings on both sides are decorated with carved wooden balconies, painted shutters, and flower boxes, creating a street scene that is quintessentially Swiss.
The Obere Hauptgasse connects the castle area to the lower old town and the river, and it has been the commercial heart of Thun since the Middle Ages. Today the shops sell a mix of local goods, souvenirs, and everyday necessities, and the street is particularly atmospheric during the Christmas market season.
Continue along the Obere Hauptgasse to the covered staircases.
Stop 4: The Covered Staircases (Kirchtreppe)
At the eastern end of the Obere Hauptgasse, find the covered wooden staircases that descend to the lower town.
These covered wooden staircases, known as the Kirchtreppe, or church stairs, are among the most charming features of Thun's old town. They descend steeply from the upper level to the lower town, enclosed within a wooden structure that protects them from rain and snow. The stairs creak underfoot, the wood is dark and polished with age, and the experience of descending them is like stepping into a different century.
The staircases date from the medieval period and were an essential connection between the upper and lower parts of the town. In a climate where winter snow and ice can make outdoor stairs treacherous, the covered design was practical as well as picturesque.
As you descend, notice the small windows in the wooden walls that frame glimpses of the town and the mountains beyond. The play of light through the slats creates shifting patterns, and the enclosed space amplifies the sound of your footsteps.
At the bottom of the stairs, you emerge near the lower town and the banks of the Aar.
Stop 5: The Stadtkirche (Town Church)
Near the bottom of the Kirchtreppe, visit the Stadtkirche, the town church of Thun.
The Stadtkirche, dedicated to St. Maurice, is Thun's principal church and has stood on this site since at least the eighth century, though the current building dates primarily from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The church is a three-nave Gothic hall church, typical of the Bernese region, with a tall, slender steeple that is a landmark of the town skyline.
The interior is relatively plain, reflecting the Reformed Protestant tradition that has prevailed in the Bernese Oberland since the sixteenth century. The Reformation came to Thun in 1528, when the Bernese authorities imposed the new faith across their territories. The medieval altars, images, and decorations were removed, and the church has maintained its austere beauty ever since.
Look for the memorial plaques and carved stone elements that survive from earlier periods. The churchyard, which surrounds the building, offers good views of the castle above and the river below.
Stop 6: The Aar Riverfront
Walk from the church down to the banks of the Aar river. Follow the riverside path.
The Aar, Switzerland's longest river at 288 kilometres, flows through Thun in a broad, powerful channel of the most extraordinary colour. The water is a vivid turquoise-green, the result of glacial sediment carried down from the mountains of the Bernese Oberland. The colour is particularly intense in summer, when meltwater from the glaciers above Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen feeds the river system.
The riverside promenade is one of the loveliest walks in Thun. The Aar flows swiftly here, and in summer you will see people floating downstream in the river, a popular local activity known as Aareschwimmen, Aar swimming. Swimmers enter the river upstream and let the current carry them through the town, climbing out at various points along the banks. It is exhilarating, refreshing, and very Swiss.
The covered bridges that cross the Aar in Thun add to the medieval atmosphere. The Untere Schleuse, the lower sluice, is a picturesque weir and lock system that has regulated the river's flow and the level of Lake Thun since the nineteenth century.
Along the riverbank, you will find restaurants, cafes, and the occasional fisherman. The Aar is home to trout, grayling, and other freshwater fish, and the local restaurants serve them fresh.
Stop 7: Schadau Park and Lake Thun
Walk southeast along the river to Schadau Park, where the river meets the lake.
Schadau Park is a beautiful lakefront park at the point where the Aar flows out of Lake Thun. The park is home to the Schloss Schadau, a romantic nineteenth-century castle built in the Neo-Gothic style in 1852 for a Bernese banker named Denis de Rougemont. The castle, with its turrets and towers, looks like something from a fairy tale, and it houses a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the lake.
Lake Thun, the Thunersee, is one of the most beautiful lakes in Switzerland. It is 17.5 kilometres long and up to 217 metres deep, and its colour changes from deep blue to brilliant green depending on the light and the season. The lake is surrounded by mountains on all sides, creating a dramatic amphitheatre of water, forest, and snow-capped peaks.
The paddle steamer Blümlisalp, built in 1906, operates scheduled cruises on the lake during the summer season. Named after the Blümlisalp mountain, the steamer is one of the great historic vessels of Swiss inland navigation, and a cruise across the lake, with the mountains reflected in the water, is one of the essential experiences of the Bernese Oberland.
From Schadau Park, you have a direct view of the Niesen, the pyramidal mountain that dominates the southern shore of the lake. The Niesenbahn, a funicular railway built in 1910, carries passengers to the summit at 2,362 metres, where the panoramic view encompasses the entire Bernese Oberland, from the Jungfrau to the Sanetsch Pass.
Stop 8: The Mühleplatz and Lower Old Town
Walk back into the old town to Mühleplatz, the mill square along the Aar.
Our final stop is the Mühleplatz area, the lower old town along the Aar, where small squares, footbridges, and waterside buildings create an atmosphere of great charm. The area takes its name from the mills that once lined the river, using the Aar's powerful current to grind grain and power workshops.
Today the Mühleplatz area is home to restaurants, cafes, and small shops. The sound of the river is constant, and the views along the water toward the castle perched on the hill above are among the most photogenic in the Bernese Oberland.
Thun is a town that rewards unhurried exploration. Every angle reveals a different composition of water, stone, timber, and mountain, and the quality of the light, reflected off the lake and the river, gives the town a luminous quality that changes throughout the day.
Closing Narration
Our medieval walking tour of Thun has taken you from a town square that has served as a gathering place for centuries, up to a castle with one of the finest views in Switzerland, along a street where you walk on the rooftops of shops, down covered wooden stairs, and along the banks of one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe.
Thun is often overlooked by visitors rushing to the famous mountain resorts of the Oberland, but those who stop here discover a town of genuine medieval character and unexpected beauty. Take the boat across the lake. Ride the funicular up the Niesen. Swim in the Aar on a hot summer day. And come back to the castle at sunset, when the Jungfrau turns pink in the alpenglow and the town below glows with the warm light of a place that has been welcoming travellers for a thousand years.
Thank you for joining this ch.tours walking tour of Thun. We look forward to guiding you through more of Switzerland.