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Berne is one of Switzerland’s most immediately charming cities. Crammed onto a steep-sided peninsula in a crook of the fast-flowing River Aare, the quiet, cobbled lanes of Berne, lined with sandstone arcaded buildings straddling the pavement, have changed barely at all in over five hundred years but for the adornment of modern shop signs and the odd car or tram rattling past. Berne is one of the finest examples of medieval civic architecture in Europe.

Berne is the second most populous and second largest of the Swiss cantons; about 100 square miles (260 square km) are occupied by glaciers. Berne is a small- to medium-sized city with a population of about 130'000.

The hills all around Berne and the steep banks of the river are still liberally wooded. Views, both of Berne’s old town’s clustered roofs and of the majestic Alps on the horizon, are breathtaking. Coming from Zurich or Geneva, it’s hard to remember that Berne – once voted Europe’s most floral city – is the nation’s capital, home of the Swiss parliament and wielder of final federal authority.

Shopping in Berne can be a very pleasurable experience. Berne boasts 6 kilometres of arcades, one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe. Under the arcades, on squares and side streets are dozens of restaurants and cafés where you can rest and refresh yourself.

Visitors to Berne will find colourful markets selling fresh vegetables, flowers and meat on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. On the fourth Monday in November, Bern hosts its famous onion market (Zibelmarit), where traders take over the whole town centre and many a tear is shed.

The main language spoken in Bern is Bernese-German, one of the many Swiss-German dialects which all vary greatly not only from what the Swiss call “High German” , but also among each other. Because of these differences, even Germans are often not able to follow Swiss-German talking. Like all Swiss-German dialects, Bernese-German is only a spoken language. English seems to be supplanting French as the favorite second language in Berne, but both are widely spoken, especially as the canton of Berne is a bilingual canton (German/French).

Berne was founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V von Zähringen and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was made an free imperial city by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1218 after Berthold died without an heir.

In 1353 Berne joined the Swiss confederation. After several successful conquers, Berne became the largest independent city state north of the alps. It was occupied by French troops in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was stripped of most of its territories. The city became the Swiss capital in 1848.

The name of the city, Berne came from the German word "Bar," which means "Bear". Bears were once kept in the front moat in front of the main gate. Visitors to Berne can visit the Bear Pits near Nydegg bridge. There are a few stories as to why Berne once kept bears: One is that the founder of the city Duke Berchtold V. of Zahringen caught a bear in the site on which he was planning to build a city. The other is that in 1513 after the victory at the battle of Novara, Berne's army came back with a live bear and kept it in a moat.