These beautiful botanical gardens spread along the shores of Lake Thun, with sublime views to the snowcapped Jungfrau range on clear days. The grounds bristle with tulips and crocuses in spring, rhododendrons in summer and golden beech trees in autumn. In the park you'll find the mid-19th-century, candyfloss-pink Schloss Schadau (now a restaurant), 1250-year-old Kirche Scherzlingen, and the early-19th-century Thun Panorama, one of the world’s oldest panoramic paintings.
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
21.41 MILES
This is the big one. At 3454m above sea level, Jungfraujoch is Europe’s highest train station: a once-in-a-lifetime trip, with views of the deeply…
29.9 MILES
If ever a view in Switzerland is going to leave you dumbstruck (and there are a few great ones to choose from!), it will surely be the infinite swoop of…
16.01 MILES
Bern’s answer to the Guggenheim, Renzo Piano’s architecturally bold, 150m-long wave-like edifice houses an exhibition space that showcases rotating works…
16.67 MILES
Bern’s flag-bedecked medieval centre has 6km of covered arcades and cellar shops and bars descending from the streets. After a devastating fire in 1405,…
26.01 MILES
Gazing over the mighty Reichenbach Falls, where the cataract plunges 250m to the ground with a deafening roar, you can see how Arthur Conan Doyle thought…
Cathédrale St Nicolas de Fribourg
22.88 MILES
Before entering this brooding 13th-century Gothic cathedral, contemplate the main portal with its 15th-century sculptured portrayal of the Last Judgment…
16.59 MILES
Bern’s most famous Old Town sight, this ornate clock tower once formed part of the city’s western gate (1191–1256). Crowds congregate to watch its…
16.8 MILES
Especially in the early morning light, you can see how the vaporous, 297m-high Staubbach Falls captivated prominent writers with its threads of spray…
Nearby Bernese Oberland attractions
0.07 MILES
Swiss artist Marquard Wocher sketched out this panoramic painting – the world's oldest cyclorama of its kind – between 1809 and 1814, seizing inspiration…
0.11 MILES
First mentioned in 762, this wonderfully atmospheric church on the banks of the Aare has a sensitively restored Carolingian tower and Romanesque nave. The…
1.04 MILES
Sitting on a hilltop and looking proudly back on 900 years of history, Schloss Thun is the castle of your wildest fairy-tale dreams, crowned by a riot of…
1.04 MILES
It’s a pleasure to wander Thun’s attractive riverfront Old Town, where plazas and lanes are punctuated by 15th- and 16th-century townhouses. A stroll…
1.37 MILES
The plaything of a wealthy Prussian baron and modelled on the chateaux in the Loire region of France, silver-turreted Schloss Hünegg is a feast of art…
1.86 MILES
Scenically perched on the lake, turreted Schloss Oberhofen was wrested from Habsburg control after the Battle of Sempach (1386) and now traces Bernese…
4.41 MILES
This attractive 18th-century wooden chalet showcases exhibits on wine cultivation. The best time to actually taste local tipples is at the Läset-Sunntig…
4.58 MILES
This turreted medieval castle is smothered in oil paintings of its former masters, the influential von Bubenburg and von Erlach families. But it’s the…