Thun City Tour & Lake Cruise

Thun sits where the Aare leaves its lake, and it has been guarding that spot since the Zahringens raised the castle around 1190. The four-turreted keep still stands over the town, and the view from the top runs the length of Lake Thun to the Bernese Alps. The old town keeps something no other town in Europe has: the Hochtrottoir on Obere Hauptgasse, a raised pavement built across the roofs of the shops below, so you walk a storey above the street. You will cross the wooden sluice bridges where the Aare runs fast and green, follow the Balliz island between the two arms of the river, and climb the covered stairway to the castle gate. Then the lake. The boats run east beneath the Niesen towards Oberhofen Castle, which stands on its own jetty in the water, and on into the Spiez bay with vineyards on the slope and another castle above the harbour. The cruise ends at Spiez, with time in the bay before a ten-minute train back to Thun. Comfortable shoes for the castle stairway. The cruise operates April to October; outside that season it is replaced by Schadau Park and the Wocher Panorama, the oldest surviving panorama painting in the world.