| Travel Guides & Tips |
| Laissez-Faire: Bern, Switzerland |
| by Vino Clement |
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Making Tracks: The Rental Booths – everywhere
Getting around this town hardly presents a challenge. In a pinch, walking – even across the entire city – remains an available option. Yeah, it’s just that small. Still, there are alternatives.
In kiosks throughout the city, visitors can rent bikes, scooters or skateboards with nothing more than an ID and a 20 franc deposit. The rental items often boss corny advertisements for conglomerates like McDonalds but – considering similar services offered by bahnhof booths run upward of 25 francs a day – the price can’t be beat.
Additionally, since the rental system constitutes an employment program subsidized by the Swiss government, the kiosks stay open year-round, even after the summer demand subsides. And during the months, when navigating Bern’s sheer streets on a bike actually appears a reasonably safe course of action, an early start may be required to snag one – particularly from the kiosks nearest to Parliament Square.
Don’t dig bikes in a hilly environment? Too bad. Most of Berne’s streets are closed to traffic and parking proves a laughable notion.
Natural Resources: The River Aare – try the valley, genius.
For anyone raised an urban environment, it seems counterintuitive to go leaping into the river flowing through the heart of a city. Personally, I could count on one hand the natural dangers I would consider on par with facing the toxic depths of my native Chicago River. The combination of deadly currents and a cornucopia of contaminants make the prospect of a mid-summer swim, well… somewhat mad.
However, plunging into the glacial River Aare, as many Bernese locals do on a regular basis, couldn’t be safer. Although the crystal blue façade of the outlet attests to its cleanliness, the currents appear, outwardly, fairly foreboding. Yet, the current, while fast, remains devoid of hazards – making a drift downstream feel more like an natural water park ride as the Aare whips around the old peninsula.
Fed by several glaciers in the mountains east of Interlaken, the waters, needless to say, may feel relatively cold to foreigners, even in the height of summer. Largely for that reason, few visitors challenge the Aare as one of central Switzerland’s finest vernal attractions continues to go unnoticed.
Just Being Lazy: Freibad Marzili – Marzilistrasse 29, 3005 Bern
In the heart of the Aare Valley, not far from the city’s medieval cradle, a large public park caters to a healthy variety of foreign and Burnese loungers. With ample green space and a gigantic pool, the Marzili hosts thousands of sunbathers daily and, quite often, boasts of a hotter crowd than any nightclub in the region. The park – idyllically situated in the shadow of the shadow of the Houses of Parliament – also provides a popular launch for Aare swimmers as well as resting point for runners along the highly-trafficked river walk.
A short jog up-stream from the Marzili, the Freibad Lorraine offers a quieter and more natural alternative. Unlike any other pool in Bern, the Lorraine waters are untreated by chemicals and supplied, directly, with glacial ground water. |
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