Hi fellow travelers,
I have old (1600's and 1700s) family history from Switzerland outside of Bern, I'd like to see. Thun Castle, Ruderswil, Lauperswil, Langnau, Sumiswald, and a few others. I know generally people have recommended using public transport, but I did some checking, and trains out of Bern don't go to some of these spots. Does anyone have thoughts on renting a car? I don't love narrow roads where people drive very fast, but if the roads are larger, it's OK :-)
Thanks very much!
Everywhere in Switzerland gets mail every week if not every day and a mail truck/bus delivers and picks up mail and people. https://www.postauto.ch/en
Have fun.
The bright yellow Post Buses are part of the integrated Swiss Transportation System. Where trains end Post Buses take over.
Thanks all!
Else, Swiss drivers do not drive fast, as the fines for doing so are sky-high! Switzerland is certainly the alpine country with easiest driving. But yes, post buses will take you anywhere.
There is more than one Langnau. It is worth being sure just which.
Langnau im Emmental is the one southeast of Bern in the home of Emmental cheese, on the BLS train route between Luzern and Bern. Quite scenic, very rural.
I drive in Switzerland most years, as part of my road trip from home here in England to Germany and Italy. It is rare to find free parking in Switzerland - people really are encouraged to use the exceptionally excellent transportation network - but people do still drive. Most roads are excellent - speed limits are strictly enforced by radar and other methods - and expect a slower speed in all tunnels of which there are many, many, many.
If you are driving on a winding mountain road it is best to keep a window open - both to take in the fresh mountain air and rural scents, and to hear cowbells but mostly to hear the distinctive melody of a Postbus horn. If they blow that horn all traffic must clear a path for them - by law. That's part of the reason that Postbuses are so efficient and fast.
Thank you! This information is very helpful!
You can get to most any village in Switzerland by train and connecting bus. The buses wait at the station for the train, then set off for the surrounding villages.
"trains out of Bern don't go to some of these spots." - thing about public transport is it is a network of connections. Not all trains or buses in Switzerland are to and from Bern☺
The following website will give door-to-door public transport directions between any two places in Switzerland: https://map.search.ch/?mode=oev
However you need to get the correct address and spell place names correctly.
If you get a lot of options, choose something like "Dorfstrasse" (= Village mains street).
You can also look in Wikipedia. most places in Switzerland have a Wikipedia article
Not sure what you mean by "narrow roads". Different countries have different standards. I suggest you look at these palces on Google streetview.
Assuming it is Langnau im Emmental, my husband has family history there and is nearby Steffisburg.
We visited both (by train) on a day trip from our hotel in Mürren.
We had an address ( actually two) for the family home in Steffisburg, and hired a cab to take us there from the Steffisburg train station. On the way, I sat in the front and told the taxi driver of my husband’s Swiss connection. She exclaimed, “So you have Swiss blood!” And I responded in my best German (not Swiss German) , “No, my husband has the Swiss blood, but I have a Swiss heart.” She had trouble finding the address (it was ambiguous) and quickly shut the meter off. When we finally found it, we learned that the property had been given to the community by the last family member to own it, a childless bachelor brewmaster. It was used as event space, and they were having a special exhibition of the architectural and decorative details of the building and brewery. We were given a private tour and I understood maybe 1/2 of the narrative which was in Swiss German. But it was fun, and we brought home a nice poster with the family name on it.
Then we went to Langnau I.E. to have lunch at the Bären. The building was formerly the clinic of “Wunderdoktor” Micheli Schüppach, who counted Goethe among his patients. This doctor was a great-great ( and maybe more “greats” uncle of my husband. You can read a brief history of the restaurant here:
We sat on the deck next to a huge flower basket that was visited repeatedly by what looked to be impossibly tiny hummingbirds. Turns out they were moths, commonly called “hummingbird hawk moths”. I have only seen them once since, visiting a flower basket at a mountain restaurant outside Chamonix.
Anyway our “roots trip” day was lots of fun. I highly recommend tracking down all leads; you never know what you might find.
