Switzerland is a very small country. You can drive from one end to the other in a few hours. Living in California where driving from San Francisco to San Diego takes about 7/8 hours, Switzerland seems indeed small. Today, my parents live in California, but before coming to the US, the first country they visited when they left their native country was Switzerland. It always held a very special place in my heart. My parents would always tell me about their adventures in Switzerland. When I was small, they would often tease me by saying that they would never take me to a Swiss country because it had many good memories and they wanted to keep it that way. I would always feel a little “left out”. This is why I always wanted to visit this place, along with the fact that this country is one of the smallest countries in the world and that was really of interest to me. I have always had an interest in looking up very small tiny countries. Lichtenstein is another one of those tiny countries that border Switzerland. We decided to visit this one too. The plan was to stay at Berne, as it was the most centrally located and short driving distances from Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lichtenstein, Lausanne, Murten, and Neuchâtel. Five days should be sufficient if you are on a road trip. In this post, I will cover Bern, Murten, and Neuchâtel. I will cover the other places we visited in Switzerland in the next post.

Map


Switzerland tips

  • It is very important to know that in Switzerland everything is closed on Sundays except for the shops at the train station and the restaurants. Please make a note of this while planning your trip.
  • Grindelwald and the trip to Jungfraujoch are open on Sundays. If you happen to have a Sunday on your trip, you may want to utilize it to visit this place.
  • All Shops close at 7 pm or a little earlier except for the restaurants
  • their plug outlet is very different from the other Schengen countries.

Bern

Bern is a classy city with an urban touch. The ambiance of this city is very cozy with the old market square and the window-shops lined along the street with covered arcades.

Summertime is really fun here with the beautiful sunny weather and the activities around the Aare river.

The old town Bern is the heart of the city which is car-free.
You can park your car at the central station (Bahnhof) and enjoy the old town by foot, tram, cycle rikshaw, wheelchair, or mobility scooter.

 ♿ Bern wheelchair Accessibility

  • The streets of Berne are accessible but there are some challenges with an occasional step here and there.
  • In the Old town, the streets are cobbled, it is not very comfortable to navigate either with a wheelchair or mobility scooter.
  • Most of the stores have a step at the entrance making it far less accessible for wheelchair or mobility scooter.
  • You have to stay on one side of the Arcade shops until the end of the block, where there is a ramp, to cross over to the other side.
  • Accessible parking is available on most streets.
  • You can park at the Central Station (Banhof) and the old town is within walking distance.
  • The accessible parking closest to the historic old town is at – Bern Marketgasse, Zeughausgasse 41 – 19, 3011 Bern, Switzerland
  • The trams that crisscross the city are fully accessible to wheelchairs.
  • The shops in the arcade consist of a few floors but all of them have elevators inside to go to different levels.

Bern tips


– If you want to enjoy browsing the shops in Bern old town then plan your time accordingly. All shops close by 7 pm
– The shops in the arcade are not as small as it looks like . They are very big inside. Some of them like the Migros are almost the size of a Walmart or Target.
– Shops at train stations are open late till 10 pm.

♿ Accessible stay

We stayed at Ibis Style Bern city hotel(website). The hotel is centrally located and has all the facilities for wheelchair accessibility. The hotel staff is very helpful. They have private parking and the hotel staff always tries to offer you a spot that is most convenient. Since we had a mobility scooter they always helped us in charging the battery overnight. Last, but not least, they have a terrific breakfast buffet which they try to keep open late.

 Murten

The two cities, Murten and are Neuchâtel are within half an hour distance from Bern in the Freiburg county. You can do a nice evening outing to these beautiful lakefront medieval towns.


Murten has a cozy walled castle with colorfully decorated windows and lively shops. The castle is overlooking lake Murten. You can just grab an ice cream and stroll around the beautiful town.

♿️ Murten Accessibility ♿️

  •  Murten’s Main Street even though cobbled is fairly accessible by wheelchair or scooter
  • There are some very convenient accessible parking spots inside the castle.(picture)
  • They have some accessible restrooms too inside the walled city.

Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel, called Neuenburg in German, is a beautiful lake town in front of Lake Neuchâtel. It has a rich cultural and architectural past. The Castle and the collegiate church which can both be seen from afar, are the city’s landmarks.
Cruising on Lake Neuchâtel is an experience in itself. It is the biggest lake located completely in Switzerland offering an opportunity to go on a three-lake-cruise.
Summer evenings are very lively with people conducting many outdoor events. We came across one and that was one of the highlights of our trip. It was the Neuchâtel Fantastic Film Festival(NFFF) going on with lots of hustle-bustle and street foods to enjoy.

♿️ Neuchâtel Accessibility ♿️

  • The city of Neuchâtel is fairly accessible
  • Accessible as well as normal parking is available near the Neuchâtel Casino. This parking is quite close to the lakefront. You can park your car there and stroll along the beautiful lakefront.