Swim in Bern information

Here is the episode in question at about the 17:45 minute mark:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/great-swiss-cities
Locker? Yes.
http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/am-bahnhof/railway-stations/bahnhof-finden.posid.7000.html
Water temperature? Well Rick didn't freeze to death obviously. Do a bit of googling at Bern Tourism and you're bound to get some more info.

Since the water flows from glaciers it might still be a tad cool in June, particularly if you are a Southern Girl.

How's the mountain water in TN in June?

If you route yourself Luzern - Bern via the fastest route you will take a relatively boring flatland route. And you will miss out on most of a day in the mountains of the Lauterbrunnen Valley by not getting there until later than a late afternoon train arrives.

Also, most of the journey from Bern to Interlaken (and thence up) is through commuter towns for Bern (Thun and Spiez and all that lies between them) so if you get on a late afternoon train you will find that most of Bern is on the train with you, going home to dinner.

Bern is a nice city, especially for a capital city. The fountains are nice to see (although most of them are dry), the clock is pretty good, the covered walkways are cool for a while. Then there are the bears.

But if you go up to the Berner Oberland you can see where the river comes from. There's even a narrow gorge that you can walk through (Aareschlucht).

Don't get me wrong. I like Bern and have been there many times, although now mostly to change trains. I much prefer Luzern and especially Basel for big Swiss towns.

Can I tempt you with the Brünig Pass route from Luzern to Interlaken via Meiringen? It is a very scenic train which first passes the end of the Vierwaldstaettersee on the left, and then everything is pretty much on the right side, so sit on the right. You will pass several mountains including Pilatus which can be reached by funicular up one side and cable car the other, along several lakes on a narrow gauge cog railway up through forests until you see all the waterfalls across in the mountains and then come steeply down into Meiringen, where meringue was developed (see the name) and where the Reichenbach Falls of Sherlock Holmes renown are just out of Meiringen, reachable by a funicular. Out from Meiringen again after turning around and Brienzersee (Lake Brienz) is on your left (same seats as you had before the train reversed, so left now was right then) where you can spot steamships plying the lake and see the magnificent Giessbach Falls plunging down the cliff (easily climbable from the Giessbach landing of the ship, or take an ancient wooden funicular up part way to the hotel and continue your walks from there) and thence into Interlaken Ost and up into the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

It is hard for me to describe it well. Do you have 15 minutes to watch a super Youtube of the route? Have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPyFUnMhSGw and then decide what you want to do with that day.

I took my wife on that route on her first visit to Switzerland and we went when the snow was all around the Luzern end of the line. May, I think. She loved it.

We do that route almost every time we visit Switzerland, most years.

By the way, I note that the Rick Steves video including the river swim/float in Bern was made in August 2008. The river was likelier warmer then than in June.

Don't get me wrong - I like Bern. I just really love the Brünig Line.

Rick's Switzerland guidebook reports that a standard strategy is to leave your towel in a locker at the Marzilibad park/public pools, then hike upriver and float back to that spot.

It's a bit of an odd reason to go all the way to Bern just to float. If you're already in Luzern, perhaps there's a nice beach or similar.

Bern station has lots of places to eat, shop, stash bags and pay for a very pleasant restroom.

My wife, myself, and our 2 teenage boys did this swim/float in August 2014. I believe it had only recently been "re-opened" due to extremely strong currents. We spent about 6 hours biking around Bern on a quiet and rather untouristy Sunday afternoon, and made the river excursion our final activity prior to heading on to Lauterbrunnen. Regardless, we absolutely enjoyed and highly recommend the "float". You can hike up stream as far as you wish and the lockers where you would exit the river are very convenient for storage and changing back into clothes. Our boys went three times and it is still one of the most talked about moments of our trip.

It can easily be done in under an hour for one ride down the river. The current is strong, but it was so much fun, once wasn't enough.
However, it was August, but the water was still very, very cold. I was very glad to have jumped in from one of the pedestrian bridges that crosses the river, for if I had to wade in, I may still be there only up to my knees.

Thanks for the replies! Thanks Sam for the locker link. That helps to know the sizes. Nigel I'm in the flat part of TN, so no mountains here :). I will look into the Brunig Pass route, but I thought it was the Golden Pass that went from Luzern to Interlaken? Laura, I didn't see that in the Best of Europe book, but I just bought the Switzerland book, so hopefully that will have it. Are Marzilibad lockers different from the train lockers? JWWJD thanks for the first hand experience! I'm thinking I'll freeze in June. Is there a path that follows the river where I could walk/bike along as he floats? That could be good for pictures. PHRED we aren't going to Bern just for the swim, although it is one of the main things we thought we would do there. The rough draft itinerary is
Fly into Zurich and train to Luzern to spend 2 nights
train to Lauterbrunnen by way of Bern. Spending about 4-6 hours in Bern that day.
1-2 nights in Lauterbrunnen
2-3 nights in Murren
Golden Pass train to Lausanne or the M town (can't remember name) going to the Castle along the way
1 night in Lausanne
fly out of Geneva
Should we skip Bern?

the M town is Montreux, that's where the Golden Pass train ends up. You transfer to a local train line to get to Lausaunne, or to Chillon Castle in the other direction.

I thought it was the Golden Pass that went from Luzern to Interlaken?

The Brünig Pass is the name of the route, based on its physical location. The Golden Pass is a marketing person's sales pitch for a by reservation fancy first class combination of trains - three in all due to different rail companies as the train goes on that journey and different spacing between the tracks (gauge) due to different degrees of mountain running - all sold as a glitzy package with a fancy name.

In addition to the few Golden Pass fancy tourist oriented trains on the line, there are many local trains which travel the same Brünig Pass route which neither need nor accept reservations, and which have recently been replaced with extremely modern panoramic trains with huge picture windows. In fact they are so airy and have windows practically all the way across the roof I don't know why people spend additional money to sit with other tourists instead of the much more frequent, cheaper, just as fast and just as good a view normal trains.

There's probably Youtube of the new trains around somewhere.

Go via Bern if you and hubby wish, but it is further and has relatively little scenic value going in the flatlands.

To confuse you even more, the writing on the normal trains on the Brünig Pass route is Zentralbahn. They are the company running the trains, Brünig Pass is the name of the route and the pass it goes over, and Golden Pass is the marketing name of the fancy (older) trains with few advantages over the normal ones.

If you continue the route towards Montreux either using the normal trains or the marketed name Golden Pass trains, you will change to standard gauge trains at Interlaken Ost (where you go up towards the Lauterbrunnen Valley) all the way to Zweisimmen where you go back to narrow mountain gauge over to and down to Montreux.

Southern Girl,

Yes there is a path you could follow along the river (the same path you'd hike upstream along) however the current is likely too swift to keep up with while walking, and I do not believe bikes are allowed in the park/river area. You could probably jog along the river if you are in decent shape and keep up, although I can not be sure of that, and it would also depend on the flow rate of the river that day.

Jim