Burgdorf Castle was built around 1200 by Berchtold V, Duke of Zähringen. It is considered the best-preserved Zähringer complex and a monument of national importance. The castle houses three museums with collections of national importance: the Castle Museum, the Ethnographic Museum and the Swiss Gold Museum. Through multimedia exhibits, the Castle Museum presents the history of the castle, the region and global connections.
The castle offers a range of guided tours and workshops for schools, adult groups and family events.
Old Town and Architectural History
Burgdorf’s Old Town includes the castle, Alten Märit and Oberstadt; the Kornhaus district is also part of it. It preserves a historic urban layout between the castle hill and church hill, and the Lower Town at the foot of the castle rock. The town church was built between 1471 and 1491 in the style of Gothic mendicant churches. It features a stone rood screen dated to 1511–1512 and colourful stained-glass windows.
On the eastern edge of Burgdorf stands the Siechen or Bartholomäus Chapel, which has been tastefully renovated. On the way to the chapel is the wooden Wynigen Bridge, a work of Baroque carpentry dating from 1776. Burgdorf outdoor swimming pool also combines a practical facility with a piece of architectural history: it has a 50-metre pool with eight lanes, while its original design and layout from 1929 remain largely unchanged.
Art, Collections and Craftsmanship
The Bernhard Luginbühl Museum in Burgdorf displays the artist’s sculptural and graphic works, brought together as a total work of art. The HAM Foundation’s vehicle collection offers a very different perspective: it is housed in four halls at the Burgdorf AMP site and includes more than 400 objects. These include 19th-century horse-drawn vehicles, lorries, ships and a modern main battle tank. The examples therefore range from historic means of transport to a modern military vehicle.
Between the Emme and Forested Hills
The municipality extends along both sides of the Emme: most of it lies on the left bank, with a smaller part on the right. The Schachen along the Emme is a local recreation area for walking, jogging, cycling and barbecuing. Oberburger Schachen is a cantonal nature reserve and is part of the floodplain areas of national importance. In the southwest, part of the Krauchtalbach valley also lies within Burgdorf, set amid a forested hilly landscape. The green hills of the Emmental begin just beyond Burgdorf; the region is best known for its traditional Bernese houses and cheese.
Tours and Experiences to Suit Your Interests
The “Burgdorf gehört gehört” audio guide leads past 30 stops from the station to Oberstadt, the castle and through the Lower Town, before returning to the station. Ten more stops provide information about Burgdorf’s history, notable figures and specialities. The Gewerbekanäle tour focuses on a more specific theme: this smartphone-guided walk takes in 13 stops along Burgdorf’s industrial canals and explores the power of water. Another smartphone-guided discovery tour leads to 20 special benches with a view; some are located by the Emme or have a fire pit.
The routes also differ in length: the Burgdorf Planet Trail is an approximately 6-kilometre open-air model of the solar system at a scale of 1:1 billion. The Zurich vitaparcours in Burgdorf is 2.3 kilometres long, has an elevation gain of 70 metres and starts in Pleerwald. The Helsana Trails are signposted circular routes of varying lengths for walking, Nordic walking and running, and are free to use all year round. For a playful way to explore, “Spiel dich durch Burgdorf” offers more than 20 freely combinable activity stations throughout the year. During the winter half of the year, the Urania Observatory on the roof of Burgdorf Gymnasium holds free public observing evenings; guided tours are available for school classes and groups.
Visiting and the Seasons
Burgdorf Castle can be reached by direct train from Bern, Olten, Solothurn, Thun and Zurich; from the station, a walk through the Old Town leads to the castle. Bus 461 runs every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. to Kronenplatz, from where the castle is a three-minute walk. Check the timetable before travelling. The Burgdorf Tourist Office provides advice on day trips, attractions, city tours, hikes and museums.
If you would like to visit Burgdorf during a festival, Solennität is a notable date in the annual calendar: it takes place every year on the last Monday in June and is both a school and children’s festival and a general public festival.
Discover more destinations: Burgdorf, Kaltacker, Oberburg, Hasle Bei Burgdorf, Lyssach, Krauchthal, Courtelary, Obersimmental.
Go to the main travel overview: Bern.
